No Man's Land by C. D. Beaudin

Author:C. D. Beaudin [Beaudin, C. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

More dreams. More nightmares. Karak tosses and turns in his sleep, but this time he doesn’t dream of when he said yes. He dreams of when another said yes.

Even though he’d been up high from the ground level, he could still hear sounds from below. A knock at the door had surprised him. He wasn’t used to knocks. Or people. Putting his cup down, he’d descended the steep, spiral stairway to the base of the tower. Opening the door, Karak had stared blankly at the woman in front of him. Blue skin. He’d nodded to himself. All right.

“I’m Olaria.”

“Mm-hm.”

“I was drawn here.”

Karak had looked around them, wondering if someone was watching, if Revera was hiding somewhere. At sixteen, she was in a tricking phase, always joking with him.

“Did Revera put you up to this?”

“Who’s Revera?” Her genuine confusion calmed but didn’t remove his caution. The hungry, lustful gazes of the Tarken, however, made him grab her wrist and pull her in, shutting the door behind him.

“So, you were drawn here, huh?”

“Yes. In my dreams.”

“I’m sure you weren’t happy about that. Kahzacore’s reputation is…questionable.”

“Oh, is that what you call it?”

He’d chuckled, face upward as they made their way up the stairs. “Good a word as any.”

“I was terrified, but I knew I had to come.”

“Do you know why?” Do you know why your skin is blue, for example?

“No, but I’m sure I’ll know once it happens.”

“So you came to the land people most fear based on a dream and you have no idea why you had the dream or what your purpose is here?” His brow had lifted. “Okay.”

“I’m not insane.”

“I was thinking problematic, but insane is a good word,” he’d said as he opened the door to the main room, not waiting until Olaria entered first. Against whatever her culture was, most likely. Grabbing his cup, he’d sipped the wine as he studied her, the blue girl looking around the black room.

“This is amazing.”

“Most just scream.”

She’d looked at him, fearful for a moment. But she never asked him why he said that. Probably a good thing.

“So this is Marduth. The stories don’t compare.”

“Not what you expected?”

“I might have been expecting a volcano filled with lava.”

Karak had smirked. “Gotham drank the volcano dry. It’s just a mountain now.”

Olaria had stared at him.

“How are you so comfortable here?”

She’d shrugged. “Anything’s better than home.”

“Let me rephrase. How are you so comfortable with me?”

Her lips had pursed. “Maybe you’re the reason I was drawn here.”

His eyes had narrowed. “How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“Where are you from?”

“Asgoreth.”

“Why is your skin blue?”

“I was born in a Pool of Light.”

“I assume from the dark patch in your soul that your life hasn’t turned out so well.”

“My mother was killed, and I was ridiculed, cast out. Being blue isn’t exactly a blessing.”

He’d nodded. “I can see that.” An eyebrow quirked to the ceiling. “Interesting.”

“What?”

Very interesting. “Nothing.” He taken another sip of his drink. “I like your hair. Very white.”

She’d blushed dark blue. “Thank you.”

Oh, this girl has no

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.