Oathkeeper Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with her . . . em . . . gardening . . . but—”
    â€œShe comes with me or I don’t go.” The color in Kholburran’s jade eyes developed a whorl of amber at their center. “I swear it.”
    â€œYou boy-type persons,” Arri said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what goes on in your handsome little heads. All right. Calm down, Snapdragon. Don’t go all mock-Aern on me. I’m the one trying to save your bark.” She sighed, looking back at the other Root Guards. “Faulina, you and Seizal pull up that moss bed for a stretcher. Snapdragon, you stay right behind me or Lara at all times. Mavyn, you take up the rear. Let’s go be stupid and hope Xalistan is with us.”
    â€œNot Dienox?” Kholburran asked.
    â€œDienox is already against us.” Mavyn spat.
    â€œWe’re hunted now,” Lara agreed. “It’s Xalistan for us and Gromma for Molls.”
    *
    Sandwiched between protectors, Kholburran couldn’t help checking over his shoulder to ensure Malli was still suspended on the remnants of their mossy bed between Faulina and Seizal. She lay on her side, the vinous color of her heartwood obscured by his makeshift attempt at arborism, but he couldn’t help but see it jutting out sickeningly just below the base of her breastplate in his mind’s eye.
    Can I really heal that? he thought in dismay.
    Marriage was rare among the Vael, more so among the royals, and even less common with princes expected to Take Root. It bound them together and made them one far more literally than the matrimonial joining amongst other races. Kholburran was counting on the rejuvenating effect it had on both germinator and pollinator, renewing both individuals physically as it reworked them . . . optimizing the pair for pollination with each other—resprouting them as hybridizations of what they were before.
    But that wasn’t all there was to it; their spirits became linked so strongly that injuries to one could wound them both. That link would extend Malli’s life tremendously, making her nigh immortal once he eventually Took Root. As a Root Wife she would be his voice and his caretaker, deciding who could use his pollen to produce sproutlings, and his strength would be her strength.
    It was a price Kholburran was willing, even eager, to pay. But would Malli want that for herself? He knew she liked him, hoped she loved him as much as he loved her, but it was so hard to tell with girl-type persons. They were so intent on the physical, on . . . gardening. Saying whatever they thought he wanted to hear and then . . .
    True, Malli had never shown any interest in proper pollination, just in being together the way Aern and Vael were together . . . and that certainly couldn’t produce any sproutlings between two Vael. It was pleasurable and fun, but was that all it was to Malli? He didn’t think it was. Even so, this wasn’t how he had intended to propose; he’d hoped she would handle that part, though he’d begun to fear she wasn’t thinking along those lines. . . .
    â€œEyes forward,” Lara snapped as she drew and fired over Arri, who moved, sword at the ready in her left hand, killing a Zaur as it came lurching out of a nearby passage. “You just might get the chance to use that warpick of yours.”
    Kholburran winced at the stump of Arri’s right arm, where she’d hacked it off at the break.
    â€œWhat?” Arri asked, noticing his gaze, “you weren’t planning on marrying me, too, were you?”
    Kholburran shook his head, flushing.
    â€œThen don’t worry about my limb. It will grow back all on its own. Though I wouldn’t mind a little gardening myself if you’re interested.”
    Kholburran frowned at that, but Arri wasn’t looking, already crawling out the door, and the