Changespell Legacy Read Online Free Page B

Suliya, her riotously curly, deep-mahogany hair spilling free from its binding. She went to rummage among the manure forks.
    He hadn't failed to notice that she often turned up when Jaime gave lessons, or that she tended to lurk in his own shadow. And he suspected she thought she hid her feelings better than she did—that it didn't show when she disagreed with Jaime, or that she'd hidden her resentment at her starter position in Anfeald. Or her resentment when she saw Jess going out on a run, whether or not it had been meant for Suliya.
    An odd one, all right, her expensive wardrobe and demeanor clashing with her lack of experience and her need for a job in the first place. She'd hoped for more when she'd arrived here, that much was plain.
    But she'd overstated her qualifications, and the vague responses of her references hadn't revealed the exaggerations—exaggerations Carey had the feeling she actually believed. She had yet to learn just how much she had to learn; she was a young woman in the process of discovering herself—if she looked hard enough. But it was her journey, not his. Carey hoped that if she kept watching, kept dogging his heels, maybe she'd figure it out.
    If not, she wouldn't last much longer. But she was good with the horses and meticulous about finishing those jobs she'd been assigned, so she'd earned some forbearance and a little more time. And Carey had no doubt she'd taken every year of lessons she laid claim to—just as he was certain she'd ignored half of what she'd been told because she felt she already knew better. Now she winced, watching as Jaime walked up to Jess and her green young mount and widened Jess's outside hand. "Give him a little more room to move into that rein," she said, audible enough in a ring that had been spelled for clinic acoustics.
    "Remember how green he is—with a horse like this, on the trail, giving him this room can be the difference between a minor shy and a panicked runaway."
    "You don't agree?" Carey asked Suliya, not concerned that Jaime would hear; the acoustics spell included a damper on this end of the ring. Jaime herself had often proclaimed envy, wishing for a similar system at the Dancing Equine.
    Suliya started slightly, taking a few unconscious steps toward him so she could keep her voice low even though it was unnecessary. "I didn't say that—"
    "Sure you did," Carey told her. "Not out loud, but you said it."
    Suliya flushed; not even her sepia skin could obscure her deepened complexion. She flushed often and easily, and Carey had learned to take it as a sign of those moments when she thought she was right about something but didn't feel she could say so. Frustration more than embarrassment.
    "You've never taken a lesson with Jaime, have you?"
    "No," Suliya said, glancing first at Jess and Jaime, and then at the packed dirt floor. "I haven't been here long enough to earn them."
    Carey gave her a mildly surprised look. "Who told you that?"
    "I—" she said, looking startled, then having to think about it. "I assumed I just wasn't allowed yet—"
    Mildly—more mildly than he felt—he said, "All the information and sign-up is on the job room wall, next to the assignments."
    "I—" she said again, and even bundled as she was in scarf, thick feather-stuffed jacket and bulky gloves, Carey could see the difference in her posture. "May I, then?"
    "Maybe not this time," he said. "She's scheduled in. But I'll put you on the list for next time she visits.
    There's a catch, though—"
    Suspicion shuttered her dark brown eyes. Carey swallowed his annoyance and said, "Relax. You just have to listen to her. Do what she says, whether you agree with it or not." He knew from experience . . . sometimes the pieces of riding theory didn't make sense until you had a certain number of them in hand. "Make an honest effort. If you have differences, you can consider them later on. Right now, you do it her way." It was a test of sorts, and he let it show in his voice, even as