Wind Over Bone: The Estralony Cycle #2 (Young Adult Fantasy Romance) Read Online Free PDF

horrible man forced me.” She wrenched her hands out of the rope when Ed had undone the knots.
    “ My brother’s odd, but he’s not horrible. Never harmed anyone.”
    His brother. She shook her head, laughed in disbelief. “Define harm.”
    “Shut up, both of you.” Mari collapsed onto a couch. “I just pulled my arse out of bed at the crack of dawn. So you”––she pointed a long finger at Sarid––“are going sit quietly while we stuff you in silk.”
    Rischa’s neck turned red. “Now, you can’t just make her go.”
    Mari crossed her arms. “You’re crass enough to admit the group with the prettiest girl always wins Count Pash’s favor. And we need to topple Vanli’s autocracy.”
    “ I thought this was for friendship’s sake,” said Rischa.
    “ Enough of it is that you needn’t complain.” Mari heaved herself up. “Edloiva, find a dress. And you––think you’re staying to watch?” She pushed Rischa across the room and out the door. He looked horrified. Sarid glared and Mari slammed the door in his face.
    “ Well?” Mari said, turning to Sarid. “He’s a good boy. You’ll make him happy, and he’s been a bit down. You want to make him happy?” Sarid didn’t know what to say, and Mari shrugged. “Doesn’t know her own mind, probably.”
    It was true enough. For hours Sarid suffered herself to be tugged and pulled about by the two girls, until they finally settled on a cream-colored gown of Edloiva’s. It had to be stuffed with stockings around the chest and butt, but, nevertheless, suited Sarid’s blushing face in quite a comely fashion, according to Edloiva, and nicely complimented Sarid’s blonde curls, which had been tamed under a net of pearls and broken beneath a satin lash.
    “Doesn’t she seem a perfect dove?” said Edloiva that afternoon, when Rischa and another boy came to the door. Sarid hadn’t eaten anything except a stale breakfast roll; and a bubbling had risen in her stomach that could have been hunger but felt very much like dread.
    “ She looks like she’s a broken wing,” said Rischa.
    “ Oh, Rischa,” said Mari, fingering his stained coat cuff.  He’d scrubbed the pile off the velvet. “That’s what comes of having no mother. There, you see,” she said to Sarid, “he doesn’t know how to dress himself, either.” 
    Sarid stepped into the corridor, hand on the doorframe for support; she was taller than Rischa in Edloiva’s shoes. “Silly,” said Rischa, looking down at them. “Take them off.”
    “She won’t,” said Mari. “They’re the only things can make her stand up straight. Now let’s––Oh! Masks. I’m sure you remembered masks?” She said it mordantly, as though she expected they hadn’t.
    “ Artisan made in Neridona.” The strange boy pulled a mask out of his coat. It was ceramic and had a long snout––a haughty looking fox. He attached it to his face with ribbons.
    “ Go get them, Ed,” said Mari. “Neridona? Edloiva was content to make ours.”
    “ Here they are,” said Edloiva, rushing back with three masks of starched linen. “You can have mine from last year, Sarid––snow leopard. It hasn’t gone yellow yet––Where’s yours, Rischa? You can’t have everyone knowing who you are.”
    “ I forgot.” Rischa shrugged, and looked behind him.
    “ I can’t imagine why Master Eliav would want everyone to know who he is,” said Mari.
    “ I would have brought one,” Rischa said, irritated, “but when does one think of a mask?”
    “ You can’t wear any of mine,” said Edloiva. “They’re too delicate. It’d look silly.”
    “ What about that snow hare you wore last spring?” said the strange boy.
    “ Shut up, Rokal.” Edloiva pulled up her bodice. “What’ll we do?”
    “ Wrap his head in a sheet,” said Mari. And then her face narrowed in thought. “That hare. Edloiva’s always had a big face.” Edloiva opened her mouth, but Mari cut her off, “The mask was linen. We could just