Read Online Drake of Tanith (Chosen Soul) by Heather Killough-Walden - Free Book Online Page A

if he tried. He had a strange feeling inside; as if he’d been abandoned. “But remember those stories father told us when we were little? About the people who walked through worlds?”
    His memory of the stories was vague, but now that he recalled even the little that he did, he couldn’t help but wonder whether his father, who had traveled far and wide as a bard, might have been talking about portals to other realms. It was a place to start.
    “I do,” Raven said. “It’s a place to start,” she told him, echoing his own thoughts.
    Loki looked at his sister, noting the worried tightness to the way she held her lips. Aster Hollow wasn’t going to welcome them back with open arms. They’d inadvertently caused the deaths of several of their own and then escaped from Aster Hollow’s prison. If they returned to their home, they were going to have to do so under the cover of darkness and cloaked in quiet.
    “Grolsch might be able to help,” Loki suggested. The ork had been with Tanith for a long time; as the man had said, he’d surely picked up a skill or two.
    Raven considered it in silence and nodded. “Alright. Let’s do it.”
    *****
    “What you’ve done is inexcusable.” Oberon’s deep voice filled the ancient, vast marble chamber despite his relatively quiet tone. His expression was outwardly calm. But Astriel could see the danger in his father’s eyes. They mirrored his own.
    Zeta stood before the steps of Oberon’s throne, her chin defiantly raised, her eyes just as defiantly narrowed. She said nothing, but Astriel could feel his sister bristling. Her power crackled with static, unspent and unsettled.
    But it was nothing compared to what his own power was doing in that moment. The windows of the massive thrown room had already been magically replaced once. The pulses of Astriel’s anger were shattering, and he was having a very hard time keeping them under control. The flames in his father’s enormous marble fireplace had gone black and the air was thick with the feel of unborn lightning.
    “I demand that you tell us where you have sent her, Zeta. I know you are shielding her location on the Terran realm. Why?” Oberon asked. Astriel was allowing the king to do all of the questioning. He didn’t trust himself to speak in that moment; his silence was dangerous enough.
    “She is in no physical danger,” Zeta said. She spoke with a determined and rather icy calm. “And I will not tell you where I have sent her. She made a promise and she will keep it.”
    “ You used her,” Astriel finally said. His words were no more than a whisper, but escaped like verbal venom. The windows rattled in their panes. One cracked through, a wicked sound that split the eerie silence. The black flames leapt, turned red at their tips, and settled down again into an agitated dance.
    Zeta winced nervously, glanced at the windows and the fireplace, and turned to face her brother. “What did you expect?” she asked, visibly steeling her nerves. “She’s the daughter of Malphas and she was in Eidolon for thirty moons .” She raised her chin, her blue eyes flashing. The fear was still there, but there was a healthy dose of righteous defiance as well. “Untapped potential is putting it mildly, big brother. I’m a member of the elven court. I haven’t been trained to sit back and ignore that kind of strategic advantage.” She turned to her father. “Have I?”
    “I see,” Astriel said, drawing her attention once more. She glanced at him, and her sea blue eyes widened. Astriel could feel that his own eyes were glowing. They were hot in his face, and his vision had shifted. “You know she will one day become queen,” he said. “And you think she’s going to help you do the same.”
    Zeta hesitated, her lips parting a little more, and then closing again. Finally, she turned to fully face him and lifted her chin a touch higher. “What of it?” she asked icily. “It’s better than doing what you were doing,