The Tiger Queens Read Online Free Page B

The Tiger Queens
Book: The Tiger Queens Read Online Free
Author: Stephanie Thornton
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with so much mud thatit might have poured from the heavens pounded into our village, his chest heaving like someone dying.
    But it was someone else’s soul that was about to be called to the sacred mountains.
    I was outside our
ger
straining curds of yak milk through a cloth when the boy reined in his horse, a lathered old thing ready to fall over and die. A heavy autumn rain had drenched our village the day before, and the animal’s every step squelched with mud. The horse bent its head, lips smacking as it drank from a puddle.
    The rider swung to the ground, head snapping back and forth so his thin braids slapped his shoulders like a drum. “Where is Temujin of the Borijin?”
    My father set aside his work repairing a strap on my mother’s saddle. “Temujin will one day be my son-in-marriage,” he said, standing. “What message do you have for him?”
    The boy had to tilt his head back to look my father in the eyes. “I’ve come to return Temujin to his father.”
    The words felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of creek water on me. I stood rooted where I was as a crowd gathered, their gazes on me.
    My father gave a minute shake of his head, as if to clear the visitor’s words from his mind. “May I ask why you seek to steal my future son?”
    The messenger wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. “On his way home to his wife and younger sons, Yesugei stopped on the Yellow Steppe to join a Tatar feast.”
    Temujin shifted next to me—I hadn’t even noticed his approach until then. He laughed under his breath, but the sound held no joy. “My father never would have feasted with the Tatars,” he muttered, his young mouth twisting in a glimpse of what he might look like years from now, a stooped old man with a scowl etched into his skin. “He defeated them in battle too many times.”
    The messenger continued. “The Tatars bear no love for Yesugei’s clan. They recognized him and poisoned him. He is dying.”
    Temujin swayed on his feet. Without thinking, I reached out andsqueezed his hand, cool and dry to the touch. No one should face death alone.
    “Where is Temujin?” the messenger repeated. “His father is asking for him.”
    My father’s eyes sought him out. “If my friend thinks so much of his son, I’ll let him go.” He glanced at our clasped hands. “When he’s seen his father again, have him come quickly back.”
    Temujin pressed his palms together and bent over them, his lips tight. He might not have been the image of a respectful son when his father was here, but then, Yesugei hadn’t been the image of a perfect father either. Still, the pull of blood remained.
    “I promise to return before the next full moon,” he said, the ancient stars flickering overhead. “To you and your daughter.”
    Temujin looked at me, the question plain in his eyes. The ancestors pushed on me from all sides, whispering conflicting words of duty and sacrifice in my ears. I swallowed hard, meeting his gaze. “I will wait for you,” I said. “I promise.”
    Someone pressed an offering of milk into my hands and I looked up to see Temujin holding a bone cup. Together we poured the white liquid into the earth, sealing our promise to each other.
    Temujin didn’t bid me good-bye—those sacred words would be spoken only right before death claimed one of us—but instead unclasped his wolf-tooth necklace and tied it around my neck. I touched its edge, feeling the sharpness of its promise as my betrothed mounted his horse. Temujin nodded and then kicked his heels, leaving the messenger scrambling behind him. Mud and tufts of soggy grass flew into the air as the horses took off.
    I watched him disappear over the horizon, while the rest of the clan floated back to the warmth of their
gers
until only my father remained.
    “He’ll return soon, Borte,” he said, squeezing my shoulder. “He promised.”
    Temujin’s coming had shaken my world, as surely as a blizzard in summer or the mares dropping their foals

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