Shadow Over Kiriath Read Online Free PDF Page A

on his face this morning, too, which would only make it worse.
    Guilt at not having checked in with him assailed her with bitter force.
    “They’re just afraid he’s going to get sick again,” Carissa murmured.
    “Well, it’s ridiculous. His illness was spawn-induced. He’s over it now. Why don’t they back off and let him be who he is?”
    “It was hard seeing him so close to death, Mad.”
    Maddie kept her eyes fixed upon the coronation chair below, its dark Hasmal’uk stone peeping out from the shelf beneath the cushioned seat. She knew far too well how hard it had been to see him like that. Harder still having no one to share her terror with.
    “I think it shocked them to realize how close we were to losing him,” Carissa said. “And then to find he’d lost so much. . . .” She glanced back toward the Mataians again.
    “Well, locking him in a closet is hardly going to change anything.” Maddie frowned and craned her head around Carissa’s form. “What are you looking at over there?”
    The princess sat back sheepishly. She hesitated, then let out her breath and said, “That man there at the end of the row of Mataians—the big one sitting all hunched over. Does he look . . . odd to you?”
    “No more so than any of them. Except perhaps for his bold and flawless posture.” Sarcasm sharpened her tone.
    Carissa snorted agreement.
    “Why do you ask?” Maddie pressed.
    “I think he’s watching me.”
    “I doubt he can even see you from where he’s sitting. Besides, his face is hidden in that cowl, so how would you know?” Maddie glanced again at the big man, who was, she realized now, sitting directly aligned with Carissa, his line of sight unobstructed by the royal box. But why would he be watching her? Just to unnerve her?
    In point of fact, High Father Bonafil’s young apprentice, Brother Eudace, was watching them, his weird blue eyes driving a chill up her spine. Big and luminous, they reminded her of fish eyes, cold and almost inhuman.
    Her thoughts returned suddenly to something Carissa had said earlier— about expecting Maddie to have gone to Abramm this morning to repair the damage Trap had done. The truth was, even if she’d known about it, she wouldn’t have gone. Because of the dream.
    Meridon had no doubt cursed his loose lips all night, for it was truly not the sort of thing he was given to saying. And it was unusual for Abramm to have pressed him so insistently. Abramm knew how important it was that he himself go into this coronation with confidence and courage.
    Her breath hissed softly over her teeth. I knew that dream didn’t originate with me. It was the rhu’ema . They wanted her flustered and off balance so she couldn’t go to Abramm this morning. . . .
    They’re manipulating all of us to get to him, she realized. He is going to be attacked today. Somehow, someway, in this place .
    She glanced again at the Mataians, most of whom were apparently praying now, amulets glowering at their throats. She knew what sort of beings lived in those amulets. Her eye flicked up to the hammerbeam ceiling. Were more of them swirling around up there?
    Suddenly another part of all this came clear to her, another reason why she’d been assaulted with that dream. It wasn’t simply her visits with Abramm in the morning that distinguished her relationship with him. There was also the link through Eidon’s Light they shared, something stronger even than the dream connection he shared with Carissa.
    But . . . Oh, Eidon! How can I possibly reach out to him today? She didn’t think she’d even be able to look at him without thinking things she had no business thinking. And to get that close . . . Oh, please. Don’t make me do that .
    At that moment the musicians completed their air and paused again. Conversation melted away, and as the last notes faded to silence, a roar arose from the square outside. She glanced again at the ceiling and shivered with foreboding.
    Then on the balconies above