Wielder: Apprentice: Book 1 of Lady Shey's Story (The Wielder Cycle) Read Online Free Page A

keep a closer eye on you. I cannot afford to let you wander about like before now. What possessed you to come here? You were much safer as an orphan of the street.”
    “I saw him,” Sheyna blurted out.
    “Oh, you saw whom, dear?”
    “The one searching for me. A man near the curved wall, he was watching the tower and talking to someone in the shadows.”
    “What did you hear?”
    “They were looking for a girl.” She hesitated. “He described a dark-headed girl with blue eyes, not a common description around Symbor that I have noticed . . . except for me.”
    Enowene immediately tried to mask the worriedness that stole across her face, “Aye, they were looking precisely for you, my dear. As I stated, the tower is dangerous for you.” She removed her amulet from around her neck and handed it to Sheyna. “Here, put this on and wear it always while you are in this tower, even while bathing.”
    “I couldn’t take that. I—”
    “Put it on and do as I say, child. If you are to be apprenticed here, I am now your headmistress. No arguments.”
    Sheyna took the amulet and hung it around her neck. Fascinated, she grabbed the emblem at the end of the chain and held it in her hand. The circular amulet was of a raised dragon in flight over a silver moon. She let the amulet drop to her chest. “Who would be looking for me, and why?”
    “I’m not certain you would understand my explanation.”
    “Why don’t you try.”
    Enowene’s eyes narrowed. “Impertinent. Very well, you have a rare gift, and there are those who seek it out.” She wrote something on a piece of parchment. “I have been watching you on the streets for a while now. I made a vow to keep you safe, and that’s why I thought it best to hide you in plain sight.”
    “What are you saying?”
    Enowene strengthened her resolve. “Don’t get too comfortable here. You will not return to the streets, but it is too dangerous to keep you here too long either. If you would have stayed on the streets, no one would have paid any attention to you. You would have been just another unfortunate rogue orphan begging for scraps as I planned.”
    Sheyna winched. “As planned? Why?”
    “Why?” Enowene repeated.
    “Why would you let me stay out there begging for food? If you knew me, you knew I was hungry out there in the wall.”
    “I thought hiding you in plain sight was my best option.”
    Sheyna ignored her statement. “I just want to know why you let me go hungry if you knew I was out there in the wall.”
    Enowene sighed. “It was seen by the masters that you have special talents; it was decided that your skills both put you in danger and protected you. Although we allowed you to roam the streets, we knew that if we took care of your basic needs, you would not wander away and we could keep an eye on you. We tried to place you with a family, but your independent nature proved too difficult. I made a few arrangements for you. Ignacio at the Sleeping Hound is a very dear friend of mine. I have been paying for the food he has been feeding you. He was instructed to never refuse you, to never let you be seen in the kitchen, and to not tell you that someone was paying for your meals. Bahdur is not, and has never been, fooled by your supposed thievery. He purposely put loaves of bread within your reach whenever he noticed you in the shadows across the way. He has been very impressed by your little enchantments.”
    Sheyna’s jaw dropped. It took her a moment to speak. “You mean I could have been eating like a princess and I didn’t know it?”
    Enowene grinned. “Eating too well might have worked against the plan, but all of that is over with now.” She looked Sheyna directly in the eye. “You have to understand that it was not easy for me to let you stay out on the streets. I definitely wouldn’t have let you starve. If you had not visited Ignacio or Bahdur, I would have found another way to feed you. When you are older, you will realize that sometimes