Traitor Read Online Free Page A

Besides, Felix was made of tougher stuff than I was. He could handle it.
    Heaving Mavrik’s saddle and all my gear over my shoulders, I started up the stairs to his stall. He was being strangely silent this morning. Usually he was already filling my head with excited questions and swirls of curious color. I just assumed he was still asleep. After all, I had pushed him pretty hard yesterday. And we had a long way to go today; a little extra rest for him was probably a good idea.
    But as I came to the door of his stall, he started sending me waves of worried blue-green hues. I could sense his uneasiness. He was nervous about something. With my thoughts, I asked him what was wrong even as I opened the door to go into his stall.
    Then I got my answer.
    My former instructor from my fledgling year of training, Sile Derrick, was standing in Mavrik’s stall. It looked like he’d been waiting for me. Immediately, my temper caught like a wildfire. Anger made my teeth clench and my vision go hazy.
    I stopped in the doorway and stared at him, waiting for some kind of explanation. He’d obviously come here to talk. I wasn’t exactly opposed to that. There was plenty I wanted to say to him, too.
    “I see you managed to survive,” he said coldly. He didn’t smile.
    I didn’t smile, either. “No thanks to you.”
    “That’s a bold thing for you to say to your instructor, boy,” he growled.
    “You’re not my instructor anymore,” I reminded him. “In fact, I’m not sure what you are … except a liar.”
    Sile’s face started to turn a furious shade of red. Even though it had only been a little over a year since I’d last seen him, he looked much older now. More of his hair had turned gray, and there were wrinkles on his forehead and in the corners of his eyes. He was thinner, and there was something disturbing about the wide-eyed way he glared at me. It was as though he half-expected someone to jump out from behind me and kill him.
    “I never lied to you,” he snapped bitterly.
    My temper stared to flare up. “You never told me the whole truth, either. Keeping the truth from me while acting like you don’t know anything about what’s going on is the same thing as lying. You’ve known about me all along. You knew what I was capable of—that’s how you knew I could heal your wife.”
    He didn’t reply. I saw his hands curling up into fists.
    “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to start telling me anything useful now. You’ll probably leave me to flap in the wind with no idea what’s going on, as usual.” I turned away to put down all my equipment.
    When he spoke again, his voice was strangely calm. “It’s not my place to tell you these things. My understanding of what you are is limited. Anything I told you would be a poorly educated guess.”
    “Right. Well, whose place is it, then?” I narrowed my eyes back at him challengingly.
    Sile stiffened. He glared at me with his mouth pinched up into an uncomfortable grimace. “You don’t understand,” he said quietly. “I made a promise. I swore on my honor I wouldn’t tell you anything unless there was no other choice. We agreed that the less you knew, the safer you would be.”
    With my arms now empty of my gear and saddle, I stood up and faced him. I flexed my hands, curling my fingers as I summoned some of that strange power that made the air around me hum with wild energy. The heat of it tingled through my chest.
    From where he was curled in the back of his stall, Mavrik hissed in disapproval. It made him nervous. But I didn’t stop.
    The wooden floorboards under Sile’s boots began to groan, sprouting branches and leaves, which started to entwine around his legs.
    “I’m not giving you a choice this time,” I threatened. “Tell me what you know.”
    Sile watched the floorboards coming to life like it wasn’t a surprise at all. He didn’t even look scared. “Don’t try to intimidate me, boy. I’ve seen better tricks than this.”
    “I