Traitor Read Online Free Page B

know,” I snarled and flexed a bit more of my power. The dragons outside the Roost all sent up a chorus of roars at exactly the same time, answering my silent call like a clap of thunder. “Because you’ve been to Luntharda, haven’t you? Don’t try to lie your way out of it this time, Sile. I know all about it. You went in by yourself, and came out completely unharmed. Everyone says that should have been impossible—that the jungle should have eaten you alive. But now I know there’s only one way an outsider could have made it out without a single scratch.”
    I took a bold step toward him so that we met face-to-face. If he was going to lie to me again, I wanted him to be looking at me squarely as he did it. I wanted to see the lie in his eyes. “You knew someone else with power like this. Someone who could make things grow. Someone who could control the jungle and protect you from it.”
    Sile’s lip twitched.
    “You knew my mother,” I growled through clenched teeth.
    Sile’s mouth opened slightly like he was going to argue, but he didn’t. He never said a single word. He didn’t have to. I saw the answer as plainly as I could see the guilt and frustration on his face. I was right.
    “Why did you go into Luntharda?” I demanded. “Did you go looking for my mother? Was it about the god stone?”
    Mentioning the stone made Sile’s expression harden again. He looked away. “It’s not time yet for you to know that.”
    “Why not?” I yelled as I lost my temper.
    Sile, on the other hand, was still calm and collected. He didn’t even raise his voice. “Because you haven’t seen it yet. You haven’t seen what this war has done. The citizens of Maldobar are suffering. The poor starve to pay for a war that has turned the very balance of nature on its head. They live in anguish and ruin. But so do your mother’s people. And in many ways, they’ve lost much more than we have. You won’t understand until you see it for yourself.”
    I was stunned. Sile was the last person in the world I would have thought might sympathize with the enemy. He was a retired, highly decorated dragonrider. He had fought and probably killed plenty of gray elves before. Hearing those words leave his lips, and seeing the devastated bitterness blazing in his eyes, made me forget how to speak.
    Sile took a step toward me, kicking free of the floorboards that had begun to climb his legs. His expression was earnest as he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it firmly. “If you value your life or those of your friends, then don’t speak of the god stone again. Not to anyone,” he warned. “There are ears everywhere just waiting to hear those words leave your lips. All they need is one excuse to put an axe to your neck.”
    “That’s why you’ve been hiding all this time, isn’t it?” I dared to ask as I finally found my voice again. That truth had been staring me in the face all this time, but I had only just now been able to make sense of it. “That’s why someone tried to sabotage your saddle, and why the Lord General was going to execute you. It wasn’t some kind of ritual.”
    Sile’s grip on my shoulder slackened some. Once again, his expression told me everything.
    As long as I was on the right track, I decided to take it a step further. “You know something about the god stone, don’t you? Something worth killing over … ”
    He didn’t speak. As his hand fell away from my shoulder, I saw him nod slightly—just once. He did know something. And whatever he knew was putting his life in danger. He was living in constant fear for himself and for his family. He probably felt like he couldn’t trust anyone after what had happened here at the academy, and now he was worried that anything he told me would definitely put me in that same danger. Why else would he still be trying to protect me?
    My anger started to dissipate. I felt sorry for him. I didn’t understand why he was involved, or what had happened to cause