The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes Read Online Free PDF

insane by now if I couldn’t see what was
around us.”
    “Wait.” Jala began. She glanced over the edge
again then back to him. “You mean you can actually see through
this? You have been able to see the entire bloody time?” she asked,
her voice rising a bit louder than was safe.
    Valor nodded and shook his head at her again.
“That’s love. There is no doubt about it, Jala. Not only are you
crossing hell for him, you are doing it blindly,” he said in
amazement.
    “I can see short distances, a few feet or so,
and then it gets murky. If that path is really three feet below, I
should see it, I think,” Jala replied, a bit defensive. She looked
back up at him, her eyes narrowing a bit. “How far can you see?”
she asked.
    Valor shrugged and motioned a hand to the
left of them. “There is a large rock formation over there that has
been annoying me since we stopped. It’s a perfect place to hide for
ambush so I’ve been keeping an eye on it. That’s about forty feet
away, I’d say. A little beyond that it starts getting hazy, like
heavy fog I suppose.”
    Jala stared in the direction he indicated and
nodded slowly. It was all one mass of shadows to her. She couldn’t
even see the outline of a rock formation. “Well, I suppose it’s
good that one of us has an idea of what’s around us. I’ll admit,
I’m jealous, though. I’ve been skittish the entire way because of
the blindness. Well partly because of the blindness. I suppose it’s
fair to admit a lot of my nervousness stems from the fact that we
are in the bloody Darklands. It makes me feel a bit better about
myself to understand why you are so calm, though. I feel like less
of a bloody coward.”
    “Jala you are one of the last people in the
world I would consider a coward. Most women I know are afraid to go
into their backyard at night. Wisp was formerly the strongest woman
I’d ever seen, but I don’t think anything would convince her to
walk into hell, no matter what was to be gained,” Valor assured
her.
    “One might argue that’s insanity, not
bravery,” Jala pointed out with a short sigh. Her eyes were roaming
the shadowed cliff once again. If she could just get a glimpse of
this path maybe her stomach would settle a bit. “Speaking of
insanity, you really want to ride down this?” she asked, looking
back up at him.
    “It can be done. I promise you that. It
really only comes down to one thing,” Valor said quietly and
watched her.
    Jala waited for him to continue, but realized
after a few moments he wasn’t going to without her asking. “And
that one thing is?”
    “Do you really trust me?” Valor asked, one
slender silver eyebrow arched in question. He held her gaze; his
blue eyes searching her own for any sign of doubt.
    “Does my trusting you really apply to my
trusting your horse’s agility?” Jala countered, not flinching from
the gaze.
    “He is Arovanni, Jala. Part of my soul was
used in his creation. I know what he can do. To trust me is to
trust him,” Valor explained. Moving forward he took her by the arm
gently and pulled her back toward the horse. “Here, place your hand
over his nose gently. Just rest the palm there against the
skin.”
    Jala gave him a questioning glance, but
allowed him to move her hand to the horse’s nose. Gently she
pressed her palm against the flesh and marveled at the warmth
beneath her hand. She had expected Valorous to be cold to the touch
as his barding was. Instead he felt like a living creature, though
she had never seen him eat, drink, or sleep. There was a faint
stirring in her mind and she silenced her thoughts with a bit of
wonder. She could feel emotions, though she knew they weren’t her
own. It was almost like the bond with Finn had been, though not
nearly as strong. She had felt the faint brush of the Arovanni’s
mind in Goswin when Valor had handed her the reins, but it hadn’t
been nearly this defined. She could sense confidence flowing
through the link as well as loyalty