Blood Ties Read Online Free PDF Page B

supernatural accuracy. They set up a booth at the local fair in which they challenged all comers to pit their targetpractice skills against me. Me, who was scarcely out of short pants. I must have seemed easy pickings, but, obviously, I was not. Once we got done fleecing all the local clods, we soon had to rely on traders, passersby, and occasional tours of neighboring villages, out of which we would more often than not be run by the authorities.
    â€œWhile my accomplices spent or gambled most of their earnings, I saved every gold coin I could to fulfill my burning ambition of exploring Albion one day and becoming a great adventurer, such as the ones whose stories I read in two-penny pamphlets and thirdhand storybooks. Every day and every night, Page, I dreamt of getting out of that damned place. So why in the name of any of the gods would I go back there, especially with such wonderful memories attached to it?”
    â€œAnd . . .” She hesitated to ask. “And what of your parents?”
    â€œMy poor, shop-keeping parents? Tell me, Page: What do you think the fates of their three eldest wound up doing to them?”
    She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. I knew, and she more or less obviously figured it out.
    Instead, she stared at me, her gaze fixed upon me, and she said, “You never told me any of this before. You’ve always been vague about your life. Why?”
    â€œBecause I didn’t want you looking at me the way you are now, with that sort of oblique pity.”
    â€œIt’s not pity. I mean, I feel bad for you, but—”
    I put up a hand and waved her off. “Don’t. All right? Just . . . don’t.”
    â€œOkay.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Whatever you say. So if you’re going to go, then go. You have to do what’s best for yourself.”
    â€œAnd so do you,” I said. “Why not come with me?”
    The edges of her mouth turned upward ever so slightly. “Is that an example of the sense of humor you displayed on the streets of Gunk?”
    â€œI’m completely serious,” I said.
    â€œIs that why you came here? To ask me to join you in wandering aimlessly around Albion?”
    â€œYou say that like it’s a bad thing. Truthfully, I came here because I didn’t want to just disappear without telling you that I was leaving. But now I see you here, by yourself, without any true mission or purpose no matter how much you might claim otherwise, and all I can think is that it’s an utter waste of potential. Come with me.” And I was truly warming to the idea. “We would make a great team. We already have made a great team. You and I, exploring, adventuring. No cares or responsibilities beyond a dedication to accomplishing great and amazing things. And if things here in Bowerstone deteriorate for some reason, you can always come back here and pick up where you left off.”
    â€œOr,” she said, “I could stay here and continue to monitor the situation in order to try to prevent things from deteriorating to an unmanageable degree.”
    â€œAnd what’s your endgame?”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œI mean, how long does this go on? Do you just stay down here in the sewers, watching, waiting, monitoring the world with constant suspicion until you grow old and die?”
    â€œLet’s hope not,” she said. “But if that’s what is required, then that’s what shall be.”
    I studied her, and it was as if there was a shroud upon her. Not a real one, of course, but one that she had draped over herself so that no one in the world could see beneath it to the real her, whatever that might be. “What happened in your life,” I said, “that made it so that you feel you are utterly undeserving of happiness?”
    She laughed at that. “And is that what wandering about Albion with you would amount to, Finn? Is that what you define as