Longeye Read Online Free

against him. Nonetheless, I must insist that I be allowed to go free."
    Sian blinked. "Free," she repeated, as if the word were some strange artifact that had only now been put into her hand. "And where will you go, free?"
    "I would go across the keleigh ." The words had scarce left her lips when her stomach heaved. Becca clamped her teeth against sickness, took a breath—
    Peace, Gardener , murmured the voice of the trees. A cool wash of green flowed through her, cooling her tumultuous blood, uncramping her stomach.
    She took another breath, tasting the distinctive sweetness of duainfey in the air. Duainfey, which gave the gift of clear sight; and surcease from pain. A healer's friend, duainfey, the death it gifted as sweet as the taste of its leaves.
    She had eaten two duainfey leaves—enough to achieve clarity of vision. The third leaf had been taken from her before she could complete her resolve.
    "You would cross the keleigh ." Sian sounded openly skeptical.
    "I've crossed the keleigh once," Becca said, lifting her chin with an effort. "It holds far fewer horrors for me than the possibility of meeting Altimere again."
    The Fey woman nodded. "You do have wits, then. Still, the keleigh , though less horrifying than Altimere, is no small obstacle. And, as you say, the Queen has her own reasons to keep you close. Best you come with me, to a more protected location, and await her command."
    "I—" Becca stopped, looking down at her draggled garments. What, after all, awaited her at home? She was ruined—even if she managed to keep the details of her life under Altimere's . . . protection . . . a secret. After all, she had been wanton enough to elope with the man! She had been ruined before the first night was through. All else— everything else she had accepted or had forced upon her—merely confirmed her in shame. Women like her were remanded to Wanderer's Villages, or hanged by the Board of Governors, as an example for obedience and chastity.
    And yet—to remain in the Vaitura, where she was prey and worse? A kest -less being to be dominated and used by those who held more power—which would, she thought dismally, be anyone, including a child not yet out of nursery.
    You are not so unprotected as that, Gardener, nor so friendless .
    The thought warmed her, even as she recalled that the trees had been unable to preserve Elyd's life.
    "Forgive me, Rebecca Beauvelley," Sian said, breaking into these thoughts. "You were about to say?"
    "A moment," Becca said curtly. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to reason .
    The first thing to do, she told herself carefully, was to remove herself from Altimere's orbit. He might, after all, return home at any time. Therefore, to accept the Queen's dictate—for now!—and accompany Sian was, in its way, wisdom. Later, when she had had time to plan, and to proceed from a position of safety—or at least such safety as was available to her here—later, she would see what else she might contrive.
    She sighed, and raised her head to meet Sian's eyes.
    "I will not leave my horse here," she said, firmly, "nor my lore books."
    Sian's mouth twisted into an ironical smile. "These books—they are in Altimere's house?"
    "Yes, and my horse is in his stable," Becca answered tartly. "Is that so wonderful?"
    "Scarcely wonderful at all," Sian said, and made Becca a sudden, extravagant bow.
    "Lead on, by your kindness! I shall, of course, accompany you."
    It was, Becca thought, shameful that she should feel quite so much relief at hearing these words.
    Sian is not an ill friend, Gardener , the tree told her confidentially, which, for all she knew, was so.
    And, in any wise, she really had no choice.
    Head high, she walked past Sian, across the room. The hallway door opened to let her through.
     
    Meri had returned to the nest and curled down 'mong the sweet grasses, thinking to make an early start on the morrow. Sleep, however, eluded him, held away, no doubt, by the sounds of wailing on