Read Online Yin and Yang: A Fool's Beginning by Odette C. Bell - Free Book Online

a
little wider and his concentration intensifies. He doesn't once
blink, and he barely shifts the muscles in his cheeks and jaw as he
opens his lips a crack , “I will tell you
what happens when you run out of tricks, boy. You feel. All the
emotion you once held at bay rushes back into you. A flood, a tidal
wave, a monsoon. Every drop of feeling will eat back into the soul
you've ignored for years, and drench it completely. I've seen it
happen before, and I've done it myself. If you know how, you can
break a sorcerer, and I assure you, boy, I know how.”
    I stop speaking. Though I open my lips to reply that
I am a loyal servant, the words freeze in my throat.
    The intensity with which Castor stares at me is one I
have never faced.
    No, not never. My father used to burn with such
powerful ferocity too. But unlike Castor, he was undisciplined,
unfocused.
    Castor Barr, on the other hand, is rightfully one of
the greatest warriors ever to have lived.
    As that fact repeats in my mind, I lose a little more
of my emotional control.
    Castor watches me
keenly, his eyes darting around as he takes in my expression and
body language . “If you do anything to
her, I will come after you.”
    Again I don't speak.
    Instead I lock my gaze on the floor and concentrate
as hard as I can on the scuffed wood.
    “You won't be able to
flow around me, nor will you be able to manipulate me. If you try
to manipulate her,” Castor begins.
    “You'll rip my throat
out,” I conclude quickly.
    “No, I will break
you. I'll find the one thing that can tear down your wall of
emotional control, and I'll use it,” he says quietly. In fact, his
tone is barely above a whisper, and registers as nothing more than
a slight hiss of breath.
    I stop pumping my hands. In fact, I practically stop
breathing too.
    Yet somehow, I stand my ground. For all of Castor
Barr's threats, he can’t undermine my training with words
alone.
    “It makes sense for a
man like you to be a captain in the Royal Army,” Barr suddenly
notes, “you're heartless enough to do anything the command tells
you.”
    “I am not heartless,”
I interject, unable to keep silent.
    “Really, you have a
heart? Have you ever used it?” Castor states as he leans forward
slightly, once more staring into my eyes unblinkingly. His gaze is
like a roaring gale, and staring back at it is like standing in a
lightning storm.
    But swallowing, I manage it.
    Then I hold my tongue. I won't let this man
manipulate me.
    It's hard, though. As soon as silence descends for
too long, I find my attention going back inexorably to Yin. The
questions fill my mind again, but I'm not foolish enough to ask
them. If I engage Castor in conversation, he'll use it against
me.
    So I press my lips closed and keep my eyes wide open.
Though I've convinced myself that if Castor intended to escape he
would have done so by now, I still can't afford to take my eyes off
him.
    In every way he is proving himself to be the
legendary warrior of old.
    But perhaps it's not Castor I have to worry
about.
     

Chapter 6
     
    Yin
    I wake with a start.
    I come plummeting out of unconsciousness like a rock
thrown off the highest tower. I spring forward, jumping up with the
momentum of waking up.
    I feel like I've been hemmed in by a wall that
somehow trapped me in sleep.
    Just as I jump forward, somebody wraps an arm around
my middle and holds me in place.
    I open my eyes. In fact, the lids jerk wide with such
speed it feels as if I'll tear the skin.
    My hair flying about my face with the force of my
move, I suddenly realize that someone's in front of me.
    My mind takes seconds to catch up. It's Captain Yang.
As I jerk towards him, he jerks backwards. His face is awash with
surprise, those pale brown eyes as open as they can be.
    “Yin,” I hear Castor
call my name, and suddenly realize that he's the one holding
me.
    My mind struggles to catch up.
    As it does, I stare with open eyes at Yang. My hair
slowly settles across my shoulder and