Thorn Fall Read Online Free

him doing it in one of their rooms, either.
    “I could also stand over there and watch Temi sleep,” Simon said, “but I’ve heard that girls find that creepy.”
    “You think?”
    “I bet Spartan boy has been watching you sleep.”
    “Doubtful.”
    “He knew how to find you, didn’t he? He’s been keeping tabs.”
    Hm, that might be true, though I doubted it had anything to do with a romantic fascination such as Simon had for Temi. It was more likely that Alektryon knew I was the only one around here who could understand him, however awkwardly. Now that I thought about it, it was surprising he had waited this long to approach me. Maybe he had been waiting for an opportunity for me to need a bodyguard. I snorted. If we ever made a love connection, I would have to thank the punks at the Safeway parking lot.
    “Why don’t you see if anyone has spotted monsters lately,” I said. “Temi said another one is supposed to be around.”
    “Oh, that’s right.” Simon snapped his fingers and dug out his phone.
    Alektryon returned the tablet, several screens’ worth of writing waiting for me. He navigated the computer interface remarkably well, assuming he had never used anything like it before meeting us. Of course, I wasn’t sure I should assume that. He had known the elves and been a part of their world somehow, at least for a time, long enough for them to believe he understood their language. And long enough for them to label him a criminal and lock him away.
    “All that is to ask for language lessons?” Simon asked, walking over.
    “No.” I read the words slowly and twice through, making sure I understood everything before turning a sympathetic grimace toward Alektryon. “You were married?” So much for my love connection.
    He was looking toward the woods again, that same spot as before. It wasn’t one of those unfocused gazes of thoughtfulness but rather a sharp, watchful one. I couldn’t imagine what might be out there. There weren’t any more campsites in that direction. Some animal? I hadn’t heard anything, but there were javelinas and coyotes in the national forest.
    “You sound surprised,” Simon said, scrolling through some news feed on his phone. “If he was wandering around the Peloponnese in that get-up, he probably had Greek girls jumping him at every intersection.”
    “Really, Simon, I wouldn’t have guessed you’d noticed.”
    “It’s hard not to notice when his twig and berries are on display every time he lifts his leg. You’re going to get him some underwear, aren’t you?”
    His tunic wasn’t quite that short.
    “I’m sure we can hit up Goodwill tomorrow. Though the subligaculum didn’t come along until the Romans. You may have to take him aside and show him what to do with briefs.”
    “Ugh.”
    I chewed my lip and stared at the tablet, not wanting to share more with Simon. Even if Alektryon hadn’t mentioned it, he probably preferred his personal details not be shared with the world. The reason I had been surprised he’d had a wife was because history said Spartan men lived in the barracks until they were thirty, and I didn’t think Alektryon was that old yet. But there were stories of younger men getting married and then slipping away in the night to visit their wives. And his words said he had been expecting a child when he had been kidnapped. His first.
    I rubbed my face, upset on his behalf, even if I barely knew him. How long had it been since he had seen his wife? In his years, not the rest of the world’s. I couldn’t imagine waking up and realizing the love of my life had been dead for more than two millennia. Maybe he was finding something to stare at in the woods, because it made him uncomfortable talking about this with a stranger. He probably would have kept it to himself, but the last thing his message asked was if I could find out what had happened to them. He seemed to grasp that they were long gone, but he wanted to know if they had lived well.