Read Online Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn by Tracy A. Akers - Free Book Online Page B

would be far greater than any penalty for bein’ a demon.”
Haskel sounded angry, but not as angry as Gorman had been all those
months ago when Dayn had suggested there could be others living on
the island of Aredyrah. It gave Dayn hope that he could convince
his uncle, but he knew he would need to approach it from a
different angle.
    “Did Father tell you he found me in the cave
when I was a baby?” Dayn asked.
    Haskel’s lips compressed. He kicked his heels
into his horse’s ribs, urging it onward. Dayn followed, keeping
pace.
    “Did he?” Dayn persisted.
    “I was there when he found ye,” Haskel said
stiffly.
    For a moment Dayn thought to rein his horse
to a halt again, but if he stopped every time Haskel said something
shocking, they might never reach home.
    “We were young then, and foolish,” Haskel
continued. “Your father was desperate to save your mother. She’d
lost so many infants that he feared she would either take her own
life or die tryin’ to bear another one. He prayed—we all did. But
Daghadar didn’t answer. Your father grew angry, and in a moment of
desperation decided that if his own god wouldn’t help him, he would
find one who would.”
    “What do you mean?” Dayn asked.
    Haskel shook his head. “Your father confided
in me—god, I wish he hadn’t—that if Daghadar wouldn’t help him,
he’d turn to the underworld to bargain for your mother’s life.
    “I tried to stop him, but that stubbornness
of his. I followed him to the entrance of the cave, then confronted
him and tried to reason with him. He would have nothin’ of it, so I
did what I had to do. I followed him in.”
    “That’s what happened with me and Alicine,”
Dayn said. “She found me and tried to get me to come home. When I
wouldn’t, she went with me into the cave.”
    “She has your father’s stubbornness in
her.”
    “And I don’t.”
    Haskel smiled sadly. “No, I s’pose not.”
    “So when he found me, what then?”
    “He took ye home to Morna and told her that
Daghadar had given ye to ‘em as a gift for their devotion. O’
course, he’d not really thought through the fact that ye had
demonic features. All he cared about was that for the first time in
months your mother was happy. That was all he needed. He did worry
for a time that the witch might come lookin’ for ye. He lost a good
bit o’ sleep over it, I’ll tell ye that. He eventually headed back
to the cave and hung chimes in front of it. He figured she wouldn’t
trespass beyond ‘em.”
    “ He hung those?” Dayn thought back on
all the ragged chimes he and Alicine had seen draped around the
entrance to the cave. Never in his wildest dreams would he have
imagined that it was his father who had placed them there.
    “Aye, he hung ‘em, and it must have worked,
too. Never saw any more sign of the demon. At any rate, as ye grew
older, he was determined to treat ye as his own. I honestly think
he came to believe ye were. I warned him against takin’ ye to town
and pretendin’ ye were anythin’ but what ye were.”
    “Is that why you never took Eyan to
town?”
    “Aye.”
    “Did you find Eyan in a cave?”
    “Of course not!” Haskel sounded genuinely
offended.
    “Then why do you think he is demon-kind.”
    “Because he is…he must be.”
    “How? You and Vania have always been faithful
to each other I’m sure. How can Eyan be a demon?”
    “His blood is tainted by the ancient seed, o’
course.”
    “Ancient seed?”
    “Aye. Planted through the rapes of long
ago.”
    “ What ?”
    “There are tales of it amongst the clans.
Your father never told ye?” Haskel’s expression grew puzzled. Then
he explained. “As ye know, we Aeries live in the high regions,
those closest to the dwellin’ of the demons. Many generations ago,
after the Purge, but before the demons were driven back into the
mountains, they did despicable things. Since then, the taint of
their deeds has been watered down, but a few children are born now
and