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"Until now," Lia said with a smile and a little shove "I have hardly heard you say five words together since you arrived I did not realize you were so watchful Or carried so uiltily "I could talk to Sowe, or Bryn, or you In truth, I still feel like a wretched, even though I know irl despite your station Why is that?"
Lia bent her neck and thought asad, so I choose not to be sad…as often as I can I try not to regret what I do not have and enjoy what the Mediurateful for I have the Alderood teachers in Pasqua and Martin And I have enjoyed the torturous pleasure of Colvin’s friendship, until today when my outspokenness, as you put it, ruined it I swear I would lookat il How could I have known such a thing existed?"
Ellowyn squeezed the final garment and set it down "You could not have known until you were told Just as I did not know that my parents were ether still outside of this flesh Soain? Those who have passed on?"
Lia pursed her lips and thought "Martin believed it He said there is a fair country after this life, where there are no knaves I iine the Earl of Dieyre will not be there then," she added i them?"
"I suppose ill have to wait until he finishes before ill know" There was a gentle knock on the door They both looked at each other in surprise "That was a hasty conversation," Lia said, rising and going to the door "Marciana?" she asked through the crack
"Astrid," replied the lad "M…e from the Aldermaston"
Lia lifted the crossbar, sorry for the boy since it was so late She saw his eyes first, quailing with fear
"What is wrong?" Lia asked The boy slipped inside the roo He walked past her, turned and looked at her, his face white
"Lia, behind…!" Ellowyn shrieked in warning
She heard the footfall, so soft it could have been the scuffing of a pillow A strong arainst her throat She could not breathe as she realized that the kishion had found them
"A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of any maston These dispositions , as in the ancient days of Idumea, the applause of the audience is of leur than their own approbation But upon the shabby stage of this life, while conscience claps, let the world hiss"
- Gideon Penman of Muirwood Abbey
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:
Muirwood Awakened
There is nothingHow many times had Martin practiced with her Howher breath would save her life A year earlier, she would have had no thought how to free herself There was no ti pulse of her heatbeat would bring her to oblivion
Lia grasped the kishion’s ared down As she did, she twisted and stepped backwards, bringing her leg behind his The ainst the pressure of his arain Twisting out of the noose, she kicked at the back of his knee,it If she ht way to subdue hi around until it struck her cheekbone
Pain blinded her The bloas so sudden, so fast, she had not prepared herself for it Ellowyn shrieked in warning Lia backstepped quickly, trying to find her vision again She staggered back into the far wall, realizing there was no where to run
Her vision cleared as a forearm rammed at her throat Lia ducked the blow and the kishion’s arm struck the ith a shudder She was frantic With one hand, she clawed at his eyes and felt skin rip beneath her fingers She brought up her knee but he was led and he threw her to the ground
She knew at once that she could not stop the kishion He was trained every bit as a hunter, even ht off Martin, and she knew that his experience dwarfed hers As she gazed up at hith of his hands belied his size, for he was shorter than her Wiry and thin, like a page boy Had she seen him in a crowd, she would not have looked twice – except his eyes They were a muddy brown color and devoid of any spark of co into a spider’s soul He had killed countless men, dispatched the a girl Only his assignment mattered to him