By Winter's Light: A Cynster Novel (Cynster Special Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

apprentices to come with us and show the boys how to carve the faces.”
    Morris looked resigned. “I’ll bring the bandages. We’re sure to need some.”
    Raven chuckled, then he leaned forward and looked down the table at the older boys. “Aidan.” Raven waited until the eldest lad present looked his way. “Are you going riding, and if so, who else is going with you?”
    Aidan looked around the group. “We’re all going—me, Evan, Gregory, Justin, and Nicholas.”
    Morris fixed his charge, Gregory, with a firm look. “Just remember—don’t get out of range of your elders. You are released on that undertaking.”
    They all grinned, but Gregory nodded, and when Morris directed his gaze around the others in the group, they nodded, too. By and large, they were a reliable bunch; all of them rode well, and with the older ones in charge, none of the tutors harbored any real qualms.
    Daniel turned back to Melinda as she said, “Good. That takes care of the rapscallions. As for our ladies…”
    Melinda met Claire’s gaze, then both governesses looked up the table to where Louisa sat, with Therese opposite and Annabelle and Juliet alongside. “Girls,” Melinda said, “we’re in dire need of some decorations for the hall. Are you four willing to see to it?”
    Louisa glanced at Therese, then looked back at Melinda. “What do we need to do?”
    “You need to collect evergreens,” Melinda said. “That’s the tradition here. I asked the gardeners and also McArdle. Apparently, evergreens means holly and fir—you need both. The gardeners said they would leave a sled for the boughs by the side door, along with the right size shears and saws. They recommended boughs about a half inch in diameter or less, and look for longish, well-leafed specimens. For the holly, of course, you want the berries.”
    “Where do we go to get the boughs?” Louisa asked.
    “I know,” Annabelle, the younger daughter of the house and one of the fourteen-year-olds, said. “It’s not far—just across the bridge over the burn and into the wood on the other side.”
    “So we get to explore the woods?” Therese grinned. She glanced at Louisa. “We can try out our new boots.”
    Louisa considered Therese for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Yes.” Raising her gaze, Louisa looked at the hall’s largely bare walls. “And it’ll be good to make this place look more festive.”
    “Excellent!” Melinda said. “So we’re handing that task to the four of you.”
    Claire smiled at the four girls. “We’ll be relying on you to make this place look wonderful for tomorrow.”
    As Claire sat back, Melinda caught her gaze and, lowering her voice, said, “It’s not far, and there’s no chance of you and the girls getting caught even by a freak storm. You’ll be able to get back easily.”
    Claire arched her brows. “Good. I have to admit that, coming from the south, I don’t tend to think in terms of freak storms.”
    Melinda chuckled. “Live up here for a year, and you never forget to allow for Mother Nature.” She turned and regarded the three youngest girls, who were sitting closest to her and Claire. Raising her voice, Melinda said, “And that leaves us with you three. I checked with Cook, and she has sunburst shortbread on her list of things to make today, as well as mince pies.”
    “What’s sunburst shortbread?” Margaret promptly asked.
    “It’s the modern version of an old tradition called Sun Cakes,” Melinda explained. “The original cakes were shaped like a ring—round with a hole in the middle. And the cakes had lines drawn on their tops to represent the sun’s rays. They were eaten at this time of year to call the sun back into people’s lives.”
    “But nowadays we do it with shortbread,” Annabelle explained. “The shortbread is made in rounds like plates, with a circle in the middle representing the sun, and the rays are drawn outward from that.”
    “Exactly.” Melinda glanced at the younger