The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera) Read Online Free Page A

at all as she turned to look at the bedraggled and thin woman in the still open door.
    "This is incredible. Simply amazing. Warm too. The places that I've stayed recently have all been a bit drafty, so I've learned to appreciate that sort of thing." For the life of her, the woman seemed almost happy to be there, even if she were half covered with filth... and shame. Her bare legs and wooden sandals were so far out of place that it almost seemed as if she was doing it on purpose. Trying to make a statement about something or another.
    If the idea of the day was that this was supposed to be her brother and new sister in-law's place, Tiera decided to act like she'd simply been told the truth in the matter. After all, if this really was her new sister, then calling her a liar right off the bat would be nearly unforgivable. It would be better to play along, and let them have their game, if that was the plan. She just didn't care. Not anymore. It really didn't seem all that likely though, did it? She would have been more believing if Trice had claimed to have stolen Todd away from Countess Thorgood, or even managed to grab Tor somehow. Timon... Well, that just didn't make any sense at all.
    In that state, perhaps a bit less understanding and trusting than a good sister would have been, she nodded.
    "Would it be possible for Carol to wash up, and perhaps borrow a clothing amulet? Her things have been temporarily misplaced and we need to do some visiting later. So she can try and redeem herself." That got Trice to finally really look at the poor seeming woman and understand who it was she was viewing. It seemed to shock her a bit, or more than that, and her eyes went wide.
    "Ah. Yes, certainly. Here, let me show you to a room." That didn't take long, since most of those were simply up on the second, third and fourth floors, she confided. The inside of the space they were shown to was simply vast . Trice grinned as she pointed to where things were. "I know, it's a bit overdone, but we have the space and so far no one has come to visit overly. Just Gerent and Collette really. Well, Tor came once, but... I'll let Timon go into that with you later? He should be back for dinner. Those others will be coming. Is that all right, do you think?"
    Tiera nodded.
    "Probably. The groveling will have to start somewhere and Collette wasn't the wronged party, so that might be easier. Don't you think, Carol?" It wasn't good to talk about people like they weren't there after all. Only rude people did that.
    The sound that came out of the Baroness was gruff and seemed like a denial, at first, until she headed to the bathing chamber, which required a nice long walk. The single room they were in was bigger than her whole family's old house in Two Bends. She called back though, not turning.
    "Do you have healing amulets around here as well? If the plan is for me to be beaten, I mean?" The strange and almost wonderful thing there was that she actually got that it would come to that.
    Tiera had been afraid that she might have thought the whole thing was finished already.
    "I have an extra on me, so don't worry. No shield though, so it will probably hurt."
    Technically that wasn't true. She had a second shield on her person too, she was just proclaiming that the woman wasn't going to get one while being beaten. That would remove the whole point, and possibly make the woman feel safe enough to relapse into bad behavior.
    There was the sound of running water then, so Tiera sat on a soft chair that was next to the bed. It didn't make a lot of sense to have sitting room furniture there, but here she was, using it anyway. That sort of proved she was wrong, didn't it? Trice winked and held up a finger, but didn't run out of the room, just pulling things from under the top of her dress.
    One of them, Tiera realized, was a silence amulet.
    The curly haired woman smiled.
    "So, you've captured a wild Baroness. Any plans for her?"
    Tiera looked at the room, which didn't