Read Online Shadow Blessed (The Shadow Accords Book 1) by D.K. Holmberg - Free Book Online Page B

upper bunk. “What do you think it means? You’re no stray. Strays are given up. Left. Unwanted.” He swallowed and she noted that tears welled in his eyes. “That’s not you. I saw the way you were dressed when you came.”
    “You don’t know anything about me!”
    “Because you refuse to share!”
    The sound of footsteps coming down the hall made her turn. Was it Etan? She didn’t want to have him show up while she argued with Kel. They had been together longer, and she knew which side Etan would take if it came down to it.
    “Well?” Kel said.
    Carth ignored him and crawled up into the top bunk.
    What did he know about her? She wouldn’t tell him how she’d seen her mother dead. Or how her father, who was supposed to have been following behind her, playing nothing more than a game, was missing. She refused to tell him that she had been happy , really happy, and had lost everything. How did that not make her a stray?
    Carth wiped tears from her eyes and pulled the knife from her pocket, setting it next to the pillow. She reached under her pillow and pulled out the books reclaimed from her home, the only scraps she had left of that time.
    Forcing herself to control her breathing, she pulled the books to her face. When she inhaled, she could almost smell the remnants of her mother, a connection to that past, a hint of pine and tehla spice that she wished she could find once more.
    But she couldn’t. There was no more home for her.
    Carth didn’t even bother opening the books and rested her head on her pillow.
    As she tried to sleep, Kel finally spoke again. “Thanks.” When she didn’t say anything more, she heard him crawl out from his bunk and stand on Etan’s, the pressure from his hands pushing down on her bunk. “You didn’t have to help me back there, so thanks.”
    Carth didn’t turn to face him. “I thought I was helping another stray,” she said. Her hand slipped to the hilt of the knife and she squeezed it, feeling the weight of the handle pressing against her skin.
    Kel breathed out heavily. “I’m… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” He stepped down, his boots settling heavily on the floor. “That was quick thinking, what you did.”
    “I shouldn’t have had to.”
    “You’re right,” Kel said.
    “Don’t be stupid again.”
    Kel was quiet for a moment and she heard him crawling back into his bunk. “I’ll try not to.”
    Carth took a deep breath, pulling her mother’s books to her face and inhaling their scent again. When she couldn’t sleep, she flipped one open, choosing at random, and left the page open as she settled her head on the book. She might not be able to read Ih, but as she fingered her mother’s ring, she could have comfort that her mother had once read these books. For a little while, she didn’t feel like the stray that she was.

7
    D arkness covered the street along the docks as Carth moved as stealthily as she could, each step silent against the night. Kel didn’t manage nearly so well, his heavy boots slapping against the cobbles, making nearly as much racket as a horse trotting through the city.
    “Do you have to be so loud?” she asked.
    Kel jogged up to her, breathing heavily. Even that was loud. “I’m not as quiet as you.”
    “You’re not,” she agreed.
    “I’m not as quick at grabbing scraps as you either.”
    Carth veered toward a pool of shadows. They didn’t really help keep Kel any quieter, but at least in the shadows they would avoid some detection. “Nope.”
    “How?” he asked.
    Carth paused near a point, the river rushing noisily over rocks. At least here, Kel’s voice wouldn’t carry quite as well. “How what?”
    “You. You weren’t a stray before you came to Vera. I know that. So how is it that you manage to walk so much softer than me and have such quick hands? Were you a thief before Vera found you?”
    “Vera didn’t find me.”
    “Fine. Hal found you. Pretty much the same.”
    Carth turned to face the