Read Online Soul of Kandrith (The Kandrith Series) by Nicole Luiken - Free Book Online Page B

bolt of pain, but he didn’t feel it because Sara’s eyes were open, watching. Death hovered only moments away, but her blue eyes were pools of perfect calm in a mask of blood. She lived, and that was all that mattered.
    “Goddess, have mercy.” He laid his hands on her torso first—it felt soft and pulpy, wrong.
    He tasted spring on his tongue—green grass sending out shoots, leaves budding—and heard songbirds trill as Loma, the Goddess of Mercy, filled him and poured her red healing light into Sara’s bloody shell.
    He was vaguely aware of Wenda somewhere in the background demanding to know what had happened. “I can’t see .”
    Internal injuries first, knitting together all those places that bled in secret, mending organs, reinflating lungs, draining them—
    “She just stepped off the wall.” Marcus sounded stunned. “It’s—it’s Lady Sarathena.”
    “What? But—” Wenda’s voice turned grim. “I should have expected this. He’s like Mother—single-minded to the point of insanity.”
    “I am not like Mother.” Lance moved on to Sara’s legs. Blood pumped out of her thigh. Heal the artery, push the bones jutting through the skin back under...
    “Yes, you are,” Wenday said. “You see one possible solution to a problem, no matter how snail-brained, and you jump on it without taking time to think if it will work or if there might be a better way.”
    “The last snail-brained idea I had was going to Temborium to rescue you,” Lance pointed out. As gently as he could he straightened Sara’s legs so they would heal correctly. Anyone else would have screamed or passed out. She watched him with blue eyes, as if absorbed. Her muscles were relaxed, not tensed from the pain.
    “I’m not ungrateful,” Wenda said, “but it was still snail-brained and so is bringing Sara here. Sara gave up her soul to save you. It was her decision. It’s over and done. You can’t turn back time.”
    “I’m not trying to turn back time.” Feet next. Toes, ankles...so many small bones.
    Wenda threw up her hands. “Yes, you are! Sara died weeks ago. Listen to me—I sacrificed my vision for soulsight. Sara doesn’t have a soul.”
    The words struck like a death knell. Lance flinched from them, and the terrible truth he’d been avoiding even as his hands moved automatically to Sara’s collarbone. “No,” he said hoarsely. “She just needs more time. There’ve been signs...”
    One sign in two months, the voice in the back of his mind whispered. If it meant anything, shouldn’t she have shown more progress?
    Marcus cleared his throat. “Ah, Wenda?”
    Wenda spoke over him. “She just tried to kill herself. Grant her peace!”
    “No.” Lance felt on firmer footing now. “Sara’s not suicidal.” He cradled her head, realigning nose cartilage, healing bruises on her brain.
    “I saw her step off,” Marcus said apologetically.
    Lance flinched, but stubbornly insisted, “We don’t know what happened up there.”
    “It seems clear to me,” Wenda said pointedly.
    Lance ignored her, concentrating on Sara. A moment later, the Goddess faded back, the healing complete.
    Sara immediately sat up, her face as composed as if she’d just woken from a nap.
    Lance sagged onto his heels, his hands trembling in reaction. He’d almost lost her. He needed to understand why. A deep breath, then, “Sara, why did you go up to the roof?”
    “A woman told me to come with her. I followed her.”
    “What woman?” Lance asked, but his stomach clenched.
    Sara pointed over his shoulder. “Her.”
    Shaking, Lance stood. His knee hurt, but he needed to be on his feet to face his mother or she would have the advantage. “What in the Goddess’s name did you think you were doing?” he asked her harshly.
    His mother’s chin lifted. “In the Goddess’s name, I was trying to provide mercy. Something you haven’t been able to bring yourself to do.”
    “You had no right—” Lance began, so furious his words tangled