Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) Read Online Free Page B

Port. Yet, we could have known so
much more. You ruined everything. Can you not see that?"
    "You
should have bedded the cousin on the first night of meeting him." Bruna
regarded her ferociously. "You should listen to me. I am trying to help
you avoid future mistakes."
    "Bedding
is not the same as the bonding. You have no appreciation for the rites of
courtship." Adalginza began applying a red coating to her lips.
    "An
excuse."
    "I am
weary of your company. And your advice. Shouldn't you go now and tend to the
food?"
    Bruna remained
where she was. And as the sun outside disappeared, her face contorted with
jealousy that was reflected in the darkening mirror.
    "Call it
what you will. But I know the truth. You are still a virgin, and you are afraid.
Benfaaro sent a child for this mission."
    "I
will not indulge you further in this discussion. Go. Now."
    "I take
no orders from you."
    "Very
well. Let the food that is cooking turn to charcoal. Then I will report back to
Benfaaro that you failed to deliver meals to the guests on time, and they left
before I had the chance to greet them properly."
    Bruna stood,
regarding her speculatively, as though she had far more she wanted to say. But
finally she turned and left the room.
    When she was
at last mercifully alone, Adalginza dropped her bravado and stared back with
frightened eyes at her own image in the mirror.
    She knew she
was weak. She knew she might fail because of it. But she didn't need Bruna's constant
reminders of her shortcomings.
    For probably
the thousandth time since her arrival in Sola Re, Adalginza fervently wished
that Benfaaro had trusted her enough to handle this mission alone.
    But perhaps
this arrangement was for the best. At least her brother and Bruna were
separated this way. In the presence of his mate, Benfaaro was beginning to
behave more like a man on a leash rather than a fierce leader.
    And this was
alarming to all who knew him well.
    Adalginza
frowned at the thought. Bruna, too, had an unspoken name in tribal dialect.
Something that translated into she who fathoms treasures of soil and sun.
    Those so gifted
often were healers, as Bruna sometimes was with the creation of her many
potions.
    But she also
had been known to drive enemies mad with the simple brew of an otherwise
innocent-looking tea made of an unknown concoction of herbs and leaves.
    It was
rumored, in fact, that Bruna had used such a potion to cast a spell over
Benfaaro himself.
    It was the
only explanation for why he had so mysteriously rejected his first love and pledged
himself to Bruna, bonding with her within only days of their first meeting.
    While Bruna
doted upon the man she had so beguiled, she had been sadistically cold to their
daughter, Calasta, born of their union.
    As further
evidence of Bruna's twisted possessiveness, she had constantly tried to block
Benfaaro's affection for Calasta — his own daughter, his own flesh and blood.
And hers.
    Adalginza
had befriended the lonely child, sometimes even assuming the role of her mother
to help soften the pain of Bruna's outright rejection.
    Calasta was
now seven seasons old and in the care of her kind and doting father. So it was
much better that Bruna stay here in Sola Re, to spare Calasta the agony of
having to compete with her own mother.
    Adalginza felt
a sudden yearning. Her visits home in the last few seasons had been far too
few.
    She missed
Calasta. And she missed her brother.
    She peered
longingly into the mirror now, as though willing it to somehow transform into a
doorway giving her instant passage back to those she loved.   
    She had, in
fact, heard rumors that such powers once existed in the long ago.
    But not
here. And not now.
    Sighing, Adalginza
performed a final inspection of her masque. And then she slowly and reluctantly
rose to her feet.
    At the same moment,
Bruna strolled back into the room without bothering to announce herself.
    In a
familiar way, she then circled Adalginza as though she were a prize sturmon
mare