Read Wind Over Bone: The Estralony Cycle #2 (Young Adult Fantasy Romance) for Free Online Page B

out.”
    She closed her eyes again, and filling her mind was the iron pear with the petals.
    She remembered the other pear. “Back to the grotto.”
    “ I will die,” said the boy. “I will jump and die.”
    Sarid took him by the arm. “Come on, the grotto.” As soon as she stepped forward with him the floor began to crumble again. She ran, pulling him with a strength sprung from conviction. Her feet burned, but she gave them no thought––she knew it wasn’t real. None of this was real. They fled around the side of the hall, keeping to the wall. They reached the grotto and Sarid saw the pear in its niche.
    She grabbed it. The floor beneath them groaned and shifted, and she thrust the pear at the boy. “Dig your hands into it. Smell it.” He took it from her and bruised it with his big fingers.
    Sarid smelled it: sweet and woody. The smoky air grew fragrant. She looked past her shoulder––the hall was bright and green, stuffed full of fresh garlands, moving with dancers.
    “Seven hells,” she said.
    The boy in the otter mask dropped the pear. He licked the juice off his palms. He took Sarid’s chin in his hand, lifted her mask slightly, and kissed her on the mouth. He laughed––a sound as joyous as fifty Yule bells clanging all at once––and he twirled around and was lost in the throng.
    Sarid wiped her mouth, astonished.
    Rischa found her there, twenty minutes later, still standing in the same spot.
    “Bones,” he said. “I’ve gone to hell and back looking for you.” His sweet face was showing, his mask dangling around his neck. “You promised me a dance.”
    And though she’d done nothing of the sort, she accepted his hand and they danced.
    The steps weren’t difficult and Rischa led her through them. Her cheeks grew hot and she shrugged off her own mask. His hand on her waist made her skin tingle, and she thought of the pear. She began to cry. “Am I that bad?” he said. His mouth looked so familiar.
    “ Can I kiss you?” she said.
    He stopped moving and stared at her. She did it, quickly, impersonally, and it was just like the other kiss. She was lightheaded and tight in strange places. She needed to get away.
    “I’m going to bed,” she said.
    He looked surprised. “I’ll take you back.”
    “No. Stay here.”
    She moved too quickly for him to follow, and she came alone to her room.
    Gryka scrambled up from her bedding, gave a long-boned stretch, and walked over, tail wagging sleepily. But the tail began rolling in earnest, and the dog stuck her nose in Sarid’s skirts. Sarid’s tightness had become a cramp. She pushed the dog away and saw the blood. She took off the soiled dress and crouched over a copper bowl, confused and shivering. She had never suspected she was human enough.
     

Three
     
     
    Her lips were full and dry in the morning. She got up from her bed and bent over, thinking of butter-churns and waterwheels. She turned when she heard a noise from the fireplace.
    Rischa entered, batting dust from his knees. How she hated his shadow.
    “ What are you doing here?”
    The dog leapt up and accosted him with her tongue. “At least Gryka appreciates company,” he said.
    “I’d appreciate a door so you would knock first.”
    He lifted his head. “I never thought––” He made a face. “I’m sorry, I’m being a gigantic arse.” He pushed the dog away. “I’ll affix a little bell outside the fireplace. Would you like that?”
    She threw a robe over herself. “What do you want?”
    “ My brother’s looking for a girl in a leopard mask.”
    So he’d found out. She was vexed by how quickly. “Torment me more, would he?”
    “He’s saying the strangest things,” he said, looking sideways at her. “He was in a bad way last night. Wasn’t supposed to have gone at all.”
    She nodded, and walked across the floor to her fire-fountain. “Acted like he had seventeen bludi knocking about in his head.”
    “So it was you.” He walked up next to her. “What