Read Silence: Part Two of Echoes & Silence for Free Online Page A

that.” Falcon’s mouth twitched, trying to retain a grin.
    “What?”
    “He uh…” he started, then stopped and shook his head at me. “What exactly did you show him today, Ara?”
    “Only what I already told you about: the Arthur…”
    “Thing.”
    “Yes.” I cleared my throat.
    He buried his face in both hands for a second, exhaling. “I still can’t believe it. How did you keep that from us all this time?”
    I shrugged.
    “And you say he didn’t actually… that you didn’t…”
    “No. We didn’t have sex.”
    “Then… I just don’t understand what David’s so mad about. So you nearly had sex with his uncle, but all he did was undress you. So what?”
    I shrunk a little. “I kind of maybe didn’t really tell you the whole story.”
    His brown eyes were usually always warm and kind, but when they went cold, it was in stark contrast to the norm. “You let me, and my knights, go after The Mad King without the full story?”
    My teeth showed in an apologetic grin. “You wanna see what I showed him?”
    “Honestly? Not really—not considering how mad it made David. But.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head in annoyance. “I probably should. At least so I know which version of David I’m up against.”
    “Up against?”
    He touched my upper arm. “Just show me.”
    “Okay. But… don’t blame me if you throw up.” I shut my eyes and thought back to that moment, feeling my own stomach twist and knot as I relived it. Falcon knew almost everything about what happened in that Training Hall with Arthur, but he sure as hell could never have imagined just how awful it was. Until now.
    He trembled slightly, opening his eyes, and as he cupped his hand to his mouth, I thought for a moment that he’d react like David had. “That explains why His Royal Insaneness ripped up the floorboards.”
    “He did what!”
    “I saw him heading into the Training Hall—figured I’d stay back when I noticed he was mumbling to himself like a madman. After that I caught up with the others to say everything was fine and set them to different tasks, and when I went back down to the Training Hall…” His eyes drifted to a very black cloud of smoke wafting out toward the lighthouse, almost invisible against the night sky.
    My mouth popped and I leaned over the railing to get a better look. “What’d he do?”
    “Smashed some mirrors. Ripped up the floor where you’d obviously been laying with Arthur and then…” He laughed into a fist.
    “ Then ?” The suspense was killing me.
    “He set fire to it—the entire hall.” He clicked his fingers. “Gone. Up in smoke.”
    “He didn’t get burnt, did he?” I grabbed Falcon’s forearm tightly.
    “No.” He unclenched my fingers from his skin. “He’s fine. But he muttered something about hunting Arthur down as he left.”
    “But Arthur’s not here,” I said, for some reason not feeling relieved. “He drove my dad into town a few hours ago.”
    “Why?”
    “Sam needs Petey,” I explained. “He’s not coping so well right now, and he’s started skipping school and being a turd.”
    “That doesn’t sound like Sam.” Falcon’s eyes drifted away to distant thoughts, then he shook it off. “Any idea what time Arthur’ll be back?”
    I hugged my arms and looked back out toward the lighthouse. “Let’s just hope it’s not until David’s calmed down a little.”
    “Ara.” Falcon laid his hand to my shoulder blade. “I know you probably think you should have left this buried, but you did the right thing telling him.”
    “I’m not so sure about that.” I flicked my thumbnail over my middle finger anxiously. “He hates me now.”
    “ Hates you?” Falcon balked. “What makes you think he hates you?”
    “He burned the damn Training Hall down, Fal.” I pointed to the puff of smoke.
    “Ara, that’s not because he hates you.” His voice pitched as high as a schoolgirl’s. “He hates his uncle—the man who practically raised