Song of the Sea Spirit: An epic fantasy novel (The Mindstream Chronicles) Read Online Free Page A

least one daughter to carry on your family name.”
    Her arms ached with the need to hug him. “My sister has a daughter,” she heard herself say. “As do my cousins.”
    His eyebrows lowered, and his eyes darkened. “Is that a no, then?”
    “No! It-it’s not a no. I-I meant that I don’t need a daughter. I would be happy enough to bear you five sons.” Oh, God’s Challenger! She was gushing at him like a love-struck girl. Warmth spread through her face and down her neck.
    And just as quickly, his eyes brightened, though he didn’t smile. “Then it’s a yes?”
    Her heart was pounding, and her hands were so wet with sweat she feared they would start dripping. “It isn’t proper to propose to a woman before her twenty-third birthday.”
    “I’m not proposing. I’m planning ahead.” He winked at her, and a tiny smile played at one corner of his mouth.
    “When you propose, I’ll say yes. Until then, I can’t give you an answer.” As nervous and excited as she was, her biggest concern was how she would break the news to Boden. Ten years was a long time. Maybe by the time he returned, he would forgive her.
    Gunnar laughed, a sound that never failed to make Jora tingle inside. “I look forward to it.” He rose and offered to help her stand. She wiped her hand on her trousers before putting it into his. “I’d better report to my students. I’ll be impressed if Loel has managed to run them through their starting exercises.”
    “Thank you for speaking with me, Gunnar.”
    He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “The pleasure was mine, dear Jora.”
    As Jora watched him walk away, she fought the urge to touch her cheek to see if it felt hot to her fingers. She caught sight of his Fourth Wife, Marja, standing by the door to the dining hall. The woman glared at them with her arms crossed and mouth pinched tightly shut.
     
 

     
 
    The first opportunity Jora had to take her new flute to the beach was late morning, before the Antenuptials were due to begin. She hurried across the sand to the rocky shoal she had played on since she was a child. At low tide, the rocks were dry and easy to cross by hopping along a familiar path, though she wasn’t as lithe as she’d once been. The smell of saltwater, the sound of the rushing waves, and the feel of the sun’s warmth on her face sharpened her mind and calmed her soul. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere but by the sea.
    She settled on a rock with her legs dangling over the edge, a good two feet above the splash of the waves hitting the rocks. Out here, with only the birds and fish to hear her, she lifted the flute to her lips, covered all but the first hole, and tried a tentative blow. It came out sounding more breathy than musical, but the shy note encouraged her to try again to coax out a clearer sound.
    She experimented with rotating the flute by degrees and found the perfect angle that allowed her to blow clear, crisp notes instead of note-flavored breaths. Excited, she tested various positions of her fingers, covering and uncovering holes to get a feel for how to create the notes she wanted.
    “Jora!”
    From the beach, Tearna beckoned her with waving arms. Had time passed so quickly? It seemed she’d arrived only a moment ago. She waved back. A few more minutes.
    She played a few notes of her favorite song, adjusting her fingering when she got them wrong. She played them again and again, getting them right after the third attempt.
    A joyful twitter broke her concentration. She looked down to find a bottlenose dolphin eyeing her from the water near her feet, its mouth open as if in a smile.
    “Hail,” she said, charmed by the creature’s friendly greeting. “Did my flute playing disturb you?”
    The dolphin rose out of the water a few inches and twittered some more.
    Jora laughed. “I’ll get better, I promise. In the meantime, you might want to find another place to nap or hunt or whatever you were doing. I plan to come here to practice every