Mystic Warrior Read Online Free Page B

shot forward, dashing in front of her eyes before arcing upward and disappearing into the unre lentingly blue sky—toward Murdoch .
    Toward the Other World beyond the invisible barrier that guarded Aelynn.
    People stared at her as if she were a stranger, as much in shock as she was, waiting for her to tell them what to do, to explain what had just happened.
    Lissandra crumpled to her knees, scarcely hearing the crowd’s shocked cries over her own confusion. The gods had rejected her.
    Everything she’d been, everything she’d believed, had vanished in a puff of blue flame.
    The spirit of the gods had deserted Aelynn—for a man who had turned his back on all they represented!
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    Days later, with the volcano rumbling ominously and spewing black fumes into the once-clear air, Lissandra remained stunned and in shock.
    Could Murdoch save Aelynn?
    She’d had the time between her mother’s death and interment to accept what the gods had shown her. And if she had dreaded becoming Oracle, she dreaded even more the duty that had been bestowed upon her now.
    No amount of meditation had changed what Lissandra’s spirit guide was insisting she do—she must leave Aelynn and find the new Oracle . . . find the one person she wished never to see again. Then she must bring him home, to see him and work with him every agonizing day.
    She couldn’t do it, but she had to do it.
    Even though her actions went counter to everything she believed, Lissandra squeezed the last piece of clothing into her medicinal case.
    Waiting for her outside her cottage, Ian frowned when she emerged carrying the bag.
    Lissandra faced her older brother with equanimity. “I will need to exchange my pearls for your foreign coin.”
    Always divert attention from oneself , her mother said inside her head. Give them tasks they understand. They will believe in your omniscience and that the gods speak through you.
    But the gods had deemed her unworthy to speak for them. That she was almost relieved by their rejection only added to Lissandra’s abject misery and bewilderment.
    She pulled her cloak closer against the recent summer chill. In the distance, the volcano glowed a dull, angry red beneath the heavy clouds, as it had been since the spirits had departed. Lissandra and Ian passed a group of muttering men, who, instead of greeting the last of the Olympus family with pleasantries, as they once would have done, now turned aside in bitterness.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Ian demanded, following her down the path to the harbor.
    â€œI’m leaving Aelynn, of course,” she replied.
    She said it simply, as if she were announcing her intent to breakfast rather than dashing centuries of tradition to the ground and stomping on it. Worse, she was doing it to seek a rogue who could destroy them all.
    Fighting her fear, she kept her back rigid, knowing that if she hesitated, all was lost.
    â€œI can’t leave the island if you do,” Ian pointed out reasonably enough, since the two of them were the last of a long, proud line of Aelynn’s spiritual leaders.
    She could sense he was playing along with her, thinking her actions were a riddle to be solved, since she had never before left the island or expressed a desire to do so. “I am sorry,” she said in all sincerity, “but you have had these past two years in the Other World with Chantal, returning only now for Mother’s funeral, while I have dealt with Mother and the Council and healed the ill of mind and spirit in your absence. It is your turn to stay.”
    If she died in the pursuit of her insane quest, Ian’s “turn” would last a lifetime. Sorrow welled up in her at the thought that she might never see her home again, or that she might cause harm because of her decision. But beneath her grief and sorrow, a shred of relief remained. If she wasn’t to be Oracle, she was no longer bound by duty. It was as if the weight