Read Online The White Spell by Lynn Kurland - Free Book Online Page B

is it?”
    â€œYour grandfather,” the girl whispered. “He looks poorly.”
    The man is completely incapacitated
, was almost out of her mouth before she realized the girl wasn’t a child fresh from her mother’s hearthfire. She obviously had the wit and age to judge things for herself.
    â€œWhat do you mean, poorly?”
    The girl shook her head sharply. “I don’t know and I daren’t speculate. I tend him, you see, and—” She looked around herself again. “Something’s amiss. More than the usual something.” She shifted uneasily. “There is danger in the house.”
    Léirsinn was grateful for years of not reacting to even the worst piece of gossip. It was all that saved her from panicking at present. She nodded, because that made her feel in control.
    â€œThank you,” she said. “I’ll see to it.”
    The girl looked at her, then bolted. Léirsinn took a moment or two to compose herself, then left the passageway. She could hear Acair cursing and Doghail laughing at him, so she supposed those two would keep themselves busy enough.
    She walked through the aisles between stalls as casually as she could, though in reality she was so panicked she could hardly breathe. Her grandfather wasn’t well, that was true, but for someone from the house to actually venture into the barn to find her spoke volumes about the possible worsening of his condition.
    She found herself starting for her uncle’s grand house before she knew that was where she intended to go. She wasn’t supposed to show her face there until the end of the month, but this was an emergency. She forced herself to walk when she would have preferred to run, then presented herself at the back kitchen door. She knocked and waited for what seemed to be an excessive amount of time before one of the under butlers opened the door. He looked down his long nose at her.
    â€œYes?” he asked crisply.
    â€œI need to see my grandfather.”
    â€œYour appointment with His Lordship is in a se’nnight, Mistress Léirsinn, not today.”
    â€œI need to see my grandfather—”
    â€œNot today.”
    â€œBut—”
    The door shut in her face. She would have knocked again, but she had done that before and been escorted back to the barn by apair of rather hefty guardsmen with no sense of fair play. She turned, leaned back against the door, and forced herself to remain calm. For all she knew, the maidservant had been imagining things, or someone had sent the wench off to stir up trouble as a lark, or she herself hadn’t listened closely enough when the girl had been speaking. The possibilities were many, truly, and varied. Her grandfather was likely just fine and she would see that for herself when she was allowed inside the manor.
    She pushed away from the door and walked down the stairs into the garden. She was distracted enough that she almost stepped into a patch of . . .
    She stepped back casually, then let out her breath slowly. She was losing what few wits were left her. That was the only reason she continued to see those patches of shadow where they shouldn’t have been.
    She looked about her to make certain no one would see her at the piece of madness she contemplated and was satisfied that she wasn’t interesting enough for anyone to watch. She glanced at the spot in front of her as casually as possible. It was perhaps a foot across and surely no longer than that. Roundish, yet not quite a circle.
    She found herself again terribly tempted to touch it, but decided rather abruptly that that would be a very bad idea indeed for the simple reason that she sensed she was being watched.
    She rolled her eyes. Of course she was being watched. The entire bloody manor staff was probably watching her, laughing their arses off at her stupidity. She looked over her shoulder, fully prepared to give as good as she was no doubt getting, only to