Protector of the Flight Read Online Free PDF Page A

“We have flying horses here, called volarans.”
    “From
the French word fly, ” Marian said.
    “Uh,”
Calli said. She did want to see them again.
    “So,”
Alexa said, “do you want to humor our madness?”
    Once
more, Calli scanned the room full of men and women—some in robes and armor,
some in leathers that looked to be for fighting. Caution, deep and strong,
swept her. Weapons. Armor. These people were at war. If they were being nice to
her, it was because they wanted something.
    If
they were really here at all and she wasn’t crumpled on the ledge of the
hillside from cracking her head hard—having a dream more imaginative than ever
before.
    A
man said something and Lady Hallard withdrew and Alexa and Marian stepped
aside. Another guy, this one not as tall but more solid and with a gleam of
devil-may-care that Calli knew all too well from her rodeo days, bowed in front
of her and offered his arm. Alexa circled his other biceps with her fingers.
“My husband, Bastien Vauxveau.”
    He
was married. Good. But to Alexa? She’d married a guy here? Then Calli
noticed a strange thing. They both had a golden color pulsing around them,
merging where they touched, sparkling with glitter. Wow. And they looked really
good together. Happy.
    A
bolt of yearning for such love struck Calli so hard she nearly doubled over.
She’d thought she and her dad were partners. She’d loved him, ignoring some of
the offers for sex and a serious relationship with rodeo men. She’d had her
plans to build up the Rocking Bar T to a fine horse-training ranch with Dad and
when she was successful look around for a man.
    All
gone.
    Bastien
quirked a brow at her, wiggled his elbow. Alexa grinned. Yep, a happy couple.
Partners. Calli turned wide eyes to Marian.
    “Yes,
I’m married, too. To a sexy Sorcerer. A Circlet like myself.” Marian answered
Calli’s unspoken question.
    Oh,
wow. The back of her neck tingled. Slowly she turned her head to see Faucon
Creusse smiling at her.
    “He’s
unmarried and available,” Alexa provided. “But we need to talk a little.”
    “We
need to talk a lot. ” If she weren’t dreaming. From the corner of her
eye, she saw a woman bobbing her head.
    “She’s
available and unpaired, too,” Marian said. “This culture has no bias against
homosexuality. There are different levels of commitment, here, too.”
    “I’m
straight,” Calli said absently, doing another scan of the people in the
room—different colored and worn leathers—some people wore bands around their
arms. Did that mean anything? From the gazes she met, she thought about a third
in the room were “available.”
    “Marian’s
right,” Alexa said. “She and her husband were married in a formal, long,
magical ceremony that bound them together, hearts, minds and souls.”
    “Not
to mention bodies,” Marian murmured.
    “Bastien
and I haven’t done that yet. But we’re Paired. The guy, here—” Alexa poked him
gently in the chest “—is commitment shy.” Bastien winced as if he got the gist
of Alexa’s words. Calli didn’t doubt the statement.
    “I
see,” she lied, turning back to the women and Bastien. She looked at Marian,
dressed in a long linen dress of beige with a deep over-robe of dark blue,
remembering her words. “You’re a Circlet, a Sorceress?”
    “Yes,”
Marian said. “I’m only visiting the Marshalls’ Castle, to help in the healing
spell and to aid you in adjusting to Lladrana. Alexa called me by crystal
ball,” she ended blandly.
    Calli
let that one go. She stared at Alexa, who wore a blue-green robe over chain
mail, had a sword at one hip and a short, cylindrical sheath at the other—and a
nasty scar on her face. “You’re a…” Calli didn’t know what.
    Alexa
dipped her head. “I’m a Marshall.” She tapped the short sheath. “This is my
Marshall’s baton.”
    Calli
vaguely remembered the words from long-ago history lessons, but the concept
still eluded her. “And that