The Beginning of Everything Read online Kristen Ashley (The Rising #1)

Categories Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal, Romance Tags Authors: Series: The Rising Series by Kristen Ashley
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Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
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This was good for she looked paler, was tiring faster, and not eating well.

And her mouth was beginning to appear like it was pinched with pain.

This was a worry.

As it had been a worry for some time.

But it was getting to be more of a worry.

However, after the piercing ceremony, she’d been called into the meeting rooms with the others and she was in them well into the night.

Too much for her.

All of this was too much for her.

And we’d be traveling again soon, with Silence and Mars only having a few days of nuptial bliss to enjoy in Firenze (and to my surprise, but tentative delight for Silence, this seemed as if it would be the case) before we would again be on our horses, bound for Wodell.

My mother needed to sit still, conduct some rituals and allow some healing practices.

She was not doing this.

This was a worry too.

Then there was Serena, who had been so vile to Cassius and myself it was beyond her normal level of vile.

I did not understand that.

This was also a worry.

Then, of course, there was Dora.

The man who killed her mother was in that very palace.

I had no intention of telling my girl this was the case. There was no need to speak of it.

Ever.

But with Serena being the way Serena was being, I might be forced to do just that.

Better it come from me than however Serena might connive to impart that information.

Then there was Cassius…

I did not wish to think about Cassius.

Though he had been busy at the diplomatic table as well, even through dinner the night before, so I did not have to engage with him yesterday nor introduce him to Dora as he’d threatened at the betrothal dinner.

But today was another day and I had to find the inner equanimity to handle whatever came of it.

Deciding against continuing to attempt to meditate, I undid my belt and set it aside before pulling off my tunic.

I then straightened my spine further and dropped my chin in my neck, folding one hand over the other at the back of my head to deepen the stretch. The same when I dropped my head to each side.

I then lifted an arm up, fell sideways so my opposite forearm was against my rug, and I reached over my head.

And the other side.

After that, I did a few stretches in quick succession—seated, standing, and twisting—to warm my body before I did them again, settling in them for longer this time. I also added more in order to lengthen my muscles and ease the tension out of my spine, the backs of my legs, the fronts of my thighs, my shoulders, my arms and more of my neck.

With this accomplished (feeling invigorated, but no less worried), I sat cross-legged again, pulled on my tunic, retied my belt and reached to my cards.

I did this with trepidation.

Since I’d turned it, my morning card had not again been the Unicorn.

But what I’d been getting, even with a disordered mind, it could not be denied that the cards were falling appropriately.

The card Besom from the hushed suit (of course, I had been traveling and I was doing it for festivals and ceremonies, which was the indication of Besom, or the broom).

The card Warrior from the middling suit (which made sense, as I needed strength, to brace and be prepared for what came next).

The hushed card of the Wand (obviously, as I needed much magic for the parade).

Another hushed card of the Pentacle (though I could fathom that card, I still found it difficult to meditate, though, through necessity, I had conducted many rituals to draw my magic within).

Further hushed cards, the Staff (not a surprise, I knew I needed to have a mind to the protection of myself and my own) and the Sword (one could say strife surely had entered my life, in the form of an enemy prince as well as my sister).

But I also often got the middling cards of Eros (and that made me anxious, for it foretold of romantic liaison, sexual need, and the instruction to seek a lover, and this, like the Unicorn, was a card I’d never turned before), the Lovers (which I did not understand for it signified union, balance and harmony), and the Dragon (this was understood, fire, endings, power—definitely understood).

And I had turned two high cards.

The Star, which signified hope and dreams, though I took it as a need to do a dream reading. However, not sleeping well, I was not having dreams.

And the Siren.

An omen card.

One of only two in the deck and these you never wished to turn.

I had also never turned it.

Danger.

Betrayal.

Falsity.

I moved the cards in my hands with all this on my mind, these weeks past no longer trying to clear it to give a faithful path from my inner self to the cards for the correct reading, as I used to do, for in these times this was an impossibility.


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