dark faerie 04.5 - without armor Read Online Free Page B

Still, even with the filth that probably never came off, she was delicate in appearance. Fragile almost.
    I knew better than anyone that she was far from fragile. She was a warrior. One of the first I’d met from the Land of Faerie.
    “The past is the past, Benton.” She shifted so she could focus her gaze on me. Her large dark hazel irises shined under the shifting light of the fire, but the warm hue made her faery features appear highlighted and pixie-like. She held off on wearing glamour amongst her friends, but out in the open with humans, she had to wear it to shield the world from seeing her slightly larger eyes. “I don’t think about it anymore.”
    “But you did…once. Think about it before, right?”
    She sighed, closing her eyes and stuffing her head into her arms resting on her knees.
    “Benton, I can’t do this. What more do you want? There’s nothing to say about those days.”
    “Just tell me it wasn’t a waste of time.”
    She opened her eyes, offering me a hardened stare which made me shift in my spot. Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn’t want to know the answers to some questions.
    “Those were the best days of my life,” she whispered.
    She jumped to her feet and made her way toward the sleeping area, already neatly laid out and arranged with her blanket, pillow and sleeping bag. She didn’t even pull off her boots when she yanked the blanket over her svelte body, facing away from the fire. It couldn’t be that warm around there, and I watched her for moments afterwards as she eventually curled up into a tight ball and her breathing slowed as she slept.
    With the little magic restored to me since the earlier fight, I sent a faint, flickering spell of heat toward her, encasing the vicinity with a continual blow of warmer air. It wasn’t enough to alert her of a major change, but it was enough for her to uncurl her tightened position and calm into a deeper rest.
    The frigid air of the night had the entire camp curled up in their beds. I turned toward Ciaran, who had apparently seen the whole spell I’d sent Isolde’s way. His stoic expression didn’t change, but he looked away from me to study the others in the group. He was on first watch and wouldn’t be resting anytime soon. He was going to let my interference slide, for the comfort of his weary leader.
    Well, at least there was one thing we both agreed on.
    I slid into my own sleeping sack for the night, weary with the day’s events heavy on my head and snaking across my sore muscles and skull. What Isolde said about our time in high school hurt more than it would if she had told me she hated our time together, and I’d been the worst boyfriend ever. Why I’d thought it would’ve been better to hear something else, I didn’t know. All I could say was that my heart never left those days either, and, as a result, we’d both destroyed each other for anyone else.
     
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
     
    Isolde tossed a crackerjack puff at me, and it bounced off the corner of my mouth onto the rocky sand lying beneath us. We skipped school that day and were sitting at a tiny creek on the other side of the football stadium bleachers of our high school. Snacking on junk food as we laughed, she tried her best to toss one into my mouth.
    She was a terrible shot.
    “You’re feeding the ants more than me! I’ll starve before midnight!”
    “You might turn into a pumpkin by then!”
    “Or a frog.” I reached out to tickle her sides, making her squeal as she struggled to get away. Crackerjacks popcorn went everywhere, tossed into the air where it landed on the banks of the creek, floating away in the tiny current rushing over smoothed over rocks and boulders. It wasn’t a large stream, but it had enough force to soak one through and through if we happened to roll into it.
    Which we just had.
    “Ah!” I felt the cold rushing over my thighs and rolled to my stomach, groaning even more. Isolde had gotten off with just her bottoms