Silver Silence Read Online Free

jumped from one of the rafts the settlement kept moored on the far side of the swamp.
    Trevor waded into the water and greeted Rhys with as much emotion as Breena had ever seen the man display. Rhys returned a wide smile to the tall, taciturn Caledonian.
    Breena stood half-hidden behind a curtain of yellowing willow fronds, reluctant to join the welcoming party. Taking the raft’s pole and ropes from Rhys, Trevor bent to moor the craft. Rhys lifted his pack, slung it over one shoulder, and waded toward dry land.
    A small girl splashed through the mud and threw her arms around Rhys’s waist. Laughing, he lifted the child off her feet and swung her in a circle before plopping her down on the grass.
    A burning lump formed in Breena’s throat. Not so many years had passed since Rhys had greeted her that way. Every one of his visits to her family’s farm was indelibly etched in her memory. In the early years, he would swing her about, muss her hair, and deliver some small treasure from his pack into her grasping hands.
    As she grew older, their greetings had become more dignified. But no less exciting, at least to her. Her fingers crept to her throat, to the last gift Rhys had ever given her, when she was just fourteen. The silver pendant bore the sign of the Druids of Avalon. The charmwas powerful protective magic: the triple spiral of the Great Mother Goddess merged with the cross of the Carpenter Prophet, whose teachings of Light had been brought to Avalon by the mysterious woman known as the Lady. Every female Druid on Avalon wore a similar pendant. The men bore the same mark, tattooed with woad, on their chests.
    But soon after receiving that gift, Breena had made a serious mistake. Whenever she thought of that horrible afternoon at her father’s house, she flushed hot with mortification. Ever since that day, Rhys had treated her with nothing more than polite indifference. He was almost a stranger to her now.
    He was laughing, his thick white blond hair falling into his eyes. He pushed it back. He was so handsome. Bending, he opened his pack and extracted some small object. It promptly disappeared into the little girl’s hands.
    “Ooh!” she exclaimed, holding it up for all to see. “A pretty blue rock!”
    The other Druid children clamored for treasures of their own, jumping and chattering all at once. Laughing, Rhys let himself be pulled down onto one knee. He opened his pack and produced a handful of stones and other trinkets, which he soon handed all around. He knew each boy and girl by name, of course. Indeed, he’d brought most of them to Avalon himself, from all over the Celtic isles, having discerned each child’s powerful Druid talent by the color and strength of his or her magical aura.
    “Get on with ye, ye ruffians.” Gwen laughed as she pushed her way through the children. “I would embrace my brother before ye pick his bones dry.”
    Rhys straightened, his teeth flashing white as he held out his arms to his twin. “Gwen. ’Tis good to see you.”
    Gwen fell into his embrace. Her voice was uncharacteristically gruff as she gently chided him. “It has been far too long since Avalon has seen ye, Rhys. What do ye mean, staying away from home for almost a year?”
    He stiffened slightly, and it seemed to Breena that while his smile remained on his lips, it faded from his eyes. “There was no reason for me to come,” he said. “In all that time, I encountered no one with power strong enough to need Avalon’s guidance.”
    Gwen slipped her arm around his waist. “Grandfather’s old rule no longer keeps ye away. Ye may come and go as often as ye like.”
    “I know,” Rhys said, planting a kiss on top of his sister’s head. “Am I not here now?”
    He greeted Marcus next, then clasped hands with Trevor and Owein, and produced a grin for Owein’s wife, Clara, and their son. He laid a brotherly hand on Penn’s shoulder, and drew him into animated conversation.
    Breena drank in Rhys with her