If only she had kept her original plans. She had been perfectly content with her plan to go to the Valley. Talon had been pestering her for months to come see him, but instead Jared Had shown up for her birthday the first day of spring. He had said he planned to stay through the spring at her home, Keene Manor. He had practically grown up there, so she could not deny him. Besides, she likes spending time with Ansel. They spent the early weeks of spring, riding horses through the fields, and staying up late talking.Clarahad known for a while she had feelings for Jarethbeyond the usual fondness of long-time friendship. She found him very handsome. Physical attraction was always the easy part. There were others she could be with if physical attraction was all that mattered. What she felt for Brethren was deeper than physical attraction. She was drawn to him. He was kind, clever, and a powerful magic user. He was usually quiet in large groups, but when they were alone, he was open with G
Kedan knew there was one person in the palace who would know what was going on. Williams would know if the trouble in The Great Surrounding was real. His spies would have heard something if what Till said was true. The problem was Williams and Kedan had never really gotten on. Williams thought a lot of himself. He certainly didn’t see himself as below the Lord of the kingdom, and Kedan didn’t like that. He was always taught from a young age that he had to be strong; he had to be the leader. Williams seemed to challenge him as lord daily with his decisions to ignore every command Kedan sent. Kedan knew he could call for Williams to come down this instant and nothing would happen. He could send every servant in the castle, and it would do no good. He could order his guards to drag Williams down, and it wouldn’t happen. Everyone, it seemed, feared or respected Golnar, perhaps both. Kedan knew there was one way to talk to Golnar. There was one way Williams would see him. Kedan could go
Kyle sat up in bed and ran his fingers through his hair. He wondered what time it was as it was hard to tell with no windows. He pondered if he should go back to sleep, but he figured they would be leaving early to get on the road. He decided he would go check and see if anyone was up. Kyle stood up and stretched. He went to his basin and splashed some of the cold water on his face, reviving him. Feeling hungry he made his way into the main room of the dwelling. In the room he found Clara Stirring her potion over a low fire. She had changed her clothes since the evening before, and was now in a simple dark blue dress. She had pulled her hair back in a braid in an attempt to tame it, but a few curls had come loose around her temples. She turned when she heard Kyle enter the room.“Ah, good morning. I didn’t expect you to rise so soon. I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable there. I haven’t stuffed that mattress in a while as I don’t have many guests here in the forest.”“The bed was goo
“Talk to me about something else, kyle, anything. Tell me about your young woman back home.”“Katniss,” Kyle said automatically.“Oh, so there is a young woman. Good. Tell me about her.”“We’re just friends. Have been almost all our lives”“Friends, huh? Well that’s how things usually start. Go on.”“She is very clever, and she loves to read. She can keep more facts in her head than anyone I know. Her father says she is too smart for her own good. She is kind, but she does have a temper. You do not want to get on her bad sad,” smiled kyle. “She can make you feel like you are the only person that matters when she talks to you, and she is very pretty.“She has really nice blonde hair and light blue eyes. She has the best smile. Her father is the blacksmith, so she was always at the stables with him. We are the same age, so we’ve always been just thrown together.”“She sounds like an interesting young lady, and I like her already. I hope I get to meet her someday.” Clarawas smiling now,
Jareth pushed Claraback lightly with her staff behind his back. She took it from his hands and stepped back. “Back off, or you will find yourself in trouble as well. We have direct orders to take these children. This woman is impeding these orders. She’ll need to come with us too,” ordered the head soldier.“If I back off, I think it’s you who will find trouble. Take my advice and let her be,” said Jarethnot, taking his hand off the soldier. The soldier wrenched his hand free. “We don’t have time for this. Leave or we will have to use force.”“We will not leave until these children are free,” fumed Clarastepping to Ansel’s side. “Let them go now.”“Griffa,” whispered Jarethunder his breath. “Don’t do this; think about kyle. We have to keep him safe.” Kyle was right behind Griffa. He had a hard look on his face, and his eyes were narrowed. “Don’t worry, he will be safe,” said Claracalmly, raising the hood on her cloak. “Ansel, raise your hood and grab kyle; meet me at the entrance
Kedan nodded and continued to make notes. “What should I say to him, Golnar?” asked Kedan. He still wasn’t sure of what to make of this man, but Kedan knew he needed help.“Ask him to tell you again why you need to take action in The Great Surrounding. Let him tell you the complete story. Then you can let him know that you know what he is leaving out. Let’s see his reaction to that and go from there.”Kedan nodded, thinking this was good advice. They waited in silence for a bit with the scratching of Kedan’s quill being the only sound in the room. When he was done making notes, he took out a small piece of paper and scratched down one more thing. Then he nodded at Golnar. Williams went to the door and let the guards know that Till could enter. Till entered the room in an agitated state. He looked around and saw Williams and Teryn in the room. “What’s this, my lord? I thought you and I were meeting alone?” asked Till briskly.“Williams is my trusted advisor, and Teryn is my trusted
“Hello, my lord. It is nice to see you this evening.” She came over and put her arms around Kedan and he smiled at her. He took her hands and brought her in front of him. “You are very beautiful, Teryn. You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, even simply dressed as you are.”“You are too kind.”“It’s true. Come here and look out the window with me.”He led her to the small window. “It’s a wonderful view. The city is so beautiful at night,” said Teryn with a sigh. “It is. Do you see that large house with every window lit up? That is where I grew up. My father and mother are there now with many important guests I suspect. And that house there, that is the Fawner family. They are extraordinarily rich and very influential. They have a pretty daughter about our age. She plays the harp and sings like an angel. And there is that large house to the left; the Quillen’s live there. They actually have the most exquisite twin girls who came of age last year. I went to their
“You don’t really think you are a burden to me, do you?” asked Jarethtenderly.Clara Turned her head quickly to Ansel.“I don’t know, maybe. I feel like I was the little sister forced on you when you were almost a man. Then you felt you had to take care of me after your father died.”Clarapaused and closed her eyes. She knew she shouldn’t say what she was thinking, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Then last spring, when, well you know, at the festival, I was afraid I ruined things between us forever,” said Clarasadly. “I never meant to put you in that position.”Jareth Was silent as he turned his eyes from Claraand looked at the fire. Claracould feel her face go warm, and she knew her cheeks were red. She felt like such a fool.“See, I knew it. I knew that is why you stopped coming to see me. I knew that’s why you were gone for so long.” “Griffa,” started Ansel, but she interrupted him.“Oh, if I could just go back and stop myself from drinking too much, or thinking that you could ev