Read Online Sworn To Raise: Courtlight #1 by Terah Edun - Free Book Online
Authors: Terah Edun
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her. She tumbled to the ground and her skirts flew over her head
As she quickly righted herself and brushed her hair from her face she heard laughter erupt from behind her. In the shadows of the garden entrance, two girls and a young man stood clearly mocking her. The girl next to Prima was mimicking her fall with an exaggerated face and arms milling widely about for balance.
The boy next to her was silently watching as a wind came down from the sky and began to twist around him so that he stood inside his own whirlwind. He watched her with calculating eyes and Ciardis knew that he had been the cause of her fall. The winds around them now and before were nowhere near strong enough to push over a person without a mage’s help.
Ciardis’s faced flamed with embarrassment, but she couldn’t run. They were standing in the middle of the only path back to safety and her room.
With nowhere to go and no way to avoid them, she raised her head high, her chin trembling, and grabbed a bunch of her dress in both hands to keep her hands from shaking with tremors.
“You know,” said Prima with a hint of cruelty in her voice, “If you really wanted to learn how to pay respect to the ground, I would have had Teachene show you.”
Going stiff with ire at the girl’s dig at her friend, Ciardis retorted, “It takes a dirt kisser to know one Prima. Perhaps you should teach me.”
The young man at Prima’s side quickly stifled a laugh with a cough into his fist.
Prima’s charming smile transformed into a frown to rival the anger of the legendary Bella Mickness—a girl Ciardis knew from back home in Vaneis who nobody messed with. Ciardis cringed and ducked instinctively, ready for the blow to hit her, completely forgetting her defense training.
But she had underestimated Prima. She wouldn’t hit anyone; the risk of marring her manicure was too great.
“At least I’m not some gold digging baseborn bitch,” the girl said viciously. “Go back to where you came from—you won’t find a husband there, either, but it’s better than the humiliation you’ll receive here.”
She turned around, stepped around her companions, and swept off in a huff without a backwards glance, leaving Ciardis with tears running down her face.
Prima’s friends followed right behind her.
After some dramatic dirt kicking, which left the garden looking like a lawn gnome had decided to redecorate, Ciardis went back to her room.
“And to think I thought they’d be nicehere,” she muttered to herself, then sighed and collapsed on her fluffy bed. Spreading her hands over the mattress, she couldn’t help but smile as she remembered her room back in Vaneis. Living in this castle was world’s above the small freezing inn where even with a heat spell the nights were cold and the blankets too thin. Flipping over and putting her hands behind her head she reminisced over the lessons from the past two months. It seemed never-ending - there was always something she didn’t know.
Damias was a difficult taskmaster, but she could tell he was making every effort to prepare her for her Hunt, although sometimes she wondered if he planned for her to die of exhaustion before she even got there.
Hearing a knock at her door, she rolled over onto her back and shouted, “Come in.” Sitting up, she couldn’t help but hope it wasn’t Prima; she didn’t need more trouble today.
It wasn’t Prima, thank goodness. Teachene stood in the doorway, bearing cakes.
“Phew,” said Ciardis, “I’m just glad you’re not Prima…or Sephrane, for that matter.”
She hadn’t seen Sephrane in weeks. After Sephrane had passed the Talents Guild test four weeks ago, she’d moved into an apartment of her own in the city. No doubt she was insanely busy preparing to take over from the ancient Master Copier at the Barter Hall.
But she had been so thoughtful and arranged to have a local woman continue to deliver her dirty laundry to Ciardis’s doorstep once a week like
As she quickly righted herself and brushed her hair from her face she heard laughter erupt from behind her. In the shadows of the garden entrance, two girls and a young man stood clearly mocking her. The girl next to Prima was mimicking her fall with an exaggerated face and arms milling widely about for balance.
The boy next to her was silently watching as a wind came down from the sky and began to twist around him so that he stood inside his own whirlwind. He watched her with calculating eyes and Ciardis knew that he had been the cause of her fall. The winds around them now and before were nowhere near strong enough to push over a person without a mage’s help.
Ciardis’s faced flamed with embarrassment, but she couldn’t run. They were standing in the middle of the only path back to safety and her room.
With nowhere to go and no way to avoid them, she raised her head high, her chin trembling, and grabbed a bunch of her dress in both hands to keep her hands from shaking with tremors.
“You know,” said Prima with a hint of cruelty in her voice, “If you really wanted to learn how to pay respect to the ground, I would have had Teachene show you.”
Going stiff with ire at the girl’s dig at her friend, Ciardis retorted, “It takes a dirt kisser to know one Prima. Perhaps you should teach me.”
The young man at Prima’s side quickly stifled a laugh with a cough into his fist.
Prima’s charming smile transformed into a frown to rival the anger of the legendary Bella Mickness—a girl Ciardis knew from back home in Vaneis who nobody messed with. Ciardis cringed and ducked instinctively, ready for the blow to hit her, completely forgetting her defense training.
But she had underestimated Prima. She wouldn’t hit anyone; the risk of marring her manicure was too great.
“At least I’m not some gold digging baseborn bitch,” the girl said viciously. “Go back to where you came from—you won’t find a husband there, either, but it’s better than the humiliation you’ll receive here.”
She turned around, stepped around her companions, and swept off in a huff without a backwards glance, leaving Ciardis with tears running down her face.
Prima’s friends followed right behind her.
After some dramatic dirt kicking, which left the garden looking like a lawn gnome had decided to redecorate, Ciardis went back to her room.
“And to think I thought they’d be nicehere,” she muttered to herself, then sighed and collapsed on her fluffy bed. Spreading her hands over the mattress, she couldn’t help but smile as she remembered her room back in Vaneis. Living in this castle was world’s above the small freezing inn where even with a heat spell the nights were cold and the blankets too thin. Flipping over and putting her hands behind her head she reminisced over the lessons from the past two months. It seemed never-ending - there was always something she didn’t know.
Damias was a difficult taskmaster, but she could tell he was making every effort to prepare her for her Hunt, although sometimes she wondered if he planned for her to die of exhaustion before she even got there.
Hearing a knock at her door, she rolled over onto her back and shouted, “Come in.” Sitting up, she couldn’t help but hope it wasn’t Prima; she didn’t need more trouble today.
It wasn’t Prima, thank goodness. Teachene stood in the doorway, bearing cakes.
“Phew,” said Ciardis, “I’m just glad you’re not Prima…or Sephrane, for that matter.”
She hadn’t seen Sephrane in weeks. After Sephrane had passed the Talents Guild test four weeks ago, she’d moved into an apartment of her own in the city. No doubt she was insanely busy preparing to take over from the ancient Master Copier at the Barter Hall.
But she had been so thoughtful and arranged to have a local woman continue to deliver her dirty laundry to Ciardis’s doorstep once a week like
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