Read Online Ever by Gail Carson Levine - Free Book Online

courtyard to water the ferns. The muscles in her thin arms stand out from the weight of the copper watering pitcher.
    Once, when I was five, she found me playing with a doll that I had stood on Admat’s altar in my bedroom. She rushed at me and pulled me away, scolding that the altar was not a place for games. My doll fell on its head, which Nia said was my punishment. She prayed over me until Mati called her. I’ve always wondered how long she would have prayed if she hadn’t had to stop.
    Now I want to know what she thinks of my sacrifice. She is the most pious among us. Maybe she can explain my sacrifice in a way that will comfort me.
    â€œNia?”
    She puts down the pitcher.
    â€œWhy has Admat made this happen to me?”
    â€œAh.” She smiles. “Little Mistress, Admat wants you to dance for him alone and make rugs for him alone.” Shepicks up the pitcher again and begins her task.
    She’s made Admat seem selfish.
    Maybe he will prove himself unselfish and extend my life.
    I don’t hear Pado until he pulls Mati’s chair away from her loom and sits in it. He strums the warp of the loom as if it were a lyre.
    I want to ask him about Olus: How long has Olus rented our land? Does he take good care of his goats? Does Pado like him? But Pado will ask how I know there is a goatherd.
    He sings softly,
    â€œAdmat, the king’s king ,
    The man’s master ,
    The child’s pado ,
    Who . . .”
    His voice breaks.
    â€œ. . . cares for us all.”
    He weeps, stands, and wanders away from me toward his counting room.
    I don’t know how I will bear to spend my last month with my parents’ unceasing sorrow.

23

    OLUS
    I WATCH K EZI THROUGH her sad day. Aunt Fedo visits again and takes her turn in Merem’s weaving chair. She is silent for the first time in my knowledge of her. After half an hour, she rises and goes to be alone in the reception room. They are each alone today: Kezi motionless at her loom, Senat in his counting room, Merem on her bed, Fedo in the reception room.
    I with my goats.
    In the evening I send my clever wind to Akka.

24

    KEZI
    A S I’ M FALLING ASLEEP, I wonder if Olus might be able to help me live beyond the twenty-seven days I have left. Maybe Admat sent him to me for that purpose.
    I don’t know what magic a masma can do. Perhaps a spell could make someone swear an oath that goes the opposite way from Pado’s. Whoever fulfills the new oath will have a long life. With Olus’s aid I could fulfill the second oath.
    Or Olus could cast a spell to slow time just for me. With such a spell I would live for years in my remaining days. Lonely years, unless he slowed time for himself as well.
    These are my foolish thoughts. Still, he is a masma.
    And I am half in love with him.
    At breakfast I tell Mati that I would like to visit the market. I must escape our sad house for a few hours.
    â€œI’ll come.”
    â€œNo need.”
    She nods.
    To go into the street without Mati or Pado, I must bring a male servant. I pick Pazur, although I know he wouldn’t be Mati’s choice. Pazur has many friends. Some will be at the market. He’ll chat with them, and I’ll be free of him.
    Before we leave, while Pazur waits in the reception room, I run to my room. My everyday tunic is good enough for the market, but I change into my second-best—my best until Mati gave me the blue one. Second-best is pale purple with a white belt and white embroidery along the hem. I tie my hair in a ribbon and toss a few copper coins into my small tapestry sack, which I tie onto my belt.
    I remove my felt slippers and put on sandals. The market is near the city gates, a long way from our door.
    We join the throng on the King’s Road. I smell the market before we reach the first stalls: spices, smoky grilled meats, sweat, hides, wool. I see the striped awnings that shade the street from the summer sun.
    â€œPazur!” A