Æroreh (The Ealdspell Cycle Book 1) by Jesikah Sundin

Author:Jesikah Sundin [Sundin, Jesikah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Forest Tales Publishing
Published: 2020-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

ÆROREH SMOTHERED A giggle with her hand. Félip crept by within inches of where she hid in the shadows of a large stump decorated in mushrooms and blackberry vines laden with plump fruit. A spot she specifically chose near the rushing water of a stream to hide her breathing and small movements, as he had instructed. Félip’s dark eyes slightly narrowed while he searched the underbrush. His lips pursed and then he angled his right ear to the wind. With face upturned toward the light, she could see every rascally freckle across his nose.

So focused was he on his hunt that he missed how the toe of his boot snagged on a partially buried limb. His arms pinwheeled the air as he stumbled forward and she erupted in laughter. At the sound, he swiveled her direction on his rocking heel and righted his balance. Félip still couldn’t see her, but his attentions remained on where she crouched. Æroreh was half-tempted to slip into a different shadow. But she also wanted to be found by him, again, and again, and again.

Félip regained balance and practically swaggered toward the stump. A smile tilted his lips up and his eyes danced. She remained very still, biting back another rush of laughter. Slowly, he approached, and her heart threatened to flee her breath-fluttered chest. A couple of hours had passed since she found him in these very woods to return his cloak. And each time he found her, Félip Batten erased more of her hibernation terrors and claimed a few beats more of her wildly thrumming pulse. He encouraged her to speak any thoughts she wished to share and to own her personal pursuits of happiness without shame. There were moments she almost forgot what it was like to cower before her own self, to feel obligated to please those around her. And all this after a mere couple of hours playing in the woods. What would happen if she knew him for a lifetime?

A smile stretched across her face as giddiness rolled through her. Seemingly in the same moment, the wildflowers around the secluded glen brightened in hue. Rays of fading sunlight widened and moved across the grass and ferns in a gentle caress. Félip halted his steps and considered the forest, studying both shifting light and waning shadows. He did this each time happiness found her while hidden, each time her heart trilled melodious notes of freedom. His eyes tracked the beams as they moved until his gaze locked with hers. Golden warmth tingled the skin of her face and her smile widened.

“Ye have a shadow walking fatal flaw.” He gestured toward the scintillating beam above her head.

She considered the sunlight. “You searched for how long this time?”

“Light is attracted to ye when yer happy.”

“I have a sunny disposition.”

He rested his hip against the stump and crossed arms over his chest. “If ye remained grumpy and bitter like me, ye would shadow even longer.”

She grinned, unable to contain her building mirth. “If

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