Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 135
to restore his body to life. Coughing, he blinked at the pale
leaves high above.
"Goddess!" The voice was a woman's. "Are you all
right?"
A shadow bent over him. He heard another intake of
breath. "Goddess, you are not!"
Armiger tried to lift his hand. "Please," he croaked.
"Help me." His black fingers closed in fine hair.
"No!" Jordan was barely aware that his plate was
skittering across the table, and off to shatter on the floor. He
had fallen forward, fighting to hold back Armiger’s distant
body. "Run! Get away from him!"
No one was paying any attention to him. Brendan Sheia
was on his feet, shaking his finger at Yuri. "This is a
calumny!" he shouted. "We all know the real reason you’re
supporting parliament, father. It’s to cut me out of my
birthright!"
A gasp went around the room. Then everyone was
shouting at once.
No one could hear Jordan--not those in the banquet hall,
transfixed as they were by the drama unfolding here, nor the
distant woman, too close to Armiger. Jordan felt her hands on
him--or were they Calandria’s?
A torrent of outraged voices enveloped him--"Your anger
does you no credit, Brendan!" "Quiet, Linden, you traitor."
Chairs toppled; ladies scurried for cover as the two Boros heirs
confronted one another below the head table.
None of this mattered to Jordan. He tried with all his will
to take control of Armiger’s body, but it was futile. That hand
in her hair... He dimly knew that Axel had him in an armlock
and together with Calandria, was marching him from the