The Seer's Choice: A Novella of the Golden City Read Online Free

was a petite woman of Russian birth. Most of the time she seemed young and fragile, but every once in a while Genoveva could see the woman hidden inside her, the woman who’d taken the life of Pedro Salazar . . . Genoveva’s true father. He’d more than earned his death; Genoveva had never questioned that. But she’d always feared the woman, despite working with her day after day. Mrs. Anjos had managed to stop her own life somehow, never aging as if frozen in ice for more than three decades. Although she looked younger than Genoveva, she’d been born over fifty years ago.
    Mrs. Anjos eyed Captain Pinheiro warily, her blue eyes doubtful. “You want her to weaken a man but not kill him. Do I understand correctly?”
    They had actually gone to his office to do this, a simple matter since Mrs. Anjos and her husband actually lived in an apartment in the same house that the station occupied. “Yes,” the captain said, “She doesn’t want to kill an attacker. She wants to be able to escape him.”
    “I can explain it a thousand times, Captain, but she will not learn until she tries. It is a matter of control.”
    Genoveva had expected something like that. She had learned endless theory from this woman, but she hadn’t had much practice at anything. The doctors at the military hospital were loath to allow a healer—a witch—to treat one of their patients save in the most hopeless cases.
    “I thought she could practice on me,” the captain offered unexpectedly. “If she’s just knocking me unconscious, she isn’t doing permanent damage, is she?”
    Genoveva shot a horrified glance at him. “I could hurt you.”
    “I don’t think you will,” he said without hesitation. “I trust that you can control your impulses, Miss Jardim.”
    “It wouldn’t leave . . . damage,” Mrs. Anjos verified. “She need not render you unconscious, Captain. Merely weaken you.”
    “Of course,” he said.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” Genoveva protested.
    “You want to be able to do this,” he said. “I’m willing, and I’m aware of the consequences.”
    Mrs. Anjos regarded him steadily, as if she doubted that claim, but she didn’t argue.
    Genoveva turned back to Captain Pinheiro. “Are you certain?”
    “Yes, of course,” he said. “So what do I need to do?”
    Mrs. Anjos surveyed him critically. “Perhaps you should remove your coat.”
    Captain Pinheiro took off his coat and laid it over the back of one of the chairs, leaving him in a well-tailored blue waistcoat and his shirtsleeves. Removing his coat reminded Genoveva that he wasn’t stocky as she’d previously thought. In fact, she suspected the less he wore, the better he would look. Her cheeks warmed when she thought that. Fortunately, Mrs. Anjos was talking to the captain, so neither noticed her blush.
    Mrs. Anjos pointed toward the couch on one side of the room. “You should stand there, captain. If you fall, it will be better to fall on that.”
    Captain Pinheiro obeyed her suggestion. Genoveva squared her shoulders and walked to his side, praying she didn’t hurt the man. He’d been nothing but kind to her. “Very well. Now what?”
    “You need to get a feel for his consciousness,” Mrs. Anjos said. “So you do not go too far. Lay your hand against his throat.”
    Genoveva stretched out her hand, but paused a few inches from his skin. “Are you certain?”
    His eyes met hers. “Stop worrying.”
    She laid her hand against his throat. Her palm rested over his collar, but her fingers touched bare skin. His pulse beat under her thumb, and she moved her fingers so that she could feel it on the other side. He breathed steadily through his nose, quiet and unafraid. He closed his eyes, trusting her.
    “Now feel his energies,” Mrs. Anjos said. “Trace through them in your mind. You need to know him well before we try this.”
    So she could recognize when she was going too far. To protect him. She would skip this part with someone she was trying