Reign of Shadows Read Free Page A

to enroll here. I’ve had to work hard and prove
myself worthy of that admittance, while you—you have it as a birthright. That’s
why it makes me so angry when I see you throwing your opportunity away.”
    “And
it makes me angry when you refuse to see my side of things,” Caelan answered. “I
am not Beva. I will never be him, no matter how much everyone wants me to be.
All my life I’ve had to follow around in his shadow, hearing about his skill,
his gifts, his success, his fame. I’m sick of it!”
    “Are
you jealous of him?” Agel asked in astonishment.
    “No!
I’m just tired of being expected to measure up to what he is. As though anyone
could ever come close to him.”
    “But
he’s the greatest healer in Trau.”
    Caelan
shut his eyes.
    “More
than that. His fame spreads beyond this province,” Agel said eagerly. “He could
go all the way to Imperia if he chose. An appointment as court physician would
be—”
    “My
father doesn’t want that. He’s only interested in living in severance,” Caelan said bitterly. “No
fame. No fortune.”
    “He
is a good man.”
    “He’s
cold and unfeeling!” Caelan burst out. “Damn you, why have you started
worshiping him like this? You used to think he was as strict as—”
    “But
since I started studying here, I understand severance .” Agel folded his hands in
his wide sleeves and hunched himself against the cold. It was nearly dark now,
and the soldiers could only be heard on the road. They marched in unnerving
silence—the brutal force of the emperor evident and thrilling. “It is a total
philosophy of life,” Agel said. “It is completion.”
    Caelan
rolled his eyes. Everything angry and rebellious in him rose up, roaring
inwardly against hearing any of it again. “It’s not for me.”
    “You
must learn to accept it if you are to heal.”
    “I
don’t want to heal,” Caelan said in exasperation. “Why can’t you accept that?”
    “Because
it’s in you.”
    “It’s
in my father, not me!”
    “But
you have the gift. You are his blood. He tested you and said you could sever. I remember when he did it.”
    “The
ability to do something doesn’t mean it’s my destiny,” Caelan said. “I know
they teach that here, but you don’t have to believe everything they say.”
    “The
ways that are taught here are good ways,” Agel said.
    “But
they aren’t the only ways,” Caelan argued. He saw no change in Agel’s expression and
sighed. “What’s the use? You’ve turned to stone, just like the masters here.
You’re becoming exactly like my father.”
    A
smile dawned across Agel’s face. “Really?” he asked in delight. “You really
think so?”
    Disgust
filled Caelan. Without answering, he shouldered past Agel and headed down the
steps to the courtyard.
    Agel
followed close on his heels, and in silence they hurried toward the hall.
    In
the gloom and quiet of evening, the courtyard had an eerie, deserted feel.
Light glowed warm from the narrow window slits in the buildings, and the air smelled
of peat smoke. The wind still blew sharp and bitterly cold, knocking old snow
off the roofs in soft drifts of white.
    No
one was supposed to be abroad by the last stroke of the Quarl Bell. All
residents of the hold had to be indoors before nightfall, safe within the
warding keys and secured from the wind spirits that hunted during the long
winter darkness. Which, Caelan thought to himself, was only an elaborate way of
enforcing a strict curfew.
    It
seemed that everything at Rieschelhold was buried under an endless series of
rules. Living here was like dying a slow death. Caelan hated the tall stone
walls, hated the confinement, the serenity, the order, the iron routine that
never varied. At home he could always find a way to escape his tutors. He lived
for wild gallops across the glacier, his horse’s mane whipping his face, the
icy wind whistling in his ears. The mountains, the sweeping views of the top of
the world, the endless sky. And at