Thorn Read Online Free PDF Page A

can’t find out, no one can.”
    I let Jilna pack up the cloak and hustle me into my nightdress. She blows out the lamp as she leaves, the room settling into darkness. Exhaustion tugs me down into sleep almost at once.
    I wake suddenly, yanked back from a land of vague and unformed dreams by a sound that has no place in my room. I sit up with the shock of it, my breath quick and loud in my ears.
    Silence.
    I lie back down. Perhaps it was only a dream-sound.
    A man clears his throat.
    I sit up again, half-paralyzed with fear, as sluggish as if I move underwater. Once more silence fills the room, laps at the window. But this time I know I am not alone and my first, terrified thought is that my brother has come for his vengeance. I hold the covers up to my chest as if they might protect me.
    “Who’s there?” Someone shifts with a faint whisper of cloth, but my eyes can make out nothing. “Show yourself,” I say, my voice high, pleading.
    Another soft whisper—I turn my head sharply toward the sound—and a flame leaps to life behind a cupped hand. It catches on the wick of a candle set on the mantle. The intruder steps back and with a rush of relief I realize it is not my brother at all, for this man has dark hair and sand-gold skin. He dresses in the Menaiyan fashion: a long dark tunic belted at the waist and loose pants tucked into riding boots. The light glints off metal at his side—a sword—and gleams in his eyes. He meets my gaze, and I have the uncanny feeling that he can see me perfectly well despite the dark.
    “What do you want here?” Fear has left me with the thought of my brother. I feel now only a quiet curiosity.
    “To speak with you.” His voice has the same telltale lilt as the king’s.
    “Why?”
    “You have changed your allegiances.”
    “I have gained new allegiances,” I agree carefully.
    He studies me a moment before asking, “What do you know of Menaiya?”
    “Very little: there are the king, his son, and a third person—a nephew, I think. The queen died one year ago.” I stop, unwilling to tell this stranger anything he would not already know. He waits, brooding in the shadows thrown by the single flame.
    “You have come a long way to test my knowledge.” He tilts his head, inviting me to continue. “You were not among the king’s soldiers. Indeed, you dress more carefully than any of them, except perhaps their captain. So you must have traveled here alone, and it is a long way for a man to come by himself.”
    He makes no response. I swallow and try another tact. “Will you not tell me your name? You know who I am.”
    “We will meet soon enough.”
    “In Menaiya,” I hazard. He nods. “And you have given your allegiance to the king?”
    “Yes.” He smiles, one corner of his mouth rising higher than the other. A foolish question then; he must be sworn to the king, here because of his oath.
    “What do you seek now that cannot wait till my arrival?”
    “I wished to see you myself,” he explains. “To warn you.” He crosses the room to the shuttered window, facing it silently before turning back to me. I smooth the sheets with my hands, surprised I am not more afraid. But he has not moved toward me.
    “Menaiya has many enemies, my lady. Now that you belong to Menaiya, those enemies are yours. You will need to be careful these next weeks. The king can offer you only so much protection until you reach his walls.”
    I swallow to ease the sudden dryness of my throat. “Menaiya is feared by its neighbors.”
    “And rightfully so,” he agrees, and again I hear amusement lighten his words. “I do not speak of the surrounding kingdoms.”
    “Then whom do you mean?”
    He hesitates. “I cannot say—not here. Not now.”
    A shiver runs under my skin. “How can I protect myself from a phantom?”
    He steps towards me, his voice grim. “You must beware. Do not put yourself in a vulnerable situation; do not walk alone; do not remain with anyone you do not trust.”
    I