The Dark Warden (Book 6) Read Free Page A

child?” 
    Morigna opened her mouth, closed it again, looked around to see if anyone else had overheard. 
    “Ah,” said Mara. “You’re not used to that. Usually you ask blunt questions that knock people off their guard. Not the other way around.” 
    “How did you know?” said Morigna. 
    “Given my previous occupation,” said Mara, “I have experience observing the people around me. You and the Gray Knight have spent a great deal of time scouting since we left the Iron Tower. You return looking quite satisfied with yourself. Ridmark…well, even Ridmark looks marginally less grim.” 
    “You are a very dangerous little woman,” said Morigna.
    “I know,” said Mara. 
    “What about you?” said Morigna. “You wed Jager. How will you keep from bearing a child?”
    “My mother was human and my father was a dark elf,” said Mara. “I am sterile. Like a mule.” She considered for a moment. “Which may not have been the most flattering way to put that.”
    “No,” said Morigna. “But one fails to see how this topic is any concern of yours.”
    “It isn’t,” said Mara. “I wondered if you had thought about it.”
    “The man who taught me magic,” said Morigna, “was one of the Eternalists. He wanted to transfer his spirit into my flesh to avoid his own death.”
    “Like the Artificer and Sir Paul,” said Mara.
    “Precisely,” said Morigna. “A pregnancy would have complicated his efforts, so he taught me a spell to filter my blood. The same one we used to keep your dark elven blood from overwhelming you. So long as I use it, I will not conceive a child.” 
    “Do you want Ridmark’s child?” said Mara.
    Ridmark was a strong man. The thought of carrying his child was not a displeasing one.
    “Perhaps,” said Morigna. “I do not know. After we have been successful, after we have stopped the return of the Frostborn and I can turn Ridmark’s mind to other matters…why are we even talking about this?”
    “Because,” said Mara, “I owe you and Calliande and Ridmark much. Jager and I both do. We’re also about to go into danger, which is it not a time for quarrels amongst ourselves.”
    “Why should we quarrel?” said Morigna. 
    Mara glanced at Calliande, and then back at Morigna.
    “What concern is it of hers?” said Morigna. “She does not even know herself, not truly.” She felt herself start to grow angry. “If she wanted Ridmark for herself, then perhaps she should have done something about it. Is that what you are going to say? That I should concern myself over what Calliande thinks? Or that I should stay away from Ridmark?”
    “Actually,” said Mara, “I was going to say that you and Ridmark can make each other happier. Or at least less grim. I suspect you have both lost a great deal.”
    “You suspect correctly,” said Morigna, some of her anger draining away as she thought of her mother and father and Nathan. In a twisted sort of way, she had also lost Coriolus, though she did not regret his death. He had betrayed her and used her, but he had still taught her a great deal. “Perhaps I am a fool, or Ridmark has made me into one.”
    “You both deserve some peace,” said Mara.
    “Ridmark is strong,” said Morigna, “but he could be so much stronger. Look at all of us. We follow him without question, even after he has tried to dissuade us again and again. Yet the nobles of Andomhaim cast him out. He could have power enough to purge the realm of the Enlightened of Incariel, to bring order and peace and…”
    “There is more to life than simply power,” said Mara.
    “No, there is not,” said Morigna. “It is the foundation of everything else. Without…”
    The grass rustled, and Ridmark walked towards them, his face set in a scowl. A flicker of unease went through Morigna. Had he overheard them? He likely would not approve of their discussion. Then Morigna’s brain caught up to her emotions. Ridmark never did anything without a reason, and if he looked