The Sworn

The Sworn Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: The Sworn Read Online Free PDF
Author: Gail Z. Martin
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy, Epic
his sight.
    Beyral’s chanting drew his attention. The bone and ivory runes were smeared with birth blood, a powerful and ancient magic. Beyral lifted the runes in her hands, and then let them fall. Her eyes grew wide. Every rune and bone had landed with the blank side up.
    “What do you read?” Tris asked, hesitant to hear the answer.
    Beyral stared at the runes in surprise. “The afterbirth portends great power. But the runes are silent. There is no omen, no reading at all. I’ve never seen this.”
    Tris looked to Esme. “What of the wormroot? Did it affect him?”
    The healer shrugged. “There’s something different about the child. I can feel it in my magic, but I don’t know what it is. Everything appears as it should be. We won’t know about other effects, or whether or not he inherited your power, forquite a while.” She lowered her voice and turned so that her back was to Kiara. “He might be fine. But if not… if there is real damage… he may not be able to take the throne.”
    Tris felt a wave of cold fear sweep through him, and he struggled to keep his composure. “I won’t give up on him without a fight. You know that.”
    Esme nodded, and laid a hand on his arm. “Protect him. I don’t know what the difference means, but whatever it is, he’ll need you. Both of you.”
    Tris swallowed. “The birth was so difficult. Could Kiara bear another child?”
    Esme met his eyes. “She needs to heal. But it may be wise, given the circumstances.”
    An heir and a spare
, Tris thought. He glanced back to where Kiara lay with Cwynn in her arms, and the tangle of emotions he felt made him want to laugh and cry all at once. Tris moved back to stand beside the bed and Kiara looked up at him.
    “He eats like a warrior. That’s a good thing.”
    Tris reached out to touch her cheek. “Goddess! I never realized what a battle it is to bring a child to the world. Both of you need to rest.” One of the midwives took Cwynn from Kiara’s arms to sponge him off in a bath of warm herbed wine. She swaddled him and returned him to Kiara, who let him rest against her skin as he slept.
    “You need to rest, too.”
    Kiara reached out to take his hand in hers. “I will. Thank you for holding on.” She looked down at the sleeping infant. “He’s a fighter, Tris. I know it. He wouldn’t have made it through everything if he weren’t.”
    Tris squeezed her hand tightly. “I know. And whatever comes, we’ll fight for him. Someday, the runes will speak.”
    Kiara smiled tiredly. “Or maybe he’ll make his own destiny.”
    “Don’t we all.”
    Later that night, when Tris was assured that both Kiara and the baby were sleeping soundly, he sat down at the large war room table with Fallon and Beyral. Both of the Sisterhood mages looked as exhausted as he felt after the long, grueling candlemarks they had all spent making certain that the new prince and the queen survived the birth. Two others joined them: Mikhail, Tris’s
vayash moru
seneschal, and General Ban Soterius, one of Tris’s closest friends.
    “Is there anyone at the Citadel of the Sisterhood who might be able to figure out what’s happened to Cwynn?” Tris asked. He cradled a hot cup of
kerif
in his hands, hoping the inky black drink might help him stay awake.
    Fallon shook her head. “No one I would trust with the prince’s life.” She met Tris’s eyes. “Sister Landis still hasn’t forgiven the mages who went rogue to help you fight Curane’s traitors, or those of us who used our magic to help you win back the throne. She wants the Sisterhood to focus on magic for its own sake, not on kings and wars. I understand why she thinks that way. Foor Arontala showed just how much damage a mage can do in support of a bloodthirsty king. And you saw for yourself the carnage Lord Curane’s blood mages created—along with this damned plague.” She sighed. “Landis has managed to reduce a complicated question to a simple yes or no. From her perspective,
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