Dawning of Light Read Online Free PDF

attacked me.”
    “If you hadn’t left the coterie, it wouldn’t have been an issue.”
    “And then my father would have challenged you to a sword fight. So I suppose we’re even.”
    “Not by a long shot,” Finn drawled as he took a slug from his mug of spiked cider.
    Their conversation was interrupted by a bright flash of light that caused everyone to focus on the king of the lightbearers, who was at the end of the room, standing on a small stool that a servant had fetched for him. He was clearly ready to break into speech.
    “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “Today, we bring everyone together to celebrate a very special occasion in our lives.”
    His mate, Genevieve, stepped up to his side and clapped her hands twice. Servants carrying silver trays laden with filled champagne flutes flowed from two swinging doors that led to the kitchen suites, and began doling out glasses to the guests. Cecilia accepted one and watched with amusement as Tanner tried to pluck Olivia’s glass from her hand and she slapped his in return. Once everyone held a glass of champagne, the king resumed his speech.
    “Our daughter,” he said as he lifted his glass.
    Cecilia watched the look of surprise crawl across Olivia’s face.
    “Although she has chosen to mate with a shifter”—Cecilia discreetly covered her mouth with one hand and coughed to cover up her sudden giggle, while Finn glared at her—“she carries the heir to the lightbearer kingdom in her belly.”
    The gathered crowd cheered and clapped, and Olivia blushed as she smiled a watery smile. It was the first time the king had acknowledged that her babe would be his heir. Cecilia knew that doing it in such a public way was a very strategic move. She glanced at her parents, who were huddled together near the windows with a small group of lightbearers that Cecilia recognized but did not know well. None looked pleased with the king’s proclamation.
    “But the real reason for tonight’s celebration is because your princess has been accepted and will begin formal training as a healer, beginning this very month. Hear, hear!” The king lifted his glass and drank, as conversation amongst the crowd started at a low murmur and finally erupted into loud talking, some argumentative, some speculative, some fascinated.
    “Why is this such a big deal?” Finn asked Cecilia, who watched Olivia receive congratulations from Alexa, Dane, and a handful of other healers.
    “Because Olivia is a princess, and until today, princesses had no other responsibilities but to mate with a strong male and produce potential heirs to the throne.”
    “Olivia is the first lightbearer princess to actually want to do something other than find a mate and have pups?”
    “We bear babes, not pups,” Cecilia said coolly. “And no. She is the first lightbearer princess to be allowed to do something other than that.”
    Finn stared at her with an incredulous look on his face. “That’s asinine. She freaking saved my life four months ago. She has an amazing natural healing ability. Why wouldn’t she be encouraged to practice her trade? Unless it’s a skill you all have in excess?”
    Cecilia shook her head. “Definitely not an excess of healers. And of those we do have, not all are necessarily very good. No doubt, she will be in high demand once she’s completed her training.”
    “You all have some fucked-up rules.”
    “Thanks for that brilliant assessment.”
    She could tell that he intended to make a snide retort right back, but he bit it back when his gaze lifted to watch whomever had stepped up behind her. She turned, and when she saw her parents, she offered them both a cool smile.
    Her relationship with her parents had been strained for as long as Cecilia could remember, but the tension had significantly increased in intensity the year she passed fifteen summers. That was the first time she sneaked out of the coterie. She met a human boy in the nearby town and returned home and declared