The Curse in the Gift (The Last Whisper of the Gods Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t see it herself.
    Kara continued, “Eventually, I’ll probably look for my daughter. Everyone believes her to be dead except me. And maybe Ferguson. I’ve often thought that if Sorial failed, Ferguson would start turning over rocks looking for Ariel. Her departure was too well planned for me to accept that she died of exposure or at the hands of bandits or wild animals. She was clever. She could read and write. She was pretty. She would have found a way to make her way in the world. Right now, she’s probably living the kind of life you hope for yourself and Sorial.”
    “What was she like?” Alicia couldn’t help but be curious. Sorial had mentioned his sister only once or twice in passing. Of course, he hadn’t known her.
    “In the end, she was sullen and frightened. She idolized her brother and, when he fell at the portal, it devastated her. It did that for all of us but Ariel was at an impressionable age and she knew the duty would fall to her next. After Braddock died, she came to believe it couldn’t be done, so she left. But before those last seasons, she was a wild, wonderful girl. My most vivid memory of her wasn’t of the last time I saw her - I don’t recall when that was - but of a stormy day when she stood on a hilltop and stretched out her arms, embracing the wind. She kissed it and it kissed back, whipping her long hair around her head like a living crown. From the day of her birth, I knew she was a child of the air like I am.”
    “I thought only wizards were tied to an element.”
    “Superstition and stories have hidden the truth. All of us are born with an affinity for one element or another. It has nothing to do with magic; it’s in our nature. Perhaps it’s a residue of that long-ago era when all humans could wield magic. A wizard’s power is achieved through his natural inclination, but everyone gravitates toward one force or another. For most people, it doesn’t take much looking to see it. As long as you know what you’re looking for, that is. City-born men and women are no longer taught this, but knowledge of it lives all across the continent in small villages and settlements.”
    “What do you see when you look at me?” The idea that Kara proposed was foreign but there was something about it that sounded right . Such a thing would provide a greater sense of balance.
    She cocked her head and considered. “Water. Think about it. If you get dirty, do you have an overpowering need to bathe? Do you love the rain? Do you find the sound of dripping water to be soothing?”
    As a child, Alicia had driven her governesses, tutors, and mother to distraction by running outside barefoot in the rain and splashing in puddles. She had spent long hours in and around the river even before the advent of the heat wave. And when Rexall had helped her escape the temple through the tunnel, the distant drip-drip-drip of water had had a calming influence. There was sense in what Kara said. “What about Sorial?”
    “Earth. He and Lamanar both. Most farmers have that affinity. Or at least those that are successful.”
    “And Ferguson?”
    “I don’t know,” admitted Kara. “He’s inscrutable, unreadable. He keeps his affinity hidden, thinking that to show it would be to give another an edge over him.”
    They lapsed into silence after that, with Alicia dwelling on everything she had gleaned from her conversation with Kara. If the older woman’s goal was to plant the seed of doubt in Alicia’s mind about the predestined failure of Sorial’s quest, she had sown well.
    Later that day, as the sun was making its fast descent toward the mountainous horizon, Vagrum reined in his horse to come alongside Alicia.
    “We’re being shadowed, Milady.”
    Alicia scanned the nearby terrain. Their surroundings looked much the same in every direction: winter scrub peeking above a layer of half-frozen slush that hid the unevenness of the rocky ground. She saw no one beyond her companions and, other