Read Online Birthright (The Stone Legacy Series Book 5) by Theresa Dalayne - Free Book Online Page B

better. Especially now that the others are there—Eadith, Beigarth, and Grima, and those two Arab windthrowers.” She peered at her empty backpack lying in the corner of the room. “Now that I think about it, my mom hasn’t just exiled us, but she killed any chance of me learning how to take her place.” A coil of heat wound through her. She parted her lips. “Maybe that’s it.” She stood, letting go of Arwan’s hand. “Maybe she’s jealous.”
    “Jealous?”
    Her eyes widened. “It makes so much sense now.” It was the reason her mother hated Arwan being in the home. Why her mother discouraged her from wanting to learn Grima and Beigarth’s petrifying ability. Why when she and Arwan bonded, they were forced to choose.
    It was all jealousy.
    Her mother regretted no longer being the Stone Guardian, and didn’t want to see anyone surpass her own performance in that role. Even her own daughter.
    She peered at the pack a moment longer, and then walked across the room and snatched it off the floor. “She’s jealous of me—of us.” She knelt beside the drawers and opened one at a time, shoving pieces of clothes into her bag. “She and my dad never bonded because he was human, and she hates that I got everything she never had.” She stuffed the last piece of clothing in her pack and zipped it shut. “That has to be it.”
    “I don’t know.” Arwan stood and paced the length of the wall. “It does make sense.”
    “Hell, yeah, it makes sense.” Zanya put on her pack. “But I’m not going to let her win.” She touched the leather wristband with her stone held inside. “Let’s go, before it gets too dark out.”
    Arwan stopped pacing. “Now?”
    “Yes, now.”
    “But the tree. We have to be able to see its vines while moving through the jungle.”
    “You keep watch as we hike, and I’ll use every ability at my disposal to keep us safe if something comes up.” She walked toward the door.
    Arwan hooked his hand around her arm, making her pause. “Are you sure about this? Because if you are, I’ll follow you. I’ll trust you, and your abilities.”
    Zanya tightened her jaw, recalling her mother’s shrieking voice and trembling hands as she cast them out. As her mother, the one person who should have run to her defense, ordered her to choose—her family, or Arwan.
    At one time, she would have chosen her mother over anyone. Now everything had changed.
    “I’m the Stone Guardian, and I’m going to prove to you, my mother, and everyone else that I can do this—with or without her help.”
     
    ***
     
    Arwan
     
    He followed behind Zanya, using game trails and breaks in the thick jungle terrain. He managed to keep up with her pace, though barely.
    Something inside of her had changed.
    She was stronger now. More capable. More determined. Nothing she hadn’t been since the moment he met her. Except now it came from a different place. A place he knew all too well, having lived in the same dark hole in his heart for too many years.
    He scanned the jungle floor ten paces ahead, always keeping an eye out for movement under the leaves. Every hanging vine was suddenly a threat. The entire jungle had turned on them, and there was little he could do to keep her safe if the tree knew where they were and chose to strike.
    He furrowed his brow.
    Or perhaps it was being told where to strike.
    “Zanya.” He quickened his pace several steps and caught up with her. “I think Contessa knows where we are.”
    “Why do you say that?” Her eyes stayed focused ahead when she spoke, not shifting to him even for a moment.
    “The tree swallowed the birds, but it didn’t touch us.”
    “Because we ran to the house.”
    “Or…”
    She finally glanced at him. “Or what?”
    “Or it was told not to take us.”
    Zanya snorted. “Now trees are taking orders?” She seemed to contemplate his suggestion, and then slowed down for the first time since they’d left.
    “This isn’t an ordinary tree. You’ve seen