The Skylighter (The Keepers' Chronicles Book 2) Read Online Free

barrier, I could remain an anonymous Performer and live my life without constant threats from people who want to kill me and everyone I love.”
    The words he was going to say dried up on his tongue, and he swallowed a few times, forcing away the hurt. This wasn’t about him. At least, not entirely. “You’re scared. I understand that—”
    “This isn’t only about being afraid, Rafi. Marriage? Thrones? This isn’t something two dead men should decide for us.”
    “Those two dead men were our fathers,” he said, his temper flaring. “They’d want us to put our selfish concerns aside and think about our people.”
    That was the wrong thing to say. He knew it as soon as the words left his mouth, and he watched the instant effect they had on Johanna’s posture.
    She faced him squarely, spine straight as a sword. He’d seen her do this before, making herself seem bigger and more threatening, like a hunted beast facing down a predator.
    “Selfish concerns,” she said, her words clipped. “Michael, my little brother, is a selfish concern?”
    “You know that’s not what I meant—”
    “You’re asking me to put Santarem over what’s left of my family—and I’m already doing that by going to the wall. He is the only thing I have left. What else is this country going to ask from me?”
    Everything. Rafi had been raised to serve the people, and while it was a burden, he also felt honored to bear it. Maybe it was unfair to ask Johanna to carry the same weight, but he’d harbored a humble hope that she’d be willing to share it as his partner. His wife. Working together toward the same goal.
    He never anticipated how much that commonality would mean to him, and he had to look away, afraid she’d see something vulnerable and disappointed in his expression. There was a blanket on the bedside table, and he made a bed on the floor while Johanna turned her back and slipped the ugly dress over her head.
    The silence between them stretched cold and uncomfortable, neither of them warming the small room with words. Eventually Johanna cleared her throat. “Were there any horses to buy?”
    “No,” he said as he stepped out of his boots and lay down fully dressed. “We can ride out with the peddler who is staying downstairs. His cart is crowded, but I can spend most of the time jogging alongside.”
    “We can take turns.”
    “Jo—” He cut himself off before he started another argument. “Fine. We’ll take turns.”

Chapter 6
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Dom
    A shaft of sunlight shone through the open hatch that led to the manor’s roof. Dom jogged up the narrow stairway and shouldered through the opening.
    “Michael?” he shouted as he stepped onto the flat space. “Are you up here?”
    The roof was cluttered with chimneys, stacks of terra-cotta repair tiles, and the roost that housed the DeSilvas’ messenger pigeons. Plenty of places for a child to hide.
    “If you’re up here, please come out.”
    The little boy tried to keep his emotions hidden, but when he was too sad, he hid himself instead. The maids found him under tables, beneath the stairs, and once, sound asleep in a pile of clean laundry. This time he’d been missing for hours, and Brynn, the head maid, was pulling her hair out with worry. She’d enlisted every household member, the off-duty guardsmen, and even the few remaining visitors to help search for the boy.
    “Michael!”
    Only the pigeons responded to Dom’s call. He checked the cage for any new arrivals, any message from his brother or the other group who’d gone in search of Johanna.
    But there was nothing. Not a message. Not a sad, lonely little boy.
    Dom crossed to the half wall that wrapped around the landing, and leaned his elbows against the railing, feeling tired and frustrated. The past week had been hellish, even without worrying about his young charge. People kept coming to him with questions he didn’t know how to answer.
    Lord Dom, a representative from the Farmers’ Guild is here. Would