Read Online Second Stone by Kelly Walker - Free Book Online

she thought something soft touched her shoulder, as well, but as soon as she thought she felt it, it was gone. She decided she’d most likely imagined it.
    The one thing this place had going for it other than her mother being here or, well, sort of here, was that it was devoid of any emotion, save her own. She was sheltered from Torian’s piercing anger. She didn’t have to look into his accusing eyes and see them filled with contempt.
    He’d been so angry. Not that she blamed him. Though part of her had wanted to scream back at him. To protest that she hadn’t done it on purpose. She hadn’t meant any harm. To defend herself.
    She just couldn’t. He was at least partially right. If she hadn’t told Reeve about Terin, this wouldn’t have happened. But it wasn’t like she had known that it was some big secret. She’d assumed she didn’t know that Torian had a sister, not that everyone didn’t know.
    Emariya didn’t think Reeve would hurt Terin. He couldn’t have slipped that far. Of course, before, she would never have thought he’d have Thalmas’s princess kidnapped, either. Father will set it right , she promised herself. But would anything set her and Torian right? Would they be able to recover? She wanted him. Sometime over the last few weeks, she’d fully given him her heart without realizing it…until now, when he was yanking it away. Her feelings for him reached so far beyond the Stones, beyond the irresistible to the irrevocable. No matter how he might break it, she couldn’t snatch her heart back. Judging by last night, that wasn’t a sentiment he shared.
    She wished she had at least said something—anything—kind to him before he walked away. If she didn’t wake up… If she were somehow dead…they would have no chance to say goodbye.
    Would he even care?
    Time was immeasurable here, wherever ‘here’ was. Emariya could feel it slipping past like the mist around her legs. But also like mist, no matter how hard she tried to grasp it, it fell in an ethereal wisp through her fingers. She was no longer sure of night or day; minutes could have been hours.
    Turning her head, she watched her mother walk anxiously in circles, mumbling to herself. “Mother?” she called.
    It didn’t seem any different than all the other times she’d tried to get her mother’s attention away from whatever was distracting her, but then everything changed. “Reeve!” Shocked, she bolted upwards and bounded to him when he appeared in front of her mother. Before she could get to him, he was gone. The impression of his face, as surprised as her own must have been, wasn’t as easily shaken.
    The blackness started to press in against her, harder now. Her eyes sought to close against her will. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the urge to lie back down. She shook her head to clear it and the darkness pulled back, giving her at least a little space. Alarmed, she called out to her mother again. “Mama?”
    “What, Emariya?” Her mother was sitting by her side as if she’d been there all along.
    “Where’d you go? I saw you, and then…Reeve. But then he was gone.” The tide of panic was rising in her throat; she could hear it spilling out into her words. If Reeve had been there, did that mean he was dead or trapped like her? What in the name of The Three was going on?
    “It’s nothing, dear, Reeve is fine. Just fine. Don’t fret. He was just trying to talk to me, that’s all.”
    Relief was sudden and glorious. If Reeve and her mother were communicating, perhaps her mother could convince him to let Terin go. “You’ve got to talk to him. He kidnapped Terin. Torian’s sister. He’s going to bind the lines. You’ve got to call him back here and tell him to stop. Make him let her go.” The words tumbled out breathlessly.
    Lady Valencia’s eyes clouded with darkness as she sat back, frowning at her daughter. “Emariya, you just don’t understand…”
    “Don’t understand? What are you talking