Promising Light (43 page)

He dropped her hand gently and
smiled again. “I probably look like a crazy person
again.”

They sat in silence for a few
moments. Grace took a drink of her water skin and passed it to Dar.
Mid-afternoon sun made everything vibrant: the trees of the oak
tree above them, the grass of the hills that surrounded the city,
even the saddle on the horses. The soft breeze caused the leaves to
chatter about them.

Dar leaned back on his hands, and
Grace furtively looked at him.

“What?” he asked with a
smirk.

“Nothing,” Grace said. The moment
reminded her of when they’d first shown interest in each other. He
was courting Rebekah, of course, but it seemed like half the time
Grace snuck a glance at Dar, he was already looking at her. The
other half, he would meet her eyes after a moment, and she’d look
away hurriedly, blushing.

He cornered her after the king’s
charity dinner for the blizzard in Kleisade, and he asked her what
about him was so interesting. She said she’d answer his question as
soon as he told her why he stared at her just as often. He only
paused for a moment before telling her it was because she was one
of the most beautiful women in the room. Then she had to answer
his, telling him he’d always intrigued her. She smiled as she
thought back to it.

“Well, it’s like we’re back to
eight months ago,” he said. “When you told me you’d always found me
interesting.”

Grace laughed. “I was just thinking
about that.”

Dar gazed at her intently for a
moment, and her smile faltered. He reached out for her face.
“Grace, I—”

They heard the cottage door open,
and the moment was broken. Matilda joined them, holding up a small
bottle of clear liquid. “Got it. Let’s go.”

Dar stood up, brushing his hands
off on his pants. Grace got to her feet and followed them, smiling
to herself.

* * *

As they neared the circus tent, the
familiar sounds of Sierra’s old life filled the air. The horses
brayed as the trainers prepared them; people yelled to each other
frantically. The fragrance of the sweets of the pastry booth mixed
with the scent of the various animals.

She couldn’t believe how much her
life had changed. Evan being alive brought her back to the world of
the Avialies suddenly, the life she’d sworn to leave behind. She
wouldn’t have it any other way, though. Having Evan alive and
breathing was worth it, even if he was different, even if they were
risking their lives for texts that may not help the shape changers,
may not even exist. She just hoped they could get out of this
alive.

Chad found a few workers smoking a
pipe outside of the open tent flap. Sierra recognized one, but the
other must have been new. “Hello, men,” Chad said. “I have a
proposition for you.”

The two men glanced at each other.
Roy, the tall one with a crooked nose, raised his eyebrows. “What
do you mean?”

Chad put his hand on Evan’s
shoulder. “My brother wants to see the tigers. I realize this isn’t
how things are done usually, but…” He pulled a coin purse out of
his jacket, jingling the ryrels inside of it. “We won’t be able to
make the show tonight, and I’m hoping he can still see
them.”

The men paused, puffing on their
pipes. “The tigers… they’ve been put under very stringent rules,”
Roy told Chad. He paused again, glancing around. “I’ll go get
Childress and ask if something can be arranged.”

He left, leaving them with the
shorter crew member. This man stared at Chad and Evan through the
smoke rising in his pipe. Sierra made a disgusted noise as she
thought of Childress, who’d handed her over to the Protectors,
probably for a sum of money.

A moment later, the tall man
returned not with Childress, but Alec. “That’s not him,” Sierra
said.

“Hello, I’m Childress,” Alec said,
sticking out his hand for Chad to shake.

“Hmm,” Chad said. “You’re
Childress? I met him a few months ago, he was…”

“Chubby, red-faced, blond gray
hair,” Sierra prompted him.

After Chad described Childress,
Alec put a hand on his muscular chest. Sierra clenched her fists as
she thought of how vicious he was with her during the wild child
act. “I’m afraid we had a horrible accident two weeks ago,” Alec
said. “Childress died, and I’ve replaced him.”

