He’d certainly slay the beast if he reached it in time, so Kinlear lifted his crossbow.
And fired.
The raphon screeched when the arrow made impact. A thump, and she was on the forest floor, a threat no more.
The Ravenminder gasped as if she felt it...and then she was falling, too.Shit.Kinlear threw down the weapon and limped the final few feet to her before he discarded his cane and caught her.
She was strangely light in his arms, as if the wind had broken her fall. And she was warm, andalive,and... she wasreal.A true being that had sprouted right from his dreams, scars and all.
“Are you alright?” Kinlear asked, as she blinked up at him.
Arawn arrived just over his shoulder. “Ezer.”
Her name.
It was the first time he’d ever heard it, despite the thousands of nights he’d held her in his dreams. And it was lovely. A perfect name for a woman who’d just looked a monster in the eye and chose topetit.
They stared down at her, the Crown and the Spare, as Ezer turned her gazeawayfrom them...and back to Six.
17
In the days that followed, Kinlear gave all his time to researching her.
Ezer.
Ezer of Rendegard, in full title, though she was as big a mystery to him as was the answer to training Six. It would be up to her, should the War Table voteyesto allowing her to mind it.
It was his mission...but he still had his limits.
Everything, even the godsblessing that was to come, was always decided upon a vote.
So, he would do everything in his power to get them to voteyes.
Ezer had no written record, no past. Her birth was never recorded, which meant her parents hadn’t attended a kingdom’s census day to receive their rations.
Even the Masters sought answers as to who she was. As Kinlear’s chosen candidate... and because she bled red... they had faith enough that she wasn’t somehow working for the Acolyte.
One thing was certain.
She was Sacred, at least somewhere in her lineage, or else the Citadel wouldn’t have opened its doors to her. He wondered if she even knew who she was.
What was a woman like her, of Sacred blood, doing all the way down inRendegard,of all places?
She belonged here, every bit as much as he did.
Magic or not.
So, while she lay in runic sleep, Kinlear sent ravens across his kingdom.
From Rendegard in the south, to the Dornans out west, to all the territories in Lordach with a tower, he sought information aboutEzer,the woman with shadow wolf scars upon her face. He even inquired of the scholars back in Touvre, where the catalogue of the kingdom’s records was kept.
If only Magus was still there...his old tutor would have been eager to help Kinlear make sense of this. But he’d faded like the wind, never to be seen or heard from again, despite Kinlear’s searching on him, too.
No matter what he tried...Ezer of Rendegard was as good as a ghost.
Not a hint, nor a scribbled name to mark her lineage.
She was a mystery.
