Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses) Read Online Free Page A

abilities before I came to Gillengaria. I don’t know that I do. It’s just that—since I’ve been here—I’ve felt strange. Like thoughts and ideas are pouring in on me all the time, from everywhere. I can look at a man and know when he’s lying. One day a woman came in, and I knew she was dying. I could feel this—this blackness oozing out of her. She took a room next door, and she was dead in a week. Kardon was furious, because she owed him money, and she didn’t have a coin on her.”
    Senneth exchanged glances with Kirra. “Sensitive,” the golden-haired woman said.
    “Reader,” Senneth added. “Did you know Kirra wasn’t a man when she came in the bar dressed like one?”
    Cammon frowned a moment, trying to remember. “I just got a glimpse of her before everything started to get crazy,” he said. “But—yes, I did. Everyone else gasped when her hair came down. But I wasn’t surprised.”
    “How did that barkeeper—Kardon, is that his name?—how did he know you were a mystic?” Senneth asked.
    Cammon shook his head. “I don’t know. He was always telling me not to be trouble, he knew my type. I think he’s just suspicious of people in general, and being a mystic was the worst thing he could think of. So he gave me the moonstone.” He rubbed his neck again. “I never thought—I’d never felt anything like that.”
    “Keep it on long enough, and it can actually kill you,” Kirra said. “Poison your blood. It really is anathema to people like us.”
    Cammon’s eyes were on the bracelet around Senneth’s left wrist. “Then how can you—?”
    Senneth grinned and shook her hand so the stones tinkled together. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
    “Are they fake jewels?”
    “Oh, they’re real, all right, as you’ll know if you touch them,” Kirra said dryly. “She’s the only mystic I’ve ever met who can actually bear to touch moonstone.”
    He looked at Senneth. “But why? Doesn’t it hurt you?”
    Senneth shrugged. “I can feel it. Like a small fire across my skin. But I find the bracelet useful. It makes strangers fail to guess my identity. And it—” She shrugged again. “It keeps my power in check somewhat. When I was younger, I could not always control it. Now I can, but I don’t mind keeping the intensity a little low.”
    “What exactly is your power?” Cammon asked, and then looked embarrassed, as if it was rude to ask.
    From across the building, Justin raised his voice in a sardonic question. “Yes, Senneth, what exactly is your power? Donnal and Kirra at least have shown us what they’re capable of, though I’m not so impressed at people who turn themselves into beasts, but you’ve never been exactly clear on what it is you can do.”
    Kirra half-turned to shoot her answer over her shoulder. “She is power, you stupid gutter boy. She can do anything. She can create heat, and light, and fire. She can heal someone better than I can. She can change shape if she wants to. She can cast darkness. She can—she can do anything. ”
    Cammon’s eyes were wide. “Can you?”
    Senneth was laughing. “I can do a lot,” she said, not caring to be too specific. “I’m particularly good with fire. And it’s true I can heal you if you’re hurt, but you’d be in pretty desperate straits to submit to my ministrations, especially if Kirra were nearby. Now Kirra’s a talented healer.”
    Donnal had drifted back to join them, and he settled on the blanket next to Kirra. He was dark-haired, dark-eyed, and wore a close dark beard; a taciturn and restless man of peasant stock, he was never far from Kirra’s side. Cammon glanced at him.
    “Are you a healer, too?”
    Donnal grinned. “Not me. One skill and one skill only—changing.” He flickered into wolf form and back so quickly that it was almost possible to believe he hadn’t done it. “But it’s the skill I’d have picked if I’d been given a choice.”
    Cammon looked confused. “How do—where do your clothes go