A chill ran up Sierra’s back. Two
weeks ago? What happened? She suddenly feared Matt had done
something stupid. She’d only thought about Matt a few times since
the Protectors had dragged her away, but they’d had a nice
relationship for a few months, and he’d been protective over her.
Thinking back on it, it made her nauseous to think of sleeping with
another man while Evan had been alive.

“Oh, no,” Chad said. “Did that
accident have to do with why the tigers have been ‘put under
stringent rules’?”

Alec cleared his throat. “I’m
afraid so. We’re not sure how they escaped, but they attacked him
in the middle of the night.”

Sierra put her hands over her mouth
and she was more worried about the tigers than Childress. “What
happened to the tigers?” she spoke through her fingers, even though
he couldn’t hear her.

“It was the strangest thing… we
knew it was them because their cage was open, and… and, well, his
blood was everywhere…” Alec trailed off. “But they were back in
their cage, and they didn’t touch anyone else or any other animal.
It was almost…”

“Planned?” Chad
finished.

Alec chuckled. “Which is
impossible. But I’m sure you understand why you can’t see the
tigers. It’s too dangerous.” He motioned to Evan. “We wouldn’t
anything to happen to your son.”

“My brother,” Chad said. “I don’t
look that old, do I?”

Alec shrugged with a amicable
smile. How could this be the same man that was so violent and
prejudiced?

Chad held up his bag of coins and
notes again. “Maybe a hundred ryrels?” he said, raising his
eyebrows. “They don’t need to get out of the cage. He just wants to
see them.”

Alec paused, staring at the bag. He
looked at the crew members, then nodded. “All right. Just for a few
moments.”

He took the bag and walked into the
tent, motioning for Chad and Evan to follow him. Sierra walked into
the familiar tent, looking around in awe. How could two weeks seem
so long? Becca and Jewel groomed the horses by the stables; Vivi
walked around with a slight limp; Sierra couldn’t see how her ankle
would be okay to walk on, but Vivi didn’t believe she had any
boundaries.

Alec led them to the tiger cages,
where Ella and Gia were lying about. When they saw the group of
people approaching them, they got to their feet. Evan smiled, but
Sierra thought it looked quite fake. Hopefully Alec didn’t pick up
on it.

Sierra went to the bars, and both
of the tigers came to her. She stroked their faces for a moment,
not even caring if it looked off that the animals seemed to be
leaning into the air. It seemed as though they remembered her;
Sierra smiled as she felt their soft fur. Evan crouched next to
her, staring at them in awe. “Can I… can I touch them?” he asked
Alec.

“I don’t know,” Alec said. “Let me
find the tiger trainer.”

He walked a short distance away,
and Chad crouched down. Ella walked over to him, and Chad got quite
close to the bars, his face inches from hers.

A voice came from behind, “Be
careful!”

It was Vance, and he jogged over
with Alec. “Please be careful,” he said, putting his hand on Chad’s
shoulder.

Chad stood and stepped back. “Have
they hurt anyone other than Childress?”

“No,” Vance said, “but we don’t
know when they might.”

Gia rolled onto her back, and
Sierra laughed, wishing she could rub her white belly.

“Wow,” Vance said with raised
eyebrows. “She likes you guys.”

“It’s you,” Chad said, clapping
Evan on the shoulders. Evan started, and Chad said a quiet apology.
“They like you, Ethan.” Chad turned to Vance and Alec. “You still
have the wild child act?”

“No,” Alec said, shaking his head.
“We lost her and Childress the same night.”

“What do you mean, you lost her?”
Chad asked.

“She got another job,” Alec said.
Sierra made an exasperated noise. More like Childress sold her and
no one cared. Except for Matt.

Chad furrowed his brows. “Oh, of
course, she was just a performer. Very convincing,
though!”

Sierra saw Matt on the other side
of the tent. He was working with his trained dogs, making them
dance around him. He was beaming, as he usually did with the dogs.
He glanced at her suddenly, as if he had felt her gaze. She looked
away guiltily, even though he couldn’t see her. She caught Evan’s
gaze on her, his young face serious. Had he ever wondered if she’d
been unfaithful? But she hadn’t known he was alive; how could she
have been unfaithful to someone who was dead?

