Read Warrior Queen (Skeleton Key) for Free Online Page B

as the great golden eyes watched him. Then she shook and there was a shimmer like sunlight on water and then the bird was gone. Keleti picked up what she’d been carrying and shook out a simple cloth that she wrapped around herself to form a dress.
    Bryce lowered his gaze. He shouldn’t have been watching her dress even though she didn’t seem worried about being naked.
    When she was done she picked up the rest of the things she’d carried in the cloth she was now wearing and sat on the floor near where he had scrambled to. “I saw you sitting there. I would have done a second sweep to give you a chance to move.”
    “I didn’t know.” And he wasn’t game to look up. His cheeks were burning at the memory of her legs and ass and the feather tattoo running the length of her spine.
    “What is your name?”
    “Bryce Allard.” Not that it made any difference here. He could’ve called himself Cucumber.
    “I am Keleti the Heavenly. Queen of Telsila.” She paused. “Do you hide your face out of deceit or is it your custom not to look people in the eye when speaking to them?”
    Bryce lifted his chin and met her gaze. “You are a Queen and I am a commoner and your prisoner.”
    She frowned for a moment. “Here you had best learn to look a person in the eye lest they think you a liar.”
    “Understood.” It still didn’t feel quite right to look at her. Her face was partly in shadow, but there was a golden glint in her eyes. “How do you…um…become a hawk?”
    The words sounded silly when spoken. People couldn’t turn into animals. Not where he came from anyway. Here, well there were plesiosaurs in the ocean so what he thought he knew didn’t really apply.
    “Those with royal blood have the magic. How many of your people have keys?”
    “Magic keys? None that I know of. I have no idea why I ended up with that one. This is all some kind of horrible mistake.” But why had the key been by his letter box? Had it been dropped or left for him? If it had been left, why not put it somewhere more obvious? Then there was the question of why was the key magic. and where had it come from in the first place? He had absolutely no answers.
    What if other people, missing persons, had found keys and gone to other worlds? Was it something that happened on a regular basis? He thought of all the unsolved disappearances and couldn’t suppress the shiver.
    She considered him for a moment, then unwrapped food. She picked up what looked like a palm sized bun. She ate and considered him, her gaze was calm and unflinching. He’d never had anyone stare so openly—except the occasional druggie looking to start a fight.
    Looking away would be considered rude so he made himself hold her gaze even though he was squirming with discomfort on the inside.
    “I do not believe it was a horrible mistake. I think you are here for a reason Bryce Allard.”
    “Just Bryce will be fine. What reason could that be? I am not a military strategist, or a soldier. I’m an ex-cop.” Seeing her lifted eyebrow he clarified. “Policeman.”
    “What is an excop policeman?”
    “I used to be a policeman. Um.” He wasn’t explaining his job very well. “I arrested criminals and upheld the law. That kind of stuff.” They had to have something similar here.
    She nodded and kept on eating. He was hungry. He’d eaten most of the food this morning. “The reason you are here will become clear.”
    He wanted to believe he was here for a reason and once he’d done what was needed he’d be able to leave. “And I will be able to go home?”
    Once he was done the key would work again. The idea was tempting to hold onto. He was grasping at anything that would make this make sense.
    “If the gods will it.”
    “And what gods are there here?” None that he’d be familiar with, that was for sure.
    “The gods are everywhere.”
    “Here?”
    She frowned. “Of course.” She patted the rock. “The earth, the air, the ocean.”
    “Nature?”
    “Gods