Read Online Desert Tales by Melissa Marr - Free Book Online Page A

possible, you know. Moving that fast, that far.”
    Rika stepped in front of him, but instead of answering the question he wasn’t quite asking yet, she told him, “We’re safe here.”
    â€œWho were they? Why were—”
    â€œI can’t answer that,” she said softly.
    â€œShe had a knife. That girl . . .” Jayce pulled his attention from the desert and glanced at Rika finally.
    â€œI know.” She kept her expression unreadable, hating that she already had to act so much like a faery instead of the girl she’d wished she could be with him, but she was what she was. “She’d use it too. If you see her, just get away.”
    â€œYou’re . . . what sort of fight school do you belong to? Someone as tiny as you—” He stopped mid-sentence and gave her an intense look. “You’re a little scary, Rika.”
    She turned her face away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have . . . And we shouldn’t . . . I didn’t see any other way. You were in danger.”
    He put a hand on her cheek, tentatively. When she looked at him, he whispered, “I didn’t say scary was a bad thing.”
    â€œOh.” She didn’t move any closer to him, even though there were very few things she could imagine wanting more than being closer to him. This is a mistake. She was frozen, unable to either close the distance or retreat.
    They stood there awkwardly for a moment.
    And then he lowered his hand and stepped back a little. “So show me around your home?”
    As they walked farther into the cave, Jayce didn’t ask about the oddity of living here. Instead, he took her hand in his. In his other hand, he held a lantern she’d given him. Silently, they wandered through the labyrinth of tunnels. He trusted her to lead him, and she marveled silently at the gift of his trust.
    Tentatively, she led him to an immense room. Pipe organ stalactites and cascading veils hung like precious art. Smaller passageways led from the room, and several more camping lanterns sat on the ground beside their feet. She lit one, bringing a bit more light to the immense cavern. Above them in the shadows, the faint shape of some of the colony of bats that nest in the caves stirred, but didn’t flee. They had become used to her over time.
    â€œI’ve never brought anyone in here. They’re my company.” She gestured at the bats and then laughed self-consciously, realizing that she sounded nervous and more than a little peculiar.
    Jayce didn’t laugh. Instead, he whispered, “They’re beautiful. The whole place is—” He stopped and looked intently at the far wall, at the mural she wanted to share with him. He lifted his lantern higher as he walked toward it. “Amazing.”
    Rika couldn’t move. She stayed frozen in the center of the cavern, feeling extra vulnerable and trapped despite the vast cavern. She’d seen his art so often, but she hadn’t shared her art with more than a handful of people in her life.
    Jayce was wide-eyed as he studied her art. “This is incredible. It’s not old though. I’ve seen cave art. This is new. . . . But the materials . . .” He walked along the wall, gaze fixed on the art, occasionally glancing at the uneven ground at his feet as he walked. Although the mural extended as far as the light reached and beyond, he stopped after a few moments and looked back at her. “Did you do this?”
    She shrugged. “I get lonely. I needed to talk, and there was no one . . . so I did that.”
    â€œArt to talk . . . Yeah. I get that.” Jayce nodded, watching her as he said it. It was the same look of wonder he’d had when he’d first seen her, before the weirdness, before the fight, before their run across the desert. “It’s hard to find words sometimes.”
    â€œOr anyone trustworthy enough to