Being the Suun
Page 17
“Not afraid,” I corrected him. “Just . . . cautious.”
“Since when are you cautious?”
I scoffed at him but was secretly pleased that he knew me so well.
Arun leaned back on his hands beside me, our shoulders brushing. “So where will you go, now that you’re finally free?”
“Beru wants to take me to a temple on another plateau. He says there’s a Priestess of Light there who might be able to confirm if I’m ‘the one.’” I emphasized the two words to try to show how ridiculous I thought it was.
But Arun, who knew only the basics of Beru’s theory about me being the savior of the world, didn’t laugh. Instead, he shrugged. “I think I know the place. I’ll take you there. I have nowhere else to be.”
“Don’t you want to go home?” I asked, thinking of Tsarra Trisfina and her family, and the mysterious Savarah. Thinking that it would be nice to see Lamruil, and it would delay any interrogation by a priestess who would try to figure out my identity before even I was sure.
“Eventually.”
“Am I your next lost cause?” I was only half-joking.
Arun smirked. “You’re not lost, Frida Svand. If anything, you’re the one who showed me the way.”
Stiarna emerged from the tree line then and stalked up the gangplank to board the ship.
“Is she going with us?” He pointed to Stiarna, who had perched on the very end of the bowsprit and was grooming herself.
“It’s up to her.” I shrugged. “It might be hard for a one-winged griffin to get by without a little help.”
He looked at me then, his brow furrowed in that way that gave him three deep wrinkles between his dark eyes. “I think it’s hard for anyone to get by without a little help.”
Perhaps he was right, but I would never admit it.
The next morning, I braced myself against the railing behind the helm while the Iron Duchess trembled and rocked perilously. Beside me, Stiarna, whose wing was still bound and who had declined to disembark before we set sail, squawked and shuffled her feet.
Holding the wheel, Arun looked gleeful but also maybe a little nervous, which did little to calm my own nerves. Even so, we left the ground with a groan, the wind catching the sails and pulling them taut.
Grissall and Xalph sat nearby, playing a game of cards they’d found below deck, wholly unconcerned with the condition of the ship. Estrid and Erik stood near the bow, holding on to the foremast. I’d been worried that he wouldn’t come or that I would have to go fetch him from Barepost again, but he hadn’t said anything else after leaving the ship earlier. He held tight enough to the mast that the knuckles on his good hand were white with strain. Estrid looked pleased and kept glancing at our brother with a smile on her face. The first real smile I’d seen from her in a long time.
It wasn’t until the ship cleared the treetops and came out on the other side of the veil that Beru and Aria emerged from below deck. Aria went to stand beside my sister, saying something that made both of them laugh. But Beru turned and found me watching him. I knew he was looking at the star, knew he was congratulating himself at finding Onen Suun’s heir who would save the world. The world that Onen Suun himself died to protect.
I offered him a small, hesitant smile.
But I knew in my gut what the priestess would say. I wasn’t a Suun—could not be a Suun. I was a Svand. And somehow, I would prove it.
And after that, I would take us home.
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About the Author
J.A. Culican is a USA Today Bestselling author of the middle grade fantasy series Keeper of Dragons. Her first novel in the fictional series catapulted a trajectory of titles and awards, including top selling author on the USA Today bestsellers list and Amazon, and a rightfully earned spot as an international best seller. Additional accolades include Best Fantasy Book of 2016, Runner-up in Reality Bites Book Awards, and 1st place for Best Coming of Age Book from the Indie Book Awards.
J.A. Culican holds a master’s degree in Special Education from Niagara University, in which she has been teaching special education for over 13 years. She is also the president of the autism awareness non-profit Puzzle Peace United. J.A. Culican resides in Southern New Jersey with her husband and four young children.
For more information about J.A. Culican, visit her website at: www.jaculican.com.
About the Author
Cassidy studied English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and won the Bill Hooks Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2007. She lives in beautiful North Carolina with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and one cat who thinks he's a dog.
For more information about Cassidy Taylor, visit her website at: http://cassidytaylor.net/
Acknowledgments
Editor: Frankie Blooding
Cover Artist: Christian Bentulan
Formatting: Dragon Realm Press