Journey Of Thieves (Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

“Tracking people’s movements and feeling out their moods has always come naturally to me.”
    “It is good to have an area of strength. Your mother had one too. But I hope you do not practice this one to the exclusion of others.”
    “I don’t think of it as exclusion. It’s something I fall back on unconsciously.”
    “But your mentor, the priest, has taught you more than this?”
    “We used to practice and exercise many skills before I lost my powers,” I said. “Most of them mental or emotional. Why? What was my mother’s special ability?”
    She glanced around. “It is not something I could safely show you indoors. Come with me.”
    I followed her outside. Evening had fallen, and the last light of day was fading on the horizon. Peering over the railed walkway, I could barely see through the gathering gloom to make out the white river flowing far below us.
    Joining me at the rail, Myria stretched out a hand toward the river, and a streak of blue light shot from her fingertips to blaze a trail through the shadows.
    I lifted my eyebrows. “I can see why you didn’t want to do that indoors.”
    “My aim is not always reliable,” she admitted ruefully. “But your mother’s was better.”
    “I know. I’ve seen her summon lightning like that.” A memory flashed through my head of Mama holding off the Praetor’s soldiers with the blue fire crackling from her fingertips. It was the last thing she ever did.
    I shoved the memory aside and asked, “Could you show me how to do it?”
    “Of course. And after you have mastered the skill, you will learn to modify it for other purposes. The same technique can be used in forming a ball of light to illumine the darkness or in creating a spark to light a campfire. You will find it useful for many purposes.”
    A niggling concern tugged at me. “Hadrian never taught me things like this. Maybe it was beyond his abilities, or perhaps he did not think they were necessary. Either way, I am reluctant to proceed behind his back. He would likely not approve of the augmenter either.”
    “You want to consult him?” she asked.
    “I am not going to ask for his permission. But I value his guidance and want to hear his thoughts on this.”
    The rash young thief who used to be me would have shuddered at such a comment. But nowadays I was learning not to take my friends for granted. I didn’t have many left.
    She nodded. “Then perhaps we will return to this another time.”
    I agreed. “Maybe now would be a good time for you to answer those questions I asked earlier. About my mother?”
    At the change in topic, I sensed a wave of sadness settle over Myria. “You look a great deal like Ada.”
    “You said as much before. You also said that you were aware of her death. Can I ask how the news reached you?”
    “Ada and I shared a special bond. I felt it severed in the moment when her life was extinguished, even though there was a long distance between us. Later, I tried to discover the details of her death, but no one could tell me.”
    As she spoke, a gradual awareness came to me. Since first we met, I had sensed a connection to this silver-haired woman, one not felt in the presence of another person in a long time. I tried to recall the last occasion when I had experienced this. It was in the presence of the Praetor. The man was my uncle, though he did not know it.
    That was when I realized the truth.
    “You and I share the same blood,” I blurted out to Myria. “That is why there is this link between us. My mother was not your friend but your kinswoman.”
    “She was my daughter,” Myria said, correcting me.
    I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned back against the rail, knees weak, legs suddenly inadequate. Our previous conversations took on new light as I thought of the miniatures lined up on Myria’s shelf, of a particular portrait I had noticed, a rough sketch of a silver-haired girl. It had looked familiar, and now I knew why. It was a youthful version of my