Let Me Fly Free Read Online Free

lov er —a sure and comforting presence
that keeps me warm at night. I enjoy Kiri’s companionship, but her
muted sweetness often feels as hollow as the element she embodies.
She’s too nice, too gentle, too quiet. Beautiful, but boring. Just
like Kristakai… Before today, that is.
    Again, not very charitable,
I know. Which is why I’ve often wondered whether I should break
this courtship. But her attachment to me is the very thing that
keeps me from confessing the truth—that I don’t reciprocate her feelings and
never will. No one has ever looked at me the way she does, as if
I’m the most important person in her life. And if I lost that, who
knows how long it would be before I inspired such an emotion in
another?
    In any case, now is hardly the time to fret
about such things—or cause her sorrow. I may not be very kind, but
even I know that to break her heart when evil threatens us all
would be beyond cruel.
    I give her my best, most reassuring smile.
“Oh, Kiri. You should know better than to worry about me.”
    The corner of her mouth flickers, but her
eyes take on a sad tint, and as she drops her hands and draws back,
I wonder if my thoughts somehow carried into my tone or expression.
She casts her gaze downward and says, “We shouldn’t linger in the
sky. For all anyone knows, the monster can fly as well, and there’s
no place to hide should it choose to attack.”
    “ That’s true.” With only
air surrounding me, I suddenly feel exposed. It never occurred to
me that the beast might be able to fly as well, but given that I
know absolutely nothing about it, that’s perfectly possible. It’s
equally possible that the Infernal creature can not fly, which would mean that our
ability to soar above the treetops could be our best defense. I
consider bringing this up, then realize there’s no point. We can’t
stay up here forever, after all. Already, I’m starting to tire from
my flight, and the last thing I want is to drain all my energy,
then find myself too weary to fight back should I encounter the
monster.
    So I accept the small hand she extends
toward me and let her lead me quickly toward the ground. Soft
leaves brush against me as we enter the treetops, weaving around
the curving branches. I revert back to my usual form, turning the
flames that were my lower body back into legs, and my feet land on
a grassy forest floor. Kiri makes her descent beside me, but though
she, too, returns to a solid state, she appears just as ethereal as
when she was a gust of the wind.
    Tall, dignified trees now stand around us,
their narrow white and brown trunks draped in blue-green ivy.
Though their branches intertwine above, they stand several yards
apart from each other, meaning there’s little chance that they’re
concealing anything.
    Then again, the riverbank offered no cover
either, and yet the monster still managed to vanish. Perhaps it
truly is invisible.
    “ What were you doing up
there?” Kiri asks.
    “ What do you think?
Searching for the monster so I can set it ablaze before it hurts
anyone else.” To emphasize my point, I flick my wrist and conjure a
small flame.
    She gives me a skeptical look. “You don’t
even know if it’s vulnerable to fire.”
    “ Anything can burn,” I retort.
    “ Anything Terrestrial . But this
creature is Infernal, and we know nothing about its powers or
abilities.”
    I start to reply, then stop
myself as I realize she’s right. Recognizing how foolish it was for
me to assume that the rules of the Terrestrial would apply to an
Infernal creature, I huff. I suppose I should add a few extra steps
to my plan: Find out what this creature is, figure out what it’s
vulnerable to, then seek and destroy it.
    “ Good point,” I say
reluctantly. “Have you heard anything? Cyim didn’t seem to know
much.”
    “ I asked Amdyth about it,”
she replies, speaking of the unicorn who created her—her Terrene
Mother. “All she would say was that something dark is awakening