4: Witches' Blood Read Online Free PDF

endure injury and agony so routinely that pain became commonplace, then it wasn’t worth it. Ravishan deserved better, and if there was nothing else John could do for him, he could at least give Ravishan his freedom.
    “There must be somewhere you can go where Dayyid and the other ushman’im can’t find you,” John said softly. “Somewhere far from here. Nurjima, maybe.”
    From Hann’yu’s descriptions, John knew it to be a vast city with a diverse and liberal population. It seemed like just the kind of place where a smart young man like Ravishan could remake himself and his life.
    “You want us to run away to Nurjima?” Ravishan asked as if John had suggested something unimaginable and wondrous.
    You want us to run away…
    Yes, right now he wanted to go anywhere, so long as he could be with Ravishan. But John stopped himself from saying as much. He couldn’t travel through the Gray Space and it would be idiotic for Ravishan not to. If he was going to escape from Dayyid, then he needed to go very far as fast as possible.
      Besides that, John knew he couldn’t just abandon Laurie and Bill here.
    “You should go,” John told him. “You could probably be there in a few minutes. Dayyid would never be able to track you down.”
    Ravishan studied his face for several moments and John could see the realization dawning in his expression. Ravishan shook his head.
    “I’m not going to leave you.” He scowled down at the distant grounds of Rathal’pesha but then looked back to John. “I promised you that I would take you home and I will.”
    “You made that promise years ago—”
    “I want to keep it. For you,” Ravishan said firmly. He shoved his gloved hands into his pockets. “And in any case, you aren’t the only one I made a promise to. There’s Rousma as well.”
    “Rousma?” John thought he might have heard the name before but he couldn’t remember when. Then he recalled the girl who Ravishan secretly spoke to through the Gray Space. John recalled her strange cadences and awkward sentences whispering through the air. The same tones often hunted him through his dreams of the holy bones.
    “When we were children, they took her to Umbhra’ibaye,” Ravishan said. “Now she’s one of the Issusha’im Oracles.”
    “They’re going to skin her?” A shudder of revulsion coiled through John’s stomach.
    “They did that years ago. At least she’s still alive. By holy law, we both should’ve been executed along with our parents. But there was too much power in our blood and bones for them to let us go.” Ravishan kicked at the snow beneath his feet. “If I run away they’ll take it out on Rousma.”
    It was so wrong, John thought. He wanted to curse the sheer injustice of Ravishan’s entire life. But Ravishan’s determined silence held him back.
    “I swore to her that once I was Kahlil I would find a way to free her. So, you see, there’s no running away for me,” Ravishan said at last. He leaned into John’s shoulder and John instinctively wrapped an arm around him, offering his silent comfort.
    “Don’t look so grim, Jahn,” Ravishan told him. “Before I met you, becoming Kahlil was something I had to do to keep myself and my sister alive. I endured my training. But after I met you I began to truly want to become Kahlil. I want to cross into Nayeshi with you and…I want the life I can have there with you.”
    John met Ravishan’s gaze and Ravishan flushed and looked down at his boots.
    “Things are very different for men like us in Nayeshi,” John assured Ravishan. He didn’t want brood over the liberties he’d lost in Basawar, because it would only depress him, but in comparison Nayeshi was a welcoming haven.
    “When we reach Nayeshi...” Ravishan began, but then faltered.
    “Yes?” John asked.
    “Will you live with me? Will you be my lover?” Ravishan asked in a rush.
    Despite the surrounding snow, John felt a flush of warmth. He didn’t know quite what to say. There