Bloodletting Part 1: The Affinities Cycle Book 1 Read Online Free Page A

is … troubling.”
    Tetra stood, looking away from his family and friends, fists still clenched. Everyone had fallen silent, quietly watching the conflict between Tetra and the Bicks family matron. Leta was normally soft, warm, and friendly. Tetra rarely saw his mom as rigid, or a disciplinarian. She was the very spirit of kindness. But not today. Even Laney was cowed into silence, avoiding her usual vocal complaints about the origin of the next meal.
    Steel, like a sword, could be seen beneath her blue eyes. It seemed to Tetra as though his mother’s gaze was daring him to hurt himself, promising she would kill him if he did something stupid. He sighed and slumped his shoulders, then headed for the hallway leading to the rooms at the back of the house.
    His mother’s words trailed after him. “You’ll have to sit and speak with me about this before I’ll let you leave, Tetra …”
    He entered his room and shut the door, barely resisting the urge to slam it.
    ***

Chapter 3
    Halli Bicks
    I don’t see why, Leta.” Viktor’s deep voice penetrated the bedroom door, drifting into the upstairs hallway. Halli sat on a small bench nestled against the railing opposite her parent’s room at the top of the stairs. Knees tucked under her chin, she wrapped arms around her legs. Flames crackled in the fireplace of the Heart room below. Every home in the region committed its largest space to the Heart room … sometimes making it the only room in the house.
    Once lunch had been eaten, in silence after the fight between Leta and Tetra, the rest of the kids had left the Bicks home. They would all see each other in the morning when they left for the Academy. All of them had shuffled out in silence, leaving Halli with looks of quiet concern. She had watched them go, concerns of her own eating at her.
    “You remember our time at the Academy,” her mother said. “It’s beyond grueling. If Tetra has been hiding pains from his injury, the trials of the Academy could re-injure him. Or worse. I can’t bear the thought of that, Vik.”
    “How does keeping him here change that?” her father asked. “If using his affinity is hurting him, he’ll eventually break, whether he’s here or there. We can’t deny the truth. I know you’re scared, Letty, but we have to let him go to live his own life.”
    “You know what they will turn him into.”
    “Is that what this is about?” Concern shaded Viktor’s voice. “Yes, they’ll teach him to fight, to lead, to protect. That is what the Academy is all about. He will emerge stronger. A man.”
    “They’ll teach him to kill.”
    A shiver ran down Halli’s back. Gravitons were, more often than not, warriors. Their ability to manipulate density could enhance and reduce the potency of other affinities. Any magic could be trained for war, but Gravitons seemed to be born for it.
    “Soldiers kill, but they aren’t killers,” Viktor’s words stunned Halli. Were they really talking so blithely about Tetra killing? She didn’t understand what they meant, only hearing the surface of the low-toned conversation.
    A hiss from her mother. “Are they not killers? Like your brother? Why do you think I am so scared for our son? At least Halli will be protected, nurtured, even if they are taking her away from us.”
    “Is that what you think of my brother? No, Letty, you know he is so much more than that. Don’t let your fears rule your words, your heart.” Another long silence. “The decision has always been yours; but if you force him to stay, he’ll hate us. Taking away his future means we’ll lose him just as assuredly as letting him go now.”
    “Why both of them?” Footsteps crossed the room, and she imagined her father going to her mother, enfolding her in his arms. Tears welled in her eyes as, for the first time, it occurred to her how much she would miss her parents.
    “I know Vik, I just fear for them. But …” While muffled, her mother’s voice sounded stronger. “The