Lord of the White Hell Book One lotwh-1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

intimidating. His first day of riding he'd simply clung to the black beast's back and prayed that the animal wouldn't kill him. He had not made much more progress in the subsequent classes.
    "He's such a handsome old man." Nestor smiled at one of the sketches of Firaj's face.
    "Handsome? I have nightmares about him."
    A loud burst of surprised laughter interrupted Kiram's thoughts. Across the rows of wooden tables, he saw that several upperclassmen had clustered around Javier. Nestor's brother Elezar stood among them, as did the future count of Verida, Genimo Plunado.
    Javier held a water glass in one hand and a spoon in the other. He dipped the spoon into the glass and then flicked the water up into the air. A white spark flashed up from Javier's hand as the water took flight. The droplet struck the tabletop as a small chunk of ice. Another cheer went up.
    Kiram wanted to believe that this was just some slight- of-hand trick that Javier preformed but he had seen enough of Javier's magic now to acknowledge that the tiny white sparks that danced from his fingers were genuine. At some point Javier must have touched a shajdi and a little of its magic remained with him. But touching a shajdi was not the same as being possessed by a demon or having a door to hell inside him. It astounded Kiram that these Cadeleonians didn't grasp that.
    Elezar snatched up the piece of ice and crushed it between his teeth. He grinned at Javier and said something. Genimo Plunado shoved his thick chestnut hair back from his face and leaned closer to Javier. When Javier threw another droplet of ice into the air Genimo caught it in his mouth. Javier continued performing his trick, receiving smiles and laughter, until his glass was empty.
    "If they like him so much, why don't any of them room with him?" Kiram muttered to himself.
    "You might as well ask why they don't sleep in the stalls with their horses," Nestor replied. "They're afraid of getting kicked to death, you know. The horses wouldn't mean them any harm but they'd just kick in their sleep and that would be it."
    "He's not a horse," Kiram replied.
    Nestor shrugged. "Are you going to eat the rest of your stew?"
    Kiram shoved the blue porcelain bowl to Nestor. For a moment Nestor seemed to wrestle with some indecision, then at last he slipped his drawing papers back into their leather case and helped himself to the stew.
    "Anyway, they don't all like him," Nestor said quietly. "My oldest brother Timoteo hates him. I think Genimo does as well. But Javier is already the Duke of Rauma. Only one of the Sagrada princes could afford to make an enemy of him, and I don't think anyone would want to face him in a duel. He'd eat their souls."
    "Feed them ice and witty conversation is more like it," Kiram muttered.
    He didn't want to admit it but he was a little jealous of the clever chatter and friendly pranks Javier performed for his classmates. After only a few days of total silence he had regretted his declaration that Javier was not to speak to him. More than that, he resented Javier's respect of his absurd demand. He knew it was all petty and beneath him, but he couldn't help himself.
    The evenings in their shared room were agonizingly quiet. And that was if Javier was even there. Half the time he didn't appear until the night warden shouted for lights out. The nights he was alone, Kiram tried to believe that he was happy with the emptiness of the room and the opportunity to spread his cogs and iron cylinders out across the floor without criticism or comment. But the truth was that he felt deeply lonely.
    To Kiram's surprise, Fedeles leaned up against his side the way a dog might. Reflexively, Kiram petted his head. Fedeles smiled, his eyes focusing on something far away. He was a handsome youth and sweet natured. Kiram wished that there were some way to know what, if anything, Fedeles was thinking. Kiram knew Fedeles was older than himself but he seemed so childlike. The simplest things, like cheese