Read Online Sword Sisters by Alex Bledsoe, Tara Cardinal - Free Book Online Page B

though. She had the kind of beautiful, open, kind face that made people adore her. She had red hair, darker than mine, and a high forehead that spoke of intelligence. Her mouth was full and always in motion, even when she wasn’t speaking. She’d shift from smile to frown to ironic crinkle to goofy taunt without pause. It made watching her face the most entertaining thing a child could do.
    Her hand, wrapped around my own, was strong. Even with the burns and stains from her potions, it felt like the touch of kindness itself. She would caress my cheek or brush my own bright red hair back from my face or tickle me until I almost peed. I knew that her hands were the touch of unconditional love.
    On this day, I held onto her hand as we strode through the woods. I knew the forest around our cottage well, but I’d never been here before. Still, if Mom was with me, I had no fear at all.
    And then we came into a clearing, where a man waited for us.
    At least, I thought he was a man at the time. He had bright white hair, a bleached-bone-white face, and little ridges above his eyes where people didn’t. He dressed all in black and held a bottle of some red liquid. I had the instinctive fear and mistrust that only a child can feel and clutched my mother’s hand with both of mine.
    “Don’t be scared,” my mother said. “Aella, I want you to meet your father.” At five years old, I didn’t even know what a father was.
    Ganesh smiled. It was not a true smile but a mimicry of one. A non-human being trying to pass as something human. He failed at it.
    And I snapped awake.
    #
    Amelia looked down at me, concerned. “Wow. You’re alive.”
    “Yes,” I croaked. It felt like branding irons pressed against my shoulder, and the pain radiated down to my toes. I couldn’t unclench my jaw, it hurt so much. “But…ow.”
    “How?”
    “No, ‘ow,’ as in, ‘ow, this hurts like a squirrel.’”
    “Does a squirrel hurt?”
    “If it’s thrown at you hard enough.”
    She slid an arm under me and tried to lift me to my feet. The results were rather comical. “Can you walk?”
    “I think so.” With her help, I got up, wobbly but mobile.
    “Come on, we’ll get you to my village.”
    “Do you have a healer?”
    “I have a mom. That’s even better. And she owes me big time for letting them try to feed me to a giant spider.”
    I was able to walk thanks to the kind of resolve that’s second nature to a Reaper. When necessary, we can fixate on one activity almost until we’re hacked to pieces, like an army ant. I still had to lean on Amelia for support though.
    The trail we followed was wide and often used if the bare soil was any indication. It followed the contours of the land the way old paths did. The trees on either side were thick and heavily tangled, forests that were saplings when the world itself was young.
    We passed an upright stone slab with carvings on it. Around its base were fresh flowers and a collection of little trinkets. I wobbled to a stop and asked, “What’s this?”
    “One of the Pillars of Lurida Lumo,” Amelia said. “This is the pilgrim trail from our village to the cave, and these mark events in the story of Rowena, the first sacrifice.”
    “What’s the point of that?”
    “To make us remember why we do this. Us being the girls sent to die.”
    I remembered some of the overheard conversation. “You weren’t supposed to be the sacrifice.”
    “No. Kelinda was; she was excited about it if you can believe that. Weirdo. Unfortunately, a horse kicked her to death yesterday evening, and this morning, the Elders grabbed me out of my bed without even a word of explanation. And my parents did nothing. They just stood there.”
    “Sacrifices are…barbarous,” I said. My vision began to blur.
    “I won’t argue,” she agreed. Then she grunted as my knees began to wobble and I got a whole lot heavier.
    “You know what else?” I said.
    “No, what?”
    “I don’t think I can walk any