Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Despite the two appearing to be total opposites, Izem was extremely satisfied with Amara. He was a very serious man. He took after Amastan in both appearance and personality. His name, meaning “lion,” epitomized who he was and what he stood for. He was always going to be the head of his family. He was a man to be counted on, and maybe that was exactly why the match worked so well. Amara needed the security of Izem, and he needed the fun and brightness she brought him.
Safia loved watching her oldest brother and his wife together, because she was a little terrified of her grandfather choosing a husband for her. She knew several offers had been made for her, and he’d turned them down, stating she was already promised to another. He’d never explained to her what he meant. She’d never met a man she’d been promised to in marriage. Her father seemed to accept her grandfather’s decree, as did her brothers. No one ever questioned her grandfather, and for some reason, even on such an important subject, she couldn’t bring herself to, either. Seeing Izem and Amara so happy made her feel as if there were a chance she could find happiness with a man, a stranger, her grandfather believed would be the right choice for her.
They walked together side by side through the field and toward the house. “Your leg is hurting,” Amastan observed. “You were injured today.”
She wasn’t limping. She’d been careful not to show any signs of pain. Instantly she felt shame. How could she possibly be ready to protect her family if Amastan could so easily read her discomfort? Her enemies would be able to do so just as easily and take advantage during a battle. All those years of training, and she couldn’t cover a simple injury?
“I’m not ready, Jeddi,” she whispered. “If I can’t hide a simple injury from you, how can I defend the farm? Our family? How can I defend the people in the town?”
He spoke in his gentlest voice. “Yelli, I observed the tear in your trousers along with the dirt and bloodstains. You have not given anything away by your actions or expression. It is the condition of your clothes that tells me something happened.”
“I did have a little accident today when I was herding the sheep in from the back pasture. They were far too close to the cliff and very uneasy.” It had been in the same area where those strange tracks had been. She had been searching for them.
She didn’t look up at him, but she felt her grandfather’s piercing eyes on her, drilling into her, seeing right past her casual tone to the truth.
“Safia?” He stopped abruptly in front of the house.
More than a question, it was an order. Reluctantly, she halted as well and forced herself to look up at him, holding her gloves in front of her as if the thin leather could protect her from his close scrutiny. His gaze moved over her, examining her inch by inch.
“It was no accident, any more than what happened to me or any of the others, Safia. We can’t pretend this away any longer. How badly were you injured?”
She pressed her lips together, reliving the terrifying moment when the dirt gave way on the cliff and she went over. She had clawed at the dirt, rock and scraggly tree roots as she slid over the side. It seemed to take forever before her fingers dug into the mud and roots, and she gingerly found a grip with her fingertips. She clung there, legs dangling, heart pounding, head resting against a tough rope of knotted wood.
Insects began to emerge from the mud, crawling toward her from every direction. Stinging bugs flew around her hands and face. A hawk screamed and rushed out of the sky straight at her. In that moment, she knew exactly what she faced, and calm descended. She forced air through her lungs, calling on her training to keep from panicking.
Evil had come to her family’s farm. She couldn’t deny it any longer, as much as she wanted to. She had known for the last three weeks the small “accidents” happening on their farm were attacks against their family. She felt guilty that she hadn’t been able to protect the animals or her family members from the escalating violence. It was just that she had no idea how to stop it, because she wasn’t certain how to fight what she couldn’t see. Right at that moment, evil was striking at her as if it knew she was the primary defender.
“I was more frightened than anything else. A few scrapes and bruises.” She had dug her toes into the rocks for purchase and reached with her mind for the hawk. She had gifts—incredible gifts she’d been born with. Before that moment, she had thought it was just plain cool that she had an ability to connect with animals, but the hawk turned away from her at the last moment, pulling up sharply at her command.