SECRETS OF THE WIND Read Online Free PDF Page B

she is!”
    “And the mystics say she is the right one?”
    “Lass, I am not a woman to leave things to chance. I believe in the old ways, but sometimes the mystics read the runes incorrectly. So I have had the woman investigated left to right, north to south, upside, downside and inside out. There is nothing I don’t know about her and I—as well as my husband—have come to the conclusion that she will suit him admirably.”
    “So the runes were read correctly.”
    “You be the judge,” the queen offered. “The first time the runes were thrown, two oak trees came up. That signifies what is. We knew we’d found the woman for him—strong like an oak just as he is. The second time the runes were cast, two mirrors came up.”
    “Doesn’t that mean what was?”
    “Aye, that it does. It means my son knew her in the past. According to the mystic, such castings are very rare where after two passes identical stones are thrown in the same positions.”
    “Then they should get along very well, don’t you think?”
    “One hopes so but…” The queen leaned forward, her face intent. “When the runes were cast the third time—and that’s the charm or so they say—the mirrors came up again signifying what was to be. That casting astonished the mystic, let me tell you!”
    Chas shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
    “What do you see when you look into a mirror that is in front of another mirror, lass?”
    The Riezell Guardian thought about it for a moment then nodded. “A multitude of reflections,” Chas said. “To signify that there will be numerous reincarnations of them both and will always find one another.”
    “Precisely!” the queen said.
    Chas held up her hands. “How do I fit into this, Your Majesty? I was told I was to guard him against a potential assassin. Is there really an assassin or am I here to help you procure this woman for your son?”
    “Oh, the threat to Ruan is real enough, lass,” the queen said, sobering. “There are those among the Order of Taibhse who would like to see my son in an early grave so they can be about their own wicked agenda.”
    “Which is what, Your Majesty?”
    “Forming an alliance with the Storians to overthrow the Court of Cosaint and put a despot upon the throne instead.”
    “It wouldn’t be the first time the Storians have tried something like that,” Chas said.
    “Well, it won’t happen here and it certainly won’t happen to Ruan! He is a prince, aye, but he is a warrior well-trained.”
    “I saw that today,” Chas said quietly, remembering the headless corpse at the open-air market.
    “When he slips into the wraith persona, Ruan is a man with whom to reckon and I have no fear for him. It is when he is being careless of his life that another score of gray hair shoots up from my scalp!”
    “Every mother’s worry,” Chas said.
    “Remind me of that when you have a passel of his brats tugging at your skirt hem, lass!”
    Chas’ mouth dropped open. She could only stare at the queen.
    “Have I shocked you, lass?”
    It took effort for Chas to clamp her mouth shut and even more effort to speak.
    “You think I am this woman of whom the mystics speak?”
    “I know you are. Your name was spelled out to us upon the fourth casting done at midnight under the dark of the moon. It was but a matter of finding the woman who possessed the name.”
    “Your Majesty, I am a commoner. How could you possibly expect your Tribunal or your son…”
    “You were adopted at birth by a Meiriceánach family though you were born in an Ghréig ,” the queen said as she folded her arms over her chest.
    “How do you know that?” Chas gasped, her eyes as wide as saucers.
    “The Court of Cosaint has access to all the data contained in Tribunal records, lass. It was not hard to learn who your real parents were.”
    A deep chill went down Chas’ spine. All her adult life, she had tried to discover her heritage but had been blocked by bureaucratic red tape at every