Souls of Aredyrah 2 - The Search for the Unnamed One by Tracy A. Akers Page A

seen her,
and Mahon began to wonder if there was some sort of conspiracy
amongst them.
    He kept his eyes on the crack beneath the
door, staring trance-like at the sliver of light stretched across
it. As he watched, he willed a shadow to darken it, willed Brina to
open the door and sweep into the room. But there was no shadow and
no movement, only a motionless string of light.
    Mahon shifted in his chair, trying to ease
his aching back. How long had he been sitting there? he wondered.
The moon had been high for hours now. What if Brina wasn’t coming
back at all? Mahon shook his head. Of course she was coming back.
No matter how proud she was, no matter how noble, he knew she would
never give up the comfortable life she led. If Reiv hadn’t tempted
her away from Tearia by now, nobody would. Except perhaps Dayn.
    Mahon rehearsed another speech in his mind,
but it just turned out like the dozen or so he had already
practiced. With each version, the subject of Dayn always seemed to
take precedence over that of Reiv. Now here he was, thinking of
Dayn again, fighting back the fear that the boy was his son,
clinging to the belief that Brina had killed Keefe with her own
hands as she’d claimed. Surely she would not have lied to him about
something as important as that. That would have been the coldest,
cruelest blow she could have dealt. But now, knowing what he did
about the planned Purge, Mahon had to get the truth from her once
and for all.
    The door latch rattled and Mahon jerked with
a start. The door opened, and a swath of light swept the floor as
the silhouette of Brina entered the room. Then the door closed and
there was darkness again.
    “Where have you been?” Mahon asked from the
shadows.
    “Mahon!” Brina cried. “What—”
    Mahon did not rise, but lit the lantern on
the table next to him. He turned his face to hers and watched as
her expression changed from surprise to annoyance. Raising a hand
to quiet the words he knew were coming, he said, “Save your temper,
wife. I have not come seeking comforts from you.”
    “What have you come seeking then?” she
asked.
    “Information. Now…I will ask you again. Where
have you been?”
    Brina stepped over to her dressing table and
pulled the clips from her hair, tossing them onto a silver tray. “I
do not have to explain my whereabouts to you.”
    Mahon rose and watched as her pale hair
cascaded down her shoulders, and for a moment he imagined taking
her into his arms. But he brushed the fantasy aside. He had to stay
focused on what was real, not on dreams that would never be.
    “I am not here to argue,” he said, “but I
need to know where you have been.”
    Brina laughed. “Why do you need to know?”
    “Because the King ordered it.”
    Brina spun to face him, her expression
hopeful. “The King?” she asked. “Sedric ordered you to find me? He
is better then?”
    “No, not Sedric. Whyn.”
    Brina studied his face, the realization of
his words taking form. “You mean…Sedric has passed? Oh gods.” She
raised her hand to cover her mouth, but it did not stop the sob
that escaped it.
    “Hours ago; and you, the Queen’s own sister,
nowhere to be found. I am accustomed to being the last to know when
it comes to family matters. Imagine my discomfort when I was called
to the new King’s receiving room and informed of my wife’s
disappearance.”
    “I—I am sorry, Mahon. I did not mean to put
you in that position.”
    “You have put me in a position much worse
than that, Brina. Whyn has given me some directives, and one of
those was to find out if you have been in contact with Reiv.”
    Brina turned her back to him. “Of course not.
Reiv is in Pobu. How could I possibly be in contact with him?”
    “That is exactly what I would like to
know.”
    She wheeled around. “I told you…I have not
seen him.”
    “Then where were you?”
    Brina did not answer.
    Mahon walked toward her. She backed away, but
her legs rammed against the dressing table,