Read Online Wolf's-own: Weregild by Carole Cummings - Free Book Online Page A

was—probably still didn't know—but Umeia understood it, and better than she had that night when she'd blithely sworn oath, all too confident then that she'd known exactly what she was doing. She wasn't just precautionary protection for Fen's siblings. She was the empress, hunching on her square of the chensuboard, shielding her pawns as both Malick and Asai maneuvered the rest of the board around them. Malick had wanted her there to protect them all from himself, just as much as from Asai. To protect his own soul and prevent him from straying too far from Wolf while he wended through what was to come. It was a difficult thing, removing oneself from mortal wants and concerns, while still maintaining in one's heart those things that kept one from becoming... well, Asai. Or even Husao. Malick had been trying to find that balance for far too long, and even when he tried to turn himself into something cool and callous, he still ended up on the heart-hungry side.
    Wolf smiled on her little brother—oh yes, surely, the aloof prick—because Malick bloody suffered for what he was, and suffered harder when he tried to be something else.
    No wonder he and Skel had understood each other so well. No wonder people threw themselves at him. No wonder broken hearts dogged his steps. How could you not adore someone who loved you a little bit merely for existing?
    Umeia sighed. “Sometimes I wish you really were the ass you pretend to be, little brother."
    Malick only clenched his teeth and started moving again. “We can't stay here for long,” he said, eyes on his hands as he maneuvered Fen out of the tunic, pausing to shake his head and growl at the bloody, twisted flesh of his forearm—that was going to need sutures too, damn it—then dragged him out of the layer of mail beneath the shirt. “It's only a matter of time before Asai finds me. And when he finds me, he finds you and everyone else. They were after his brother tonight. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Asai plans to use him to blackmail Fen into doing what he wants, and he won't stop coming after him, even if he has to tear down the Girou around us. Or, more likely, pay someone else to do it for him. Fucking prick, he never has stooped to doing his own wet work.” Malick paused, shoulders hunching a little, the muscles of his back heaving with two long, deep breaths, but he still didn't look up. “I'm sorry."
    "Save ‘sorry’ for when I ask for it,” Umeia told him as she dropped Fen's boot to the floor and went for the other. “Cut that trouser leg right up the center. We'll talk about the rest in the morning."
    Because she'd be damned if she'd let Asai, of all people, drive her out of the home they'd made, or harm the people who made up their family. It had been too long since they'd had one. And she wasn't about to argue with her obstinate brother over it now.
    Anyway, with what she saw when she finally got a look at Fen's leg, they likely wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. Umeia stepped back, hands on her hips. “Go get my bag off the clothespress,” she told Malick wearily.
    She had work to do here, a duckling to tend.
    Asai could just fuck off for now.
    [Back to Table of Contents]

Chapter Two
    It had been the briefest, tiniest of glimpses, but it had been... almost enough. A flash of potential, all in a smeary whirl—more like glimpses of images, really, and far too much cryptic symbology—but it had been enough to see that the Wheels were still turning. Fate was lumbering forward.
    Strangely, it all seemed to flower outward from the little one, not from the twin, as he'd rather expected, but youth did burn brightest in his general experience. Jacin-rei's little sister was burning like the last gasp of a dying star. Asai frowned at the metaphor. He had a bit of a soft spot for mortal youth—they were such fascinating little portents, even the ones without magic, their fundamental belief in all things splaying them open like porous