Read Robert Charrette - Arthur 03 - A Knight Among Knaves for Free Online Page B

turf. They had grown up in different worlds. What did they have in common? They had shared a harrowing time, confined by the dwarves who had taken Bear. Isolated from contact with anyone other than the dwarves, John and Sue had grown into a strange sort of closeness, two frightened kids as scared of what was happening around them as they were of their attraction to each other. Though he didn't understand the attraction, John couldn't deny it.
    He also couldn't escape the feelings of guilt he felt whenever he stopped to think about it.
    How could he be so attracted to Sue? What about Faye? John was living with Faye, if you could call sharing a slump with an incorporeal presence "living together." Faye was his confidante and friend, as she had been since he was a kid. But John wasn't a kid anymore, and only recently he had learned that Faye had never been one. She was one of the Faery folk, an ethereal being from the otherworld. Ever since he first saw her in the—was flesh the right word?—on his first trip to the otherworld, his feelings toward her had changed. She had become real in a way he had never anticipated. Since then, he'd been all too aware of the sexual attraction between them, an attraction simultaneously frustrated and enhanced by her intangibility.
    In some ways, Faye was as much a mystery to him as Spillway Sue.
    Faye hadn't understood why John didn't leave at once with Bennett, the guy who had once tried to kill her. She had been full of good reasons for John to go. In Faery, John could learn about his heritage. In Faery, John could be what lie was born to be. In Faery, John would come into his own. Hut she had missed one of the best. In Faery, Faye would be tangible. Beautiful, loving Faye would be touchable.
    But, in Faery, there would be no Sue.
    Despite the marked differences between the two women, John found each of them strikingly attractive. Different, but desirable. Equally desirable? John wasn't sure. At best, in
    the right light, Sue was pretty, in an earthy sort of way; she was a real world woman, and she had been on the streets a long time. Faye was, without a doubt and by any standard; beautiful. Admittedly, John had only seen her by the fey an deceptive light of the otherworld, but he was sure her beaut was no glamour. Had the issue been looks alone, the choice would have been easy, but John's longing for Sue had a fierce heat that was missing from his slow burning desire fo Faye. Lately he had been telling himself that he needed to see Sue again, that talking with her would settle his confusion.
    He wondered if Faye knew how he had been spending his time away from the slump. He certainly hadn't told her. He still hadn't told Faye about what happened between him and Sue, that they had made love in the slump upon their return J from captivity. Things had gotten dangerous shortly thereafter and there hadn't been time to talk. Later—well, later the time never seemed right. Faye had never mentioned the incident, and John had let it lie, lacking the courage to bring it up. Talking to Faye about the longings that he felt for Sue just seemed wrong.
    And there was no one else to talk to about it. Even if he were still around, Bear wouldn't understand the problem. Talking to Dr. Spae was out of the question. Maybe if John's mother were still around. But no, even had he been able to find her, he would have found no solace there; no matter what she said Marianne Reddy still thought of John as her little boy, and little boys didn't have these kinds of problems. There was no one he could talk this out with but Sue. Only he hadn't been able to find her to talk to her.
    Bennett had given him twenty-four hours to take care of his business. Even without Bennett's deadline, John had a sense that time was slipping away. The more he walked, the more he felt sure that unless he succeeded in finding Sue tonight, the opportunity to straighten things out between them would slip away. The seasons of the year were