Read Online Vulture by Rhiannon Paille - Free Book Online

she wished she were Kaliel and that someone like Krishani had fallen for her. On the other she felt for him and wanted to stay and help no matter what he was to her.
    She knew she should let go, travel with them to Nimphalls and aid the dragon riders. She was rather good at taming baby dragons. But she couldn’t go with her sisters, not with their condescending looks and limitations. As much as it pained her to think about it, she would have to break free of them.
    • • •
    Kaliel was fluid and Krishani was stone, heavy stone pounding the floor while she stepped lightly, skipping and prancing between villagers. He lost her in the music rising above the din, flashes of her green eyes turning briefly to violet as her aura spiked with wisps of color. He caught her by the hand and drew her close.
    “Careful,” he said, lowering his lips to her ear. He didn’t want the humans to see her eyes, the thing that made her different. He worried it would make them covet her the way they coveted gold and jewels.
    She sighed against him, her steps flowing with his, slower and heavier. “I miss the fire festivals,” she said into his shirt.
    “You can’t let the villagers see your eyes. They won’t understand.” He cast a careful glance at the men and women around them. They were aging, stout and scraggly with either reddish brown tangled hair or flat, pale stringy hair. Some of them were lanky where others were robust. All of them were tanned and hairy. The women weren’t much better to look at, with wrinkles around their eyes and mouths and the same dull wasted hair. They wore long uniform tunics to their ankles that didn’t give a hint of their curves. He thought the girls that attended the fire festivals in Orlondir were plain with their ivory or navy blue gowns and hair pulled into buns atop their heads. Even the fae from Araraema with their smooth glass-like faces and beady black eyes were unattractive.
    On Terra everyone suffered from the same poverty. Young maidens kept their hair around their faces and spoke when they were spoken to. It was hard to believe that when Kaliel stood out from the kinfolk on Avristar, it had been from a court of beauty and elegance. Now she stood out too much, like a speck of pure sunlight in a bed of coals.
    The only thing the villagers had was spirit. They didn’t stop dancing, even when sweat slicked across their skin and their lungs heaved for air. Krishani held Kaliel close as they danced through and around the crowd, avoiding the jig and the premeditated dance steps the villagers were used to. He wasn’t sure if they had this much fun all the time, but he wasn’t about to tell the bards to stop. There was a comfortable swelling in his chest, as though in this moment everything was perfect. He spun Kaliel under his arm and pulled her back as he moved in a wide circle, her arms wrapping around his neck, his around her waist. His eyes flicked to hers; they still had liquid amethyst shimmering through the irises. His muscles tensed for a millisecond and the music stopped.
    The villagers paused, one of the children letting out a protested wail. Footsteps shuffled along the floor as one of the women took the child by the hand and led him outside. Krishani watched them go as a slow clap began from behind him. Everyone parted, standing to either side of the hall as Elwen appeared in front of the throne. Krishani felt a hand tug at him and glanced down to see Kaliel pulling him towards one of the pillars. She disappeared between the villagers and left Krishani in his long sleeve gray tunic standing there with his back against the pillar, her hand in his.
    He wondered what it was about Elwen she didn’t like. He almost forgot her healing and sight were better than his. She could probably smell the tyranny on him. He glowered at Elwen who perched precariously on the edge of the bottom step, his brown robes curling over the ledge, hiding his shoes. He clapped in a slow rhythm, glancing at the