The Bonds of Blood Read Online Free

in there now, so there is no luck trying to get in to see him.
He suffered some broken bones, and he is really confused with the
drugs, so he can’t make much sense. All in all, I would give it a
few hours before I tried to attempt a visit.”
    “As I thought,” Joya piped in. “Come,
let’s make him some of his favorite tea and go up to see if Grace
could use some help.”
    Much to their surprise, when they
arrived at the room with a piping hot cup of mint tea, Grace was
sitting in a rocking chair by the bed, knitting as he slept. A lit
pipe in a glass tray at her elbow billowed sweet smoke into the
darkened room. The three sisters were all happy to see the servants
were no longer in attendance, and that Grace was all done dressing
his wounds.
    “How is he?” Angelica asked.
    “He will live,” Grace sounded tired.
“He was a little confused, and not all of it was due to the drugs.”
Grace stood and gathered up her basket of yarn. “Would you girls
mind sitting with him for a while? I should go pay my respect to
Nelson.”
    “Of course,” Angelica
agreed.
    After the old lady cleared out of the
room, the girls gathered around Jovian’s bed. The two oldest
sisters pulled up chairs, while Angelica sat on the edge of his
bed.
    “How long do you think he will be out?”
Joya asked.
    “That all depends on what she gave
him,” Amber commented.
    “It was a mixture of belladonna and
white willow bark,” Angelica supplied.
    “Well, depending on how much belladonna
she gave him, he may be out for a while.” Joya had always been good
with herbs.
    “I think his tea will get cold.” Amber
looked to the steaming cup on the night stand and
sighed.

    It was late in the evening when Jovian
came around. The girls had all fallen asleep—Angelica at the foot
of the bed, Amber and Joya with heads resting on the sides of
it.
    Jovian looked from person to person,
cracking a grin. He tried to sit up, but the pain in his right
wrist, not to mention the splint, didn’t allow for much mobility.
His struggling woke Joya and Angelica, who immediately aided him in
his efforts.
    Yawning, Amber came to a few moments
later and smiled when she saw him.
    The lingering scent of sweat and
dirt-soiled clothes provided evidence that the girls had stayed at
Jovian’s bedside, rather than washing up after their sparring
lesson. “Aren’t you all a sight?” he asked, scrunching his nose in
mock disgust.
    “And you yourself,” Amber joked,
jabbing him in the ribs but only succeeded in jabbing him close to
his wound. He flinched, and that made Amber feel worse. “Here,” she
supplied weakly, handing him the cold tea to make up for her
blunder.
    “Thank you,” he said, and took a drink.
“Mint, that’s nice.” Even though it was cold, it soothed Jovian who
at one point in the trip thought he would never make it back
home.
    “What happened to you?” Joya asked, and
that seemed to start all sorts of questions and answers. Jovian
told them of the trip, and of the strange laughter. He was sure to
mention to Amber how much a coward Alhamar was, for it was no
secret that she and Alhamar had been involved for some time. To
this she answered that his being “less than heroic” was nothing new
to her, and at least he would not go off hunting and come home half
dead. Jovian blushed. Eagerly they urged him on, and he told them
about the attack, and the beast that he found himself faced
with.
    “I’ve heard about those,” said
Angelica. “It’s said the Black Shucks look just as you have
described. It is a type of dalua dog, said to come from the Realm
of the Dead.”
    Jovian stared at her for a few moments
speechless, and then his eyes brightened. “I saw the Aramaiti again
while I was there.” Amber and Joya had never seen the Guardian
Spirit themselves, but they had often heard Angelica and Jovian
speak of it.
    “You did?” Angelica asked, scooting
forward. “When did it come?”
    “It was right after I prayed for help,
and