Shrouded Sky (The Veils of Lore Book 1) by Tracy A. Akers Page B

change overnight.”
    “I don’t get the impression you hate Orryn. A matter of fact, he said he owes you.”
    “He told you that?”
    “He did, and he didn’t sound too thrilled about it.”
    Tygg forced a smile. “Well, I do not plan to collect the debt tonight.”
    “That’s good to know,” Orryn said from the shadows. He stepped toward the fire, one hand securing the blanket around him, the other holding a bundle of wet clothes.
    Tygg rose and took the clothes from him, then draped them on a rock near the fire. “They will dry, but they will be stiff—like your mood,” he said.
    Orryn sat down on the log, but Tygg remained standing.
    “It grows dark. I must hunt,” Tygg said, then glanced at Chandra. “Will you be well while I am gone?”
    “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Right, Orryn?”
    “Of course,” he said. “I’m here. Why wouldn’t you be?”
    “No reason,” Chandra said, recalling, but trying hard to forget, his warm lips on her skin. She turned her attention to Tygg. “We’re fine, really. Go hunt us something to eat, only . . .”
    “Only?” Tygg asked.
    Chandra bit her lip. “Well, I’d really rather not see its face before I eat it, okay?”
    Tygg looked puzzled. “I do not understand.”
    “I don’t like the idea of killing things,” she said.
    “You do not eat meat?” he asked.
    “No, I do. I just don’t do the killing.”
    “Who does?”
    “I don’t know, a butcher or something. Listen,” she said with exasperation. “I just don’t want to see some dead animal’s pitiful face, all right?”
    “Very well,” Tygg said. He turned toward the woods. “I will remove the head first.”

CHAPTER 13
    The campsite seemed strangely quiet with Tygg no longer in it. All that could be heard was the crackle and pop of the campfire, and the occasional sound of the trees rustling in the breeze.
    Orryn shivered and pulled the blanket tighter.
    “Are you cold?” Chandra asked. “Tygg piled some extra wood over there.”
    “No,” Orryn said. “I’m fine.” He glanced up at her. “Are you cold?”
    “No,” she said. “I just noticed you were shivering.”
    He frowned. “It’s not because of the cold.”
    “What’s wrong with you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “I’m ill,” he said. “That’s why I must reach home soon.”
    “Because there are healers there to help you?” Chandra asked.
    “Yes. Perhaps.”
    Chandra felt a twinge of worry, though she couldn’t imagine why. “What do you mean? It’s not bad is it?”
    “That’s the decision of the Sovereign Lady. She’ll probe my mind to determine—”
    “Probe your mind ? What the hell, Orryn?” Chandra felt fear grip her by the throat. The lady he spoke of sounded like no lady, and she was beginning to sound disturbingly familiar. “Tell me about her,” she said, trying to sound calmer than she felt.
    “She’s a powerful leader,” he said. “She has the ability to commune with the gods.”
    “How so?”
    Orryn grabbed a stick and stabbed at the fire, sending sparks funneling into the air. “It’s said she is the offspring of them. She knows how to read souls, to reach into hearts, to learn who’s worthy and who’s not.”
    “I don’t think I’d like someone judging me like that.”
    He shrugged. “All societies are served by the strongest amongst them. She determines our duties, and we carry them out.”
    “What if she assigns someone a duty that goes against their conscience?”
    “Conscience does not matter. Only duty.”
    “Well I have to disagree with you on that. I could never do something I knew was wrong just to appease some leader.”
    Orryn arched an eyebrow. “Could you not?”
    “Of course not!” Chandra said, but she knew the minute she said it, it was a lie. Peer pressure was a terrible thing. “All right. Maybe I did, once. I stole a package of Skittles from the Circle K when I was in the seventh grade.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Skittles are candy;