Shadow Blessed (The Shadow Accords Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

her mother had particularly wanted to ensure that she could find her way around without them. Most of the time, it didn’t matter. When had she ever been left alone in the city before now?
    She found the street market near the river. It was a busy place—a public place, and one that her father had instructed her to find if she ever needed them. Massive ships were moored along the docks of the Maladon River, so wide here as it flowed toward the sea. Most of the ships had markings, colors that she had long ago learned, but a few were unmarked.
    Weaving through the crowd, Carth spied a pair of A’ras striding down the street. She shrunk away, back toward the shadows. What if they looked for her? Worse, what if Felyn came after them? The simple and brutal way he’d killed still left her with a chill. In Nyaesh, death was not an uncommon sight. It was the reason her parents feared for her as they did. But there were those who dealt in death much more publicly than others, and then there were men like Felyn, who seemed as if killing men mattered no more to him than catching and cleaning fish mattered to the sailors along the dock.
    As she scanned the street, she saw another of the A’ras making his way up from the docks. Carth almost started forward, clutching the knife as she did. Anger surged in her over her mother, mixing with fear for her father and the helplessness that started to overwhelm her as she contemplated her next step—whatever that might be.
    Two more of the A’ras appeared, and Carth shrunk back.
    They stopped across the street, near enough that she could listen to their conversation, but as much as she might want to eavesdrop on the A’ras, she wanted to find her father more.
    Carth crept along the wall, keeping her back hugging the stones as she slipped down the street. When she was far enough away, she hazarded a glance back. Nearly a dozen of the A’ras had gathered. One of them spoke rapidly, leaning toward the others as he did. They began to split off, with groups of them going in different directions down the street, each with swords unsheathed.
    As a pair of the A’ras approached her, she hid behind a stack of boxes stinking of rotting fish until they were clear, feeling helpless. The A’ras were responsible for what had happened to her mother. Maybe not the ones she’d just seen—the men who had killed her were likely dead—but men like them.
    She gripped the knife more tightly as she watched them. The A’ras thought nothing of killing, thought nothing of intimidation, and now her family had been caught up in it. Her mother was gone, probably her father too, though she hated to think that way, and she felt like she had to do something about that.
    She might have a knife stolen from one of the dead A’ras, but what did she know about using it? What did she really think she could do if she was attacked?
    What if she snuck up on them?
    She could slip forward, slide the knife into one of their backs before they even knew she was there. Then she could run. Her parents had taught her to disappear and hide. She could blend into the street so that they never caught her.
    But she still wouldn’t have answers about why her parents were gone. Her father hadn’t come for her. Didn’t that mean he wouldn’t? If he wasn’t the man she’d seen captured, and if he remained free, why hadn’t he found her by now?
    The only reason was that he couldn’t.
    He was gone, like her mother.
    Carth fought against tears, not wanting to break down. Not here, and not until she was safe, but where would she ever be safe again?
    She had settled back into the shadows, tears welling in her eyes, when a hand grabbed her shoulder.
    She spun, thrusting the knife out. An older man with soft gray eyes caught her wrist and twisted it, forcing the knife away.
    “Easy,” he said. “You’re the one hiding behind my catch.”
    Carth jerked her hand back, and he let it go. She held on to the knife but lowered it so that it