“Well, what do you think, Vance?”
Chad asked. “Can they do any tricks?”

“If I let them out of the cage,
but I don’t think I should,” Vance said.

“Oh, are you sure?” Chad asked. He
watched the tigers intently, and Sierra wondered how he
communicated with them. Was it telepathic? Did he need more time to
speak to them, maybe without Alec and Vance?

“Yes, I’m very sure,” Vance said.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble for anybody
involved.”

“All right,” Chad said. “Well,
Ethan? Are you ready?”

Ella came over to where Evan was,
and she reached a paw out to him. Evan cautiously raised a hand and
touched her, even as Vance was moving closer. Ella blinked at Evan
slowly, and Sierra smiled. “She does like you,” Sierra said
quietly.

Ella withdrew her paw and let out a
huge yawn. She sat down, watching Chad.

“They’re very relaxed with you,”
Vance said. “Maybe you should become a tiger trainer,
Ethan.”

Evan gave him an uneasy smile and
got to his feet. “Maybe.” He looked at Chad. “Are you
ready?”

“I think so,” Chad said. He
glanced at Sierra, who stood up, looking over her shoulder at Matt.
“Alec, Vance, thank you so much for letting us see
them.”

“Yes, thank you,” Evan
mumbled.

Alec escorted them out; Vance
stayed with Ella and Gia, and Sierra heard him talking to them as
they walked away. It would have been useful to have a Boren in the
circus. She couldn’t count the number of times she, Vance, or
Nissan tried to understand why the tigers were restless or
irritated on certain days.

After thanking them, Alec left them
at the tent flap, where the two men were still smoking their pipes.
Chad led Evan and Sierra back to their horses, and they walked to
the edge of the city in relative silence. They stopped underneath a
maple tree and sat underneath the shade. “Well? What did you find
out?” Evan asked after he’d changed back into his original
form.

“They did plan to kill Childress,”
Chad said. “They killed him for you, Sierra.”

“For me?” she said.

“Yes, they felt bad that you’d
been taken away, and they tried to avenge it,” Chad
said.

Sierra smiled; she’d had no idea
that they cared for her that much. She didn’t even realize they had
thoughts like that.

“They’re part of a family that has
a pact to protect the Avialies,” Chad continued.

“What?” Evan asked, leaning
forward and setting his arms on his knees.

“Yeah! I guess they knew you were
associated with them somehow.”

Sierra nodded, stunned to think of
Ella and Gia protecting her.

“They don’t know where the texts
are, though. It’s just information that’s been passed down for
years, kind of like the Avialies. They’ve lost track of their
family since they’ve been with Childress for about five years. Last
time Ella saw them, they were in Nyad.”

“Nyad,” Evan repeated, his eyes on
the horizon. That was where Sierra thought he’d been killed. Where
Seth had been killed. She set her head on his shoulder.

“Yes, but I don’t know where any
tigers are,” Chad said. “Granted, I haven’t been there since the
battle two years ago.”

When Matilda, Grace, and Dar joined
them a few minutes later, Chad told them what he’d found out. They
had two choices: traveling to Nyad or to Kleisade to find some more
Borens.

“Someone’s bound to have heard of
this pact,” Chad said.

“How far is Kleisade from here?”
Evan asked.

Dar pulled a map out of his new
pack. “The border is three, maybe four days away.”

“But isn’t that where the
Protectors would go for Borens?” Grace asked. “They want to find
the texts, too.”

“The Protectors probably already
have Borens working for them,” Matilda said. “They seem to have the
most powerful of each family.”

Grace glanced at Dar. “Are there
any Avialies working for them?”

“Yes, but I don’t know any
specific names,” Dar responded. Sierra couldn’t believe anyone
would work for the Protectors after what they’d done to the magical
families, especially the Avialies.