Gifted Stone (Souls Of The Stones) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I will protect her, and I’ll keep our secret.”
    Something wet and slightly warm slowly dribbled onto his lips before making its way down his throat.
    Rink groaned as his body both celebrated the relief to his parched lips and protested the throbbing in his shoulder.
    “Stupid boar. Stupid, stupid boar. You would have laughed at me, I’m sure, or maybe you would have bashed the beast on the head, I’m not really sure. Regardless, I. Don’t. Like. Boars!” Jessa’s petulant ranting wafted to his ears.
    He felt the spoon on his lips, and the liquid once again brought sweet relief. Rink’s eyes fluttered open, and through the sudden, bright light of a nearby fire, he saw Jessa’s blurry outline. “Boar tastes good,” he managed to croak out.
    “Rink!” The spoon clattered to the ground as she cried out, and then her gentle hands were at his non-injured shoulder. “Don’t move too fast, just take it easy.”
    “Water, please,” he said.
    “How about the tea I fought off a boar to make for you?” Her strawberry-colored eyebrows arched as she smiled. “Are you in pain?”
    The thought of Jessa fighting anything made a laugh force its way through him, jarring his shoulder. He winced as he nodded. “You fought a boar?”
    A rueful smile lit up Jessa’s face. “Perhaps,” she said with a wink. “Or perhaps it simply decided I wasn’t worth the trouble after I dove into the underbrush and it got its tusks stuck in a tree. All the same, it’s gone.”
    Rink shook his head and tried to push himself off the ground. The air in the cave seemed to swirl around him, and he lay back once again. Once the dizziness subsided, he asked, “What happened to the others?”
    Jessa filled him in on what he’d missed. The men who’d attacked them had taken Emariya and likely Khane, as well, and Garith had gone to chase after them or to go to the castle for help. Rink slowly eased his way upright and leaned against the cave wall for support. His shoulder didn’t hurt as badly as he would have expected it to, but it was extremely stiff. Slowly, he tested moving it in circles, trying to loosen his aching muscles.
    “I shoulda stopped them from taking her.” He frowned.
    “Don’t be ridiculous. What else could you have done?” Jessa asked.
    “I don’t know, but I was supposed to protect her.”
    “Says who?”
    “My father,” Rink whispered.
    “Your father told you to protect Riya?” Jessa asked, her brow wrinkling.
    He nodded. “Before we left, he made me promise that I’d protect her.”
    “I don’t understand. Why was your father worrying about protecting Riya? I mean, we all know Khane isn’t exactly the best escort, but it was his responsibility, not yours.”
    Rink abruptly changed the subject. “Do you think not telling someone something is the same as lying?”
    Jessa’s expression hardened. “It can be. Especially if it is something they need to know. Honesty is always the best choice.”
    “So keeping a secret, even if someone made you promise to keep it, is like lying?”
    Jessa stood, brushing the dirt off her cloak. Indecision warred across her face. “I need to go check on the horses; do you want to try and see if you can walk?”
    Rink wondered if she was trying to change the subject, but he nodded. It would feel good to get off the hard ground.
    He leaned against Jessa as they walked. After days of lying on the ground, his legs wobbled uneasily from the impact of each step.
    Just in case they should encounter the boar again, they each brandished fallen branches from the nearby trees.
    The only sounds were his soft grunts until they neared the bottom of the path. Several times, Rink thought he heard Jessa open her mouth as if to say something, but she kept quiet.
    Finally, when he’d almost given up on her responding to his earlier question, Jessa began to speak. “If you’ve made a promise to keep someone else’s secret, I suppose you have to weigh the cost to all involved. It’s