Read Online The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5) by D.K. Holmberg - Free Book Online Page B

have to go to her again for answers. Now that Alyse was safe, maybe he owed it to her to share that. That had been the one thing that his father had wanted as well.
    “Is she happy?” he asked Brusus as he watched his sister serving customers.
    “She’s a tough one. Likes to have things a particular way. Can’t say that she’s wrong most of the time, either. But happy? Ah, Rsiran, I’m not sure your sister will ever be happy, not with the way things went for her.”
    At least she was safe. Maybe that was enough.
    Alyse stopped at their table and set a plate in front of Rsiran. “You need to eat. Brusus tells me that you don’t get enough food. I made this one for you.”
    Rsiran set his mug of ale down. He hadn’t expected that from her. “You made it?”
    Alyse had always been a wonderful cook, but an even better baker. If this was her work, and she had been the one to make the bread and the meats, the Barth might finally have something worth eating again. After Lianna’s death, her sister had taken over the tavern, and the food had taken a turn for the worse. When Brusus purchased the Barth, he’d deemed himself the new cook, but that hadn’t resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of the food. Rsiran might eat more , but there was definitely room for improvement in the quality.
    “Thank you,” he said.
    She huffed and nodded. “Thank me after you eat.” With that, she turned away from the table and made her way back into the kitchen.
    “She’s cooking now, too,” Brusus said. “I couldn’t keep her away from the kitchen if I tried. She told me that she couldn’t stand serving food that smelled like what I made. I thought she was just being rude, but then I tasted what she offered. Damn if she wasn’t right. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell her that she was right. Don’t need another Lareth getting a big head on me.”
    “What do you mean by ‘another’?” Rsiran challenged.
    “Hey, you’re the one who went out and sought recognition from the guild. Glad you did it, but not sure that was the right play.”
    Rsiran smiled at the playful look on Brusus’s face. “This is for you,” he said. He pulled the lorcith-forged sjihn tree out from under his chair.
    It was wrapped in cloth, mostly to keep safe as he carried it. As Brusus peeled the wrapping away, his eyes went wider and wider and his hands started shaking. “What is this?”
    “This was my demonstration to Seval, who then presented it to the guild as my journeyman project,” Rsiran said.
    Rsiran’s attention was pulled away when he saw Alyse come out from the kitchen. She saw Brusus and started toward him but stopped short, a flush coming to her cheeks, and turned back toward the kitchen.
    “You made this?”
    Rsiran watched his sister’s retreat, considering the expression he thought he’d seen on her face. Then he turned back to Brusus, nodding his head. “It’s the best that I could do. Jessa thought that you would want it. Not sure that she was right, but…”
    “This… this is amazing.” He stared at the tree, tears welling in his eyes. “It’s almost like I can feel her with me.” Brusus swallowed and took a deep breath. “Thank you, Rsiran.”
    Brusus continued to stare at the tree, saying nothing. His hands still trembled, and he didn’t touch his ale or the dice, both surprising given that it was Brusus.
    “Maybe I was wrong about you getting a big head,” he said. “Maybe you have what you’re supposed to have.”
    Rsiran smiled. “It just seemed the right thing to make.”
    Brusus stared at it for a little while longer and then stood and carried it to the hearth at the back of the room. There he set it on the mantel and stared a few moments longer. When he turned back, he had a resolute expression in his eyes as he returned to the table. “We need to honor her memory.”
    “I thought that was what you were doing by running her tavern.”
    “That doesn’t honor her. That carries on