Page 54
Story: The BoneKeeper’s Daughter (The Blade and Bone Trilogy #1)
“What if…what if we…” Moving as though she were a bird perched on a tree branch, so as not to startle her into flight, I step towards her.
Carefully, carefully, then reach out a hand once I’m in front of her, maki ng sure not to push, not to grab.
Just wait. Wait for her. “Will you dance with me here? For a moment?”
Longing crashes over her face out of nowhere, so unexpected and overwhelming that I wonder if I’ve misstepped again.
“I don’t know how.” Shrugging helplessly, she folds into herself. “I would make a terrible partner.”
“You won’t,” I say confidently. “Not to brag, but I’m incredibly good at leading.” Grinning down at her, even though she can’t see me, I puff my chest pretentiously. “Training, you know. I never wince when a lady steps on my feet.”
The music grows louder, as though encouraging her, and she throws up her hands in the air. “Alright! Alright! You’re pushy today.” A little gurgle of laughter burbles from her throat, and when she places her hand in mine, all rational thought flees.
“So…step, step, step together, step…” I chant quietly, and in ten steps my heart has torn itself apart and reknit in an entirely new pattern.
She is, without a doubt, the worst dancer I have ever partnered, tripping over her feet, tangling her legs in her dress, and I have to catch her several times to keep her upright.
It is my favorite thing that has happened to me in my life, and all I want is for every dance from now to eternity to be this awkward, and ungainly, and ridiculous.
“And step, step, twirl — Sea and stars, are you alright, Flame?”
On the twirl, she spun too quickly, and out of my hand, and down to the ground before I could stop her.
She looks almost stunned for the length of a panicked breath on my part, then starts laughing so loud, and long, it’s like a song written only for me.
Tears form at the corner of her eyes, and she lifts a finger to catch one, staring at it in bewilderment before shaking her head.
“I…I…I…” My Flame can’t even get words out; she looks lit from within with amusement, and pulls answering laughter from my heart.
“I’m sorry!” I chortle, trying desperately not to make her feel like I’m laughing at her. “I should have caught you!”
“Oh Gods above and below! I’m so…I’m terrible !” Her grin swallows her face, and I just stare at her for what feels like forever. “You have me off-balance, Trader. In more ways than one. ”
She is a single star in the night sky, and it’s overwhelming.
“I can’t keep calling you ‘Flame’. Won’t you tell me your name?
” I’m almost begging, and I’m not a man who begs.
Usually. Though I’m quickly learning that when you are hungry enough, you will drop to your knees for a crumb if that’s what it takes.
“I don’t know…” she says slowly, still smiling. “What about your labors? You haven’t gotten the mountain flower yet.” She’s teasing, but I can’t keep a serious note from my reply, though I make every effort.
“I’m looking at the mountain flower. I just don’t know its name.”
For the first time since I met her, a hint of color enters her cheeks, a pale rose that even our dancing and her laughter hadn’t bloomed.
“I…” She’s hesitating, but I’m happy to wait for her answer until the mountain is turned to dust by the brush of a bird’s wing.
“My friends call me ‘Wren’.” Her eyes flare wide, as though she’s said something she shouldn’t have, and there is an oddly painful sort of hope on her face.
She grips the necklace at her throat again, catching my attention. .
Looking closer now, really studying her for the first time, my brain takes in what my eyes have been glancing over since I met her.
“Is that…are you wearing human bones ?” The words burst from me without thought, tinged with a horror I desperately try to swallow, but am unable to in time.
All emotion drains from her in the space of a breath.
Scrambling to her feet, she goes completely blank, and the girl who had been slowly unfurling like a flower is suddenly steel straight and lightning bright in front of me.
“I’ll take you to the dancing. I think — I think you’ll like the music better there. Not every thing in our village is repulsive.” There’s a bite to her words, no echo of the obviously rare laughter remaining.
“I’m sorry…” I begin, but in so many ways I don’t know what I’m apologizing for.
She’s wearing human bones as jewelry. I don’t understand this place.
It’s dark and glaringly white at the same time, the bones of the walls reflecting the light of a sun so pale it doesn’t resemble our own.
Everything here is washed out and faded — the dirt, the grass, the people.
It is all muted and quiet, and it makes me uneasy .
“I have known you the space of three breaths, and you spent two of those apologizing, Trader. Not a good start to a temporary friendship, and time here is precious. I don’t think that yours being spent on me is a good use of it.
” Again her hand floats to her necklace…
of teeth, and maybe fingers, I see now. “I would caution you to remember, though, that were I to go to your lands, I am sure much of it would disgust me in the same way I so clearly disgust you. I warned you once not to disparage the bones. Your lack of respect is…distasteful.”
“My …my …lack of respect? You have made the bones into jewelry!” Stupid, stupid Kaden! Sea and Stars. Stop talking!
She glares, thunder quick and fierce, and I realize suddenly that I have vastly misjudged her in some way.
This flame in front of me is white hot and would burn a man to dust. It’s not the quiet candle flicker I originally assumed.
And for some reason, that makes everything even harder.
The way she is now would lure stronger men than me to their deaths.
“It’s not jewelry. It’s armor. And eyes.
And love .” She stops suddenly, fingers flexing tightly around her necklace, then surges ahead.
“Yes. Love . And that is all your time with me spent on ignorant words and wasteful questions.” Suddenly her head jerks up and around, and her hand drifts out to the bone wall, fingers caressing it in a sweet, almost tender movement.
“Thank you,” she whispers, and steps further from me, until she is almost pressed against the cistern.
Pulling up the high collar of her cloak, she buttons it around her neck, covering her necklace from view.
There is the noise of voices from around the corner, and she draws back even further, sinking into the bones as though they are comforting her.
“Bad, bad choices,” she whispers, and I realize, all of a sudden, that she’s speaking to the bones, not me. That she’s been speaking to them on and off this entire time, and my heart seizes in an ice-cold grip.
A voice filled with thunder rings through the clearing, shattering our fragile, secret world, and I turn to face two men, black garbed and hovering. They smell like danger and death, and, instinctively, I step in front of Wren, between her and whatever promise of harm they bring.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- 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 (Reading here)
- 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
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140