The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5) Read Online Free

Rsiran wasn’t sure that was it. There had been too many exiled for too long for the Forgotten to be completely eliminated. Others still searched for the remnants of the Forgotten, those with the ability to Slide mostly, and some like Sarah with the ability to detect Sliding, but he didn’t know what they’d found.
    “Do you remember their names?” Brusus asked when Rsiran didn’t answer.
    Alyse bit her lip again and looked from Rsiran to Brusus. “Not their names. I don’t even know what they looked like. Mother wouldn’t let me meet them, but I… I wanted to listen. They were my grandparents. I had to know more about them.”
    Brusus nodded, though his face appeared troubled. He grabbed the dice and shook them, tossing them on the table. They came up a pair of ones. Watcher’s Eyes again. The furrow in his brow deepened. He took a deep breath and tapped the table. “Right,” he said. “Well, I have customers to attend to, and I think you have some drinking to do.” Brusus smiled, flashing warmth that spread to his pale green eyes. He leaned toward Alyse. “I know this might not appeal to you, but I seem to be short a waitress these days. If you’re interested… Well, the position comes with a room above the tavern as well. It’s not much, but it’s warm and clean, and I can promise there won’t be any of that .” He reached toward her bruised cheek before catching himself. With a shake of his head, he sighed. “Anyway, think on it.”
    Alyse glanced to Rsiran, and then Jessa, before craning her neck to peer around the tavern. The Barth had become Rsiran’s second home. It was a place of warmth, a place where his friends gathered. They had shared happiness here, and drowned their sorrows in ale. What did Alyse see when she looked around the tavern?
    “I think… I think I would like that,” she said.
    Brusus’s smile widened. “Good. You can start tomorrow. When you’re ready, I can show you to your room.”
    Before he left, Brusus squeezed Rsiran’s shoulder. Rsiran considered his friend, wondering what he intended by offering Alyse a job.
    Brusus leaned in and whispered to him. “This way, you won’t have to spend so much of your time chasing her. Trust me, Rsiran. This will be good for you too.”
    He looked over to his sister, bruised and beaten, a different person than she had been when they shared a house with their parents. She blamed him for much of it, but the fault was not on him. Brusus was right, though. This way, he knew that she would be safe, and he could focus on what else might come at them.

Chapter 3
    I n the light of day , Rsiran found the faint blood trail along the street more easily.
    He hated returning here without Jessa, but he wasn’t about to bring her to the place where his sister was attacked without knowing what he might have missed. Alyse claimed she’d been attacked regularly, but the man who had taken her had not seemed like a typical attacker in Elaeavn.
    Then again, there weren’t typical attackers in Elaeavn. The city had its share of minor crimes. Theft and other things that Rsiran had been a part of, but physical violence was uncommon. Partly because the constables—men and women he now knew to be guild members—kept the city under reasonable control, but partly because there was a certain code of conduct most in this part of the city lived by.
    An older couple pushed past him, weaving around where Rsiran knelt over the stones, eyeing the trail of blood. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any rain overnight to wash it away, but the heavy clouds overhead and the sticky humidity told him that wouldn’t last long.
    He followed the blood trail as it weaved through the street. After they’d escaped, Rsiran should have returned alone to find out what the man had wanted. It would have been easier to question him alone, when he didn’t have to worry about his sister or Jessa getting injured. Now all he had was the blood to follow.
    Maybe he should have asked