Scimitar Sun Read Free

supported the open balcony, her arms folded and hands clenched into fists. Cynthia suddenly felt guilty; she had forgotten how uncomfortable these rooms made Cammy, and her special aversion for the balcony. Best not to think of what that bastard Bloodwind had done to her friend here in all the years she was his captive.
    “We can talk about this somewhere else if you — ”
    “No!” Camilla’s head snapped up, and Mouse tumbled off her shoulder in surprise. She breathed deeply and her murderous glare faded. Despite her protest, she looked around at the walls as if they were closing in on her. “No, I’m fine, Cyn. I just don’t like this place.”
    “Let’s go into the study, then.” She pushed herself up from the papasan chair.
    “It’s not just these rooms, Cyn. The whole place is starting to bother me. Too many memories.” She followed Cynthia, visibly relaxing as they entered the smaller room.
    Cynthia eased herself into the upholstered chair set before a huge and cluttered roll-top desk. Mouse fluttered along with her and landed on the desk, where he started poking into every cubby. Cynthia fingered a sharkskin scroll and scanned the ancient lettering. It always amazed her how the mer managed to do everything land-based folk did, but with different tools and subtle magic. The scroll’s letters were written with squid ink, but the ink would never have dried or even stained the cured vellum without the spells to make it happen. Mer mages were rare, and highly venerated in their society. She dropped the scroll and sighed, glancing over all the books and scrolls she had yet to read, but she pushed away her worries. She had more urgent issues to deal with right now.
    “Maybe you should come with me to Southaven. Take a break.” Camilla didn’t sit and she still looked uneasy, but at least her previous white-knuckled tension had eased.
    “And leave no one here to deal with things? Probably not wise, Cyn. Though, when you get back…”
    “Fine with me. You deserve a break. You could even run things from Southaven, if you like.”
    “You think that would work?” Camilla asked, raising an eyebrow.
    “It might be difficult at first, but you already run the shipping business pretty much by yourself. It would probably make the business end of things a little easier, with Fergus’ accounting offices and the Keelsons’ shipyard right there. Ghelfan’s yard here doesn’t need much in the way of oversight from either of us. He’s got Dura for that.” They both chuckled at the thought of the burly dwarf running the half-elf shipwright ragged.
    “But what about the lightkeeper?”
    “I’ve got to go, Cam. I owe him a lot.”
    “Maybe you should stay there until you have the baby. I mean, Kurian is there, and you could have a real midwife.”
    “And deprive the mer of being present at the birth of my heir?” She shook her head with a wry smile. “Talk about never hearing the end of it!”
    “But how can the mer be here for the — ” Camilla’s eyes widened. “Oh, you’re kidding me! You plan to have the baby underwater ?”
    Mouse jumped up excitedly at the talk of the impending birth. He flew to Cynthia and perched on her bulging stomach, pressing his ear to listen. He tapped her tummy until he was rewarded with a kick. Cynthia shooed him off.
    “Yes, but just in the lagoon.” She laughed at the shock on her friend’s face. “What’s the problem? The little critter’s been bobbing around in water for the last seven months. Being born into a nice warm lagoon will probably be less of a shock than being born into air. Not to mention that it’ll be more comfortable for me.”
    “But what if — what if there are problems?”
    “The mer have priests if anything goes wrong.”
    “Well, Feldrin’s not going to like the idea, I’ll tell you that.”
    “Feldrin’s not here ,” Cynthia said, letting slip a little of her ire, which sent Mouse darting for cover. That Feldrin would