Bone War Read Free Page A

Talfi was grateful to the Nine that he was immune to this effect. It would have cast his entire relationship with Ranadar into doubt.
    â€œWhere’s Kalessa got to?” he asked over the noise. “She shouldn’t be too far ahead of us.”
    Ranadar wore the tight look that often came over his face at the market—a great many merchants sold objects made with iron, and iron was as bad for the Fae as sunlight for the Stane.
    â€œI do not see—there.” He pointed. Kalessa was staring at them from a nearby butcher’s stall, arms crossed. They threaded their way through the crowd to her.
    â€œShe still looks unhappy,” Ranadar observed. “We need to defuse her before she explodes.”
    â€œWe could just point her at someone we don’t like,” Talfi said.
    â€œAre you shopping?” Kalessa said tartly. “Stopping to admire the view? Collect your favors?”
    Talfi blinked at her. “We were looking for you, actually. We wouldn’t have looked so hard if we’d known our heads would get bitten off.”
    â€œYou can bite my—”
    â€œKalessa,” Ranadar interrupted, “even orcs are not usually so snappish with their friends. And you look unhappy. Has something happened?”
    Kalessa scowled. “I am not snappish. You are both sensitive.”
    Talfi caught the look in Ranadar’s eye and snagged a wooden cup from a passing alewife, who had a tray of them around her neck. He dropped a half knuckle on thetray, and the alewife filled the cup from an ale pitcher, then waited patiently so she could get her cup back.
    â€œHave a drink,” Talfi said. “You look like you need one.”
    Kalessa looked annoyed but accepted the cup and drank. She was far from home herself. The prairies of Xaron, the orc lands, lay east, on the other side of Alfhame, and Talfi knew the city put her on edge, but her quick temper was rarely directed at her friends.
    â€œWhat happened?” Talfi asked.
    â€œI do not wish to discuss it.” Kalessa held out the cup, and Talfi dropped another coin so the woman would fill it.
    â€œAs you like,” said Ranadar. “We would not understand anyway.”
    â€œYeah,” Talfi chimed in. “We’re just a couple of guys. Men wouldn’t understand woman problems. You should probably talk to Aisa or something.”
    â€œWoman problems?” Kalessa drained the cup and held it out for a third, which Talfi also paid for. “Psh. My woman problems are ten times more difficult than your manliest man problems.”
    â€œI doubt it,” Ranadar goaded, his tone overly airy. “Men and women cannot understand one another’s problems. Women’s problems are just too . . . too . . .”
    â€œYou were going to say
petty
,” Kalessa said, thumping the cup on the alewife’s tray.
    â€œI was not.”
    â€œYou were.” Kalessa wiped her mouth with the back of one hand. “Understand this, then. I just heard from my mother. Word of my deeds before the Battle of the Twist and of the Great Golem reached the clans, and as a result, my clan has been promoted from Sixth Nest to Third Nest.”
    â€œCongratulations!” Talfi said in surprise. “Kalessa, that’s great news!”
    â€œIt is and it is not.” She waved away the alewife, who wandered off with her cups and pitcher. “It brings a lot of status and power to my parents, and it means my brothersand I do not have to worry so much about trying to marry up to a higher-ranking Nest.”
    â€œSo why is it bad?” Ranadar asked.
    â€œMy mother is suddenly receiving a number of marriage proposals for
me
,” Kalessa growled. “For the sake of the line, I must respond, and soon.”
    â€œYou do?” Talfi shook his head. “But you have a lot of older brothers, yeah? There’s no pressure on you.”
    â€œWhat do my brothers have to do