Read Online A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp - Free Book Online

head drooped and she looked to Nix like a broken flower. The sight of her so vulnerable hurt his heart.
    Mere sat on her knees beside her sister, cradling Rose’s hand between her own. Mere looked over at them, her eyes swollen and red.
    “Help us, Egil,” she said.
    Nix, Egil, and Gadd rushed to the wagon and leaped into it.
    “Rose,” Nix said, touching her cheek. It was warm, thankfully. “Rose.”
    She opened her eyes but they drifted in their sockets, unable to focus. They closed again and her head lolled. Nix took Rose’s face in his palms.
    “What happened?” Egil asked.
    “Rose?” Nix said, his heart in his throat. “Rose?”
    He flashed on how she’d looked months earlier when her brother had kept her drugged. He lifted her arms, checked her for wounds, saw none.
    “She smells like smoke,” Nix said to Mere.
    “What happened?” Egil asked again.
    “At the Low Bazaar,” Mere said. “She was reading and…”
    Her eyes welled again. Egil drew her close, covering her in his embrace.
    “It’s going to be all right,” the priest said to her.
    “Let’s get her inside,” Nix said. He tossed a silver to Gadd. “Pay the driver, Gadd. No, wait. I’ll pay the driver. You go clear the bar. Tell Tesha what happened.”
    But Tesha was already there. She must have seen Egil and Nix leap over the bar and come out to investigate. In her embroidered green dress, she stood with her hand on her hip near the gate, her dark eyes concerned.
    “I’ll handle the bar. Is she going to be all right?”
    Nix looked at Rose, at Mere, back at Tesha. “I don’t know.”
    “She’s been in and out, Nix,” Mere said. “She’s been talking the whole ride back. Sometimes she seems herself, other times not.”
    Nix tossed a silver tern to the old, grizzled man who drove the wagon.
    “Obliged, granther.”
    Nix put his arms under Rose and lifted her from the wagon. Egil offered his aid, but Nix shook it off.
    “I’ve got her.”
    “Aye,” Egil said.
    Nix stepped down out of the wagon, grunting with exertion. He looked down at Rose and her green eyes were open and focused, looking up at him. She looked wan, her eyes pained, furrows in her brow.
    Nix swallowed, said softly, “How do you feel?”
    “Bad,” Rose said. “My head is just…”
    Mere was at their side, brushing her sister’s hair from her brow. “You need to rest, Rose.”
    Rose nodded, but winced at the pain even that small motion caused her.
    Together, they took her inside, carried her through a now empty bar while Tesha looked on.
    “I’ll bring up some warm broth,” Tesha said.
    “Thank you, Tesha,” Mere said.
    Tesha’s men and women had retreated to their rooms—presumably at her orders—and Nix carried Rose to the small bedroom on the second floor that she and Mere shared. After laying her down on the bed, Nix kissed her on the brow. She seemed asleep, so he covered her with a blanket, closed the door behind him, and gathered in the hallway with Mere and Egil.
    “So what happened?” Nix asked her.
    “She was reading someone as he died,” Mere said, as though that were an explanation.
    Nix looked first at Egil, then back at her, not understanding. “And?”
    Heads poked out of doors down the long hallway, Tesha’s workers giving in to curiosity. Nix waved them back into the rooms.
    Mere said, “And that’s why she’s like that. It’s dangerous to be in the mind of someone as they die.”
    “Dangerous how?” Egil asked.
    Mere shook her head. Her short, dark hair was mussed and the makeup she wore to tell fortunes was smeared by tears. She looked lost. Nix wondered how she’d fare in the world if she lost her sister. Probably much as Nix would fare if he lost Egil.
    “I don’t know for sure,” she said. “I’ve never had it happen before. Neither of us have. We’ve just heard that it’s…bad.”
    Egil stood behind her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. His touch seemed to calm her. She took a deep