The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams by Melissa Myers Page A

to
the letter. “She is one of the Blight children from Gaelyn but she
isn’t corrupt. He says she has agreed to guard me,” Jala said and
folded the letter. She had never heard of a Blight child before but
from what the letter said they were not to be trifled with.
    “Are you explaining it to the big cat thing
or do you have another invisible friend in here?” Emily said, her
voice closer now.
    “The big cat thing is a Bendazzi. His name is
Marrow. He is my familiar and yes I was explaining to him,” Jala
said, her eyes searching the room once more. “Will you show
yourself to me?” she asked finally, not really sure what to
expect.
    “I will to you, but if he comes back I’m
gonna hide.” The childlike voice came again and a form appeared,
sitting on the edge of her bed. The child was naked and filthy with
tangled brown hair. At least Jala thought it was brown. It was
difficult to tell the true color through the filth.
    Jala stared at her condition in shock and
tried to decide if the majority of the filth on her was mud or
blood. Blood, she decided after a moment and cleared her throat
gently. “So I am to take care of you and keep you safe and in
return you guard me and keep me safe, correct?” she asked, keeping
her voice very polite.
    “That’s what Shade said,” Emily agreed with a
shrug.
    “Well then, the first thing would be to get
you a bath and clothes,” Jala said with what she hoped was a
parental tone.
    “What kind of clothes?” Emily asked,
suspiciously eyeing Jala’s discarded dress.
    Following her gaze, Jala eyed the dress and
felt a blush start to rise. Moving swiftly, she retrieved her robe
from beside the bed and shrugged it on and then looked to Emily
with a smile. “When exactly did you arrive here, Emily?” she asked
sweetly and prayed it was this morning and the child hadn’t been in
the room last night. Her gaze flicked involuntarily toward the
table by the wall where she and Finn had engaged in acts no child
should witness.
    “This morning. I came into the room when the
asshole left,” Emily replied and then narrowed her eyes at Jala.
“What kind of clothes?” she repeated slower, in a quieter
voice.
    “Asshole? You mean Finn? Why would you call
him that?” Jala asked in confusion.
    “That’s what Shade calls him. Are you going
to answer my question?” Emily was watching her closely her
expression still holding suspicion.
    “Clean ones, beyond that I don’t care. If you
don’t like dresses that’s fine with me as long as the clothes are
clean,” Jala said and frowned. “Please don’t call him that, he
really isn’t an asshole. It’s just that Shade and Finn don’t get
along well at all,”
    “Why not?” Emily asked, her expression all
innocent curiosity.
    “Why don’t I run you a bath and after you are
dressed I can explain. I have to meet Sovann soon so I really don’t
have much time this morning.” Jala moved across the room as she
spoke and opened the door to the bathing room. With a quick flick
of her hand she filled the tub with steaming water. Her reservoir
of magic was getting built up enough from use that she barely
noticed the missing power from the spell. With a wave of her hand
she motioned for Emily to approach. Taking a closer look at her new
charge she realized water alone wasn’t going to cut it. With
another wave of her hand and quick cast spell, a majority of the
filth disappeared from the child. The Blight froze in her tracks
and looked down at herself as Jala stared on in shock.
    “What?” Emily said as she looked back up and
noticed Jala’s slack-jawed face.
    “I’ve never seen something so dirty a simple
cleaning spell didn’t take care of it on the first try,” Jala
muttered in amazement. “I’m sorry. It’s just … Oh never mind. Go
on, get in the tub. I’ll get my soap for you.” Shaking her head,
she moved to her assorted essentials that she kept separate from
Finn’s belongings and picked up a bar of lilac soap