Desert Tales Read Online Free Page A

the confrontational faeries or the fact that she’d revealed herself to mortals. She couldn’t become invisible just yet in case one of the mortals looked her way and caught her, but she might be able to quietly slip away.
    When Jayce turned, he called “Hey!” and came after her. As he reached her side again, he added, “Hold up.”
    â€œI need to be gone.” She stepped farther away.
    Jayce held his hands up. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was an accident. . . .” He glanced briefly at the cliff. Del and Kayley were well away from the edge, and since he couldn’t see the faeries on the edge of the cliff, he saw nothing amiss.
    Rika, however, could see the faeries watching; several were now sitting in postures akin to gargoyles. They perched and watched her. She knew that their irritation was a result of Keenan’s meddling in the desert, but she had no idea what to do about it. Later, she’d talk to Sionnach, but for now, all she could do was get away from the mortals, draw the surly faeries’ attention away from them.
    Jayce frowned. “It felt like a gust or . . . maybe the edge gave . . .” He shook his head and proceeded to do what mortals typically did when confronted with the impossible: he created plausible explanations. Then, he added, “It doesn’t matter.”
    One of the faeries waved at Rika, and she tensed. Jayce’s back was to them; all of his attention was fixed on her. There had been days during which she was invisibly at his side and wanted this very thing, but now that he was looking so intently at her, she wanted to flee. Behind him, the faeries watched too attentively, not actively threatening her or the humans but observing everything so carefully. It had been selfish of her to let on that she cared for the mortals; she saw that now.
    And it was selfish of Keenan to come here.
    It didn’t matter though. Solitary faeries could not strike a king, but they could strike her or the humans. As calmly as she was able, she told Jayce, “I’m not angry; I’m not hurt. I just need to go.”
    â€œLet me give you a ride. We can get you checked out. . . . I fell on you.” Jayce was trying to comfort her, even though he was the one bleeding and injured. Much like he cared for meandering tortoises or wounded birds, he tried to nurture her too. “Please wait?” he asked.
    The gentle tone in his voice made it impossible to resist. He was injured because of her attention, and even though she feared that her presence there beside him would make it worse, she couldn’t refuse the plea in his voice. She took a step toward him, but almost faltered when he smiled at her. Seeing that smile actually directed at her was more heart-stopping than she could’ve imagined.
    Quickly, she forced her gaze downward, but then blanched at the sight of his injury. He was ignoring it because he was more concerned with her well-being, but she couldn’t tell him that she was completely uninjured, that it would take far more than catching a falling boy to hurt her. Instead she said, “I’ll wait if you bind that. Sit down.”
    â€œWhat’s your name?” He was still standing, as if he was unsure whether she’d dart away or not. “I’m Jayce.”
    â€œRika,” she said as she walked over to collect the rucksack that Del had tossed down.
    Several of the fairies on the cliff scrabbled down; others stayed at the edge, kicking their feet in the air. Maili had apparently joined them on the cliff while Rika’s attention was on Jayce.
    â€œWhat do you think he’d do if he saw us?” Maili taunted. “What if he knew what you were?”
    A few of the faeries pelted Rika with rocks, mostly small, but a few larger stones were tossed at her.
    Rika didn’t back away from them despite the sudden rock shower. The rocks hurt, but not enough that it made