Impossible Things Read Online Free

marks of the Chosen. Three.
    ‘Come on, Mr Devil’s Advocate, explain that one to me.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Verak said. ‘I just … Look, a female Warrior I can just about get my head around, but Thrice-Marked, that’s …’
    ‘Just as impossible,’ Kael finished. He drained his wine and reached for more. ‘A Seer and a Healer, then. That’s possible. That’s got precedent. Probably.’
    ‘It’s plausible,’ Verak said. ‘On a child of the Citizenry. A child whose parents both came from long lines of the Chosen. How many Twice-Marked have there ever been who weren’t Children of Two Marks at the least?’
    There was a short pause. Verak winced.
    ‘Well, me for one,’ Kael said as drily as he could. His mother had been from a very old family, but much to the regret of her family she’d remained unmarked and chosen to marry a warlord from a frozen wasteland, a Citizen only by the skin of his teeth and the grace of a family who’d thrown up a few Warriors many generations ago.
    ‘But you’ve got lines of Chosen stretching back on both sides as far as the Book records. Have you ever heard of a Twice-Marked being born to a plebeian?’
    ‘No.’ Kael stared glumly at the fire. He was never going to be able to explain this to the council. He’d need a Truthteller to verify her marks, and he wasn’t sure they even had one at the Academy any more.
    A man like himself, who came from two long bloodlines of the Chosen, whose father was already a renowned Warrior, had no need to have his Warrior mark checked. There was no reason why he’d cheat, and he was quite aware of the penalties.
    She could demonstrate her Healing talent quite easily, he supposed. And once she’d regained some strength he could perhaps test her for Warrior abilities. But how in the seven hells he was supposed to check whether she was really a Seer or not, he had no idea.
    She couldn’t be Thrice-Marked. She couldn’t be a Warrior. Those were two impossible things about her. But the third …
    The thought that anybody with her gifts was living as a slave was just inconceivable. She could only be Twice-Marked if at least one of her parents came from a very old Chosen family. It simply wasn’t possible otherwise.
    And no Chosen would ever allow their child to become a slave.
    The children of the Chosen were cosseted, adored – and very carefully recorded in the Book of Names. It was impossible to simply disappear.
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, it was very hard, he’d put it that way. There were always loopholes, always exceptions. The gods knew he’d found a few in his time.
    Clearly some weird things were going on with this girl. Some almost impossible things.
    He was going to have a hell of a time explaining this to the council.
    She couldn’t ever remember comfort like this.
    She was warm, which in itself was almost a forgotten sensation. And she was clean, which wasn’t a state she’d been able to achieve for a horribly long time.
    But the strangest thing, the most alien sensation, was the lack of pain.
    She concentrated. Her belly was still empty, but the clawing pain of a hunger so intense it felt as if her body were trying to eat itself, had faded. Her face didn’t feel as if it were on fire any more, her eyeball boiling with agony, her flesh crawling with fire. Her hand was so painless she had to check it was still there.
    The everyday bruises, sores, bites and lashes hurt so little she barely noticed them.
    She realised she must, therefore, be dead.
    Which was why it came as something of a shock to hear a deep, dark voice asking, ‘Are you awake?’
    She froze, not sure how to answer.
    ‘You are. I can tell you are. Do you want something to drink? You’re still quite dehydrated.’
    She licked lips that were dry but no longer blistered, and nodded.
    A hand touched the back of her neck, and she barely had time to register the surprise of strong fingers against her bare scalp before a cup was pressed to