Page 10
Story: Minor Works of Meda
“What a disappointment,” Kalcedon said mockingly.
“What? The wedding? I told you.” Unsure what to do with my hands, I twisted them into the thin blanket covering my lap.
Kalcedon’s lips spread in a slow smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“You, actually. I was certain I’d find you with a stolen book.”
My eyes grew round.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I wetted my lips, gulped, and looked away from him. The half-faerie laughed silently.
“You’re a terrible liar, Meda.”
“So you had a good time, then?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.
His smile flattened. Kalcedon took a step into the room, letting the door swing shut behind him. It was a small space, and he made it smaller yet, cramming every corner with blazing, roiling heat.
My credenza desk sat against the rounded edge of the tower. There was just enough room for a narrow bed along one of the perpendicular walls; a small storage chest beside the door. That left barely any floor room to move.
Ignoring the desk’s chair, Kalcedon sat at the edge of the bed with a sigh. I felt the mattress dip beneath his weight. Pulling my feet closer to my torso, I reminded myself I couldn’t risk scooting back without potential damage to the priceless book hidden just behind me.
“Terrible,” Kalcedon admitted, his voice low. I watched him rub a hand over his flawless face. He sighed, then looked at me with an exhausted half-smile. “Nobody talked to me. Nobody came within ten feet of where I stood.”
“I don’t know why you’d want them to,” I admitted, even though my heart ached for him. The villagers were fools. “None of them understand it.”
“Understand what?”
“Magic.”
Kalcedon frowned.
“There’s more to life than that, Meda.”
“Not much. Trust me.”
“How lucky I am, then, in my isolation,” he muttered.
He didn’t know about people who smiled to your face but talked behind your back. He didn’t know about walking into a room full of those you’d known your whole life, and hearing the gossip stop, and realizing it was about you, not because you’d done wrong but because you were wrong. He didn’t know it was better, here in the tower with books and magic and each other’s company, than it was down in a terrible village like Missaniech, never knowing the right thing to say or when to laugh so that nobody would realize you didn’t belong.
I hoped he never found out. That he could keep on dreaming life might get better, even if it never did.
“You have Eudoria,” I reminded him.
“That’s not… the same thing,” he admitted. Kalcedon sighed, and then scanned his eyes slowly across the room. Reaching over, without standing, he tugged open the nearest drawer of the credenza.
“Don’t go through my things,” I told him. “And it’s better.”
“She’s the woman who raised me.” It occurred to me I’d never heard the word mother on his lips, even though Eudoria was as good as.
“Then what about me? You have me.”
“What about you, Meda? You don’t care for anyone.” He shoved the drawer closed with some difficulty—that one had a tendency to stick—and eased open the one below it.
“Not true. I care about some people. If you’re looking for a book, you won’t find it.”
“It?” His eyes were on me like a moth to light.
“A theoretical ‘it.’ Stop going through my things.” Sticking one foot out from my blanket, I prodded his elbow.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10 (Reading here)
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130