Eidolon Read Online Free

it might, but the
chances are very slender that he would be caught by surprise. Just
last evening, he did not pour Hantem's ale out for her when she walked in
the door. He waited until she had seated herself at the bar and
called for wine, then poured with a generous hand. I asked him
later how he knew she would not want the usual, and he said, 'it
was in her walk.'" She looked up at her tall escort as they
strolled toward their private room.
    "Now tell me truly, sir! Is he a Scout?"
    "Jasper, a Scout? No, I fear not--though he
is a very skillful muscle-reader."
    "Seriously, Shadow, he cannot continue to
work for--at the Glass, without wages, and I am in no wise to pay
him."
    "Has there been no word yet from your
sister?" he asked
    Ceola looked down at the burnished floor.
"I--no. Have you--have your searchers found nothing?"
    "Alas, we have not, but you mustn't despair.
She may, after all, have gone off-world with her friend for a small
vacation."
    It would, Ceola thought, be much like Min,
though she might have left word! Or perhaps not, considering what
else she had forgotten to tell her only kin.
    "Tonith was by early today." she said
slowly. "You recall that she was kind enough to undertake a trace
of those transfers for me." She looked up, forcing herself to meet
bright green eyes. Shadow inclined his head, silently inviting her
to continue.
    Ceola swallowed, for this--this was a wound,
a blow to honor that could not lightly be shared.
    "The security company rep was correct--we
have not made our payment for the last three relumma. The money was
transferred, right enough, but it went to--another account. A . . .
private account." She cleared her throat. "In Min's name."
    "Ah," he said softly.
    Ah,
indeed . Her sister had stolen from her--had
placed the one thing that stood between them and the Low Port in
jeopardy. Ceola did not know what to make of it, but it hurt,
bitterly.
    "Will you hold line?"
Shadow asked her, and then-- " Can you hold line?"
    "I will hold as long as I can, of course--I
must! The Glass is in Min's name, as eldest. Though how I will
manage without Jas Per I hardly know."
    "There is no reason to manage without him
for some time yet," Shadow said, stepping back and allowing her to
proceed him into their room. "Nor will you fret over his wages.
There is a matter of Balance between he and I."
    Inside the room, she turned to look up at
him. "But--"
    "Hush,"he murmured, holding up a hand as the
door closed behind him. "No distractions from the outside world
enter this room, correct?"
    That had been the mode from the beginning,
though how he supposed her able to think at all, once they--
    She smiled up at him. "Correct,"she
said.
    *
    Some while later, she
pushed open the door to the Glass and strode inside, luxuriating in
a loose, effortless stride. As always after her time with Shadow,
she felt sparklingly aware , as if she had slept deeply,
instead of exercising profusely.
    There was a good early crowd--that was the
first thing she noted as she moved toward the counter. The second
thing she noticed was Jas Per, tall and unusually subdued at the
center of the bar, as if standing sentinel. He caught her eye and
moved his head slightly to the right, even as he turned to answer a
call from one of the regulars.
    Frowning, Ceola followed the direction of
his nod. A woman was draped on the endmost stool, sleek black hair
curling over one shoulder, her chin resting on one hand, while with
the other she toyed petulantly with a half-empty glass of the
red.
    Ceola's stomach sank, which
must be wrong. Surely, she thought, forcing herself to continue
walking brisk and business-like toward the bar, surely she should rejoice to again
meet absent kin?
    Well, and if her stomach was a fool, at
least her head knew what was owed to family.
    "Min," she said, softly, upon arriving at
her sister's side. "Sister, welcome home; I had been worried, with
you gone so long, and no word."
    Angry brown eyes met hers, and a shapely