Read Online Twilight Fulfilled by MAGGIE SHAYNE - Free Book Online Page B

being buried alive.
    Exactly like being buried alive.
    No one deserved that, did they? Surely there had to be another way.
    Slowly she withdrew from the window. She was going to have to follow them still farther, because she was certain now that this motel was not their final destination. If only she had her car.
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    â€œMy king, you are about to experience something you’ve never even imagined.”
    Utana was feeling much better since his bathing, though still hurting immensely from Brigit’s blast. He ignored the pain—something a warrior and king must become adept at doing. It was part, he thought, of being alive, being in a body again. And after being trapped without one for so long, he appreciated even the pain. He felt good, too, about his cleanly shaven face and the minty taste the “teeth-brushing” had left in his mouth, despite still being exhausted, in pain and uncomfortable in the modern clothing he’d reluctantly agreed to wear. The pants, in particular, felt confining and strange.
    He looked across the car at his newfound vizier, doubt in his eyes. “You know not the wonder of my…imagines.”
    â€œTrue enough.” Nashmun was driving, but he pointed up at the sky with one hand. “Have you ever imagined that?”
    Scooting lower in the leather seat of the car, Utana tipped his head to stare skyward as the odd-looking bird passed overhead, and he nodded. “Yes, the large birds who soar, but whose wings do not move. I have seen and wondered on these.”
    â€œThey’re not birds, my friend. They are airplanes. Very much like the car in which you are riding now. They are machines, made by man, to take us from place to place. But instead of traveling on the ground, as we do in the car, the airplanes fly through the air.”
    Utana shot him a look, then craned his neck to see the bird again. “It is not possible.”
    â€œOf course it is. We’re going to ride in one very soon, to take us to your new home.”
    â€œWe are…to fly?”
    â€œYes. You’ll love it.”
    Shaking his head as the airplane-bird moved out of sight, vanishing into the clouds, Utana said, “It is a strange world.”
    â€œI’m sure it is. Your English is coming along beautifully, however.”
    With a grunt and a nod at the device on the seatbeside him, Utana nodded. “The voice that speaks into my ears is…help.”
    â€œIt’s an iPod. And the word you want is helpful .”
    â€œHelpful. Yes.” He studied the man, his stomach fluttering with excitement over what was to come, and yet his mind was occupied with matters far more important. And one beautiful woman whose kiss still lingered on his lips. “Where do we fly?”
    â€œThere’s a house awaiting you—almost a palace, really. It’s where certain foreign royals stay when they visit my nation’s leader. And I’ve procured it for our use for…well, for as long as we’re likely to need it.”
    A palace. It was certainly time, Utana thought. He had been treated with far less respect than his station demanded by the people of this land so far. And yet that, too, wasn’t his highest priority. “In…the direction of north?”
    â€œSouth, actually.”
    Utana shook his head firmly. “I must go north. My mission lies in the north.”
    Nashmun sent him a steady look. His eyes appeared honest. “I want to help you in your mission, my king. But you need a home base. A place from which to plan and launch your attack. You need to heal from that wound you have,” he said, with a nod at Utana’s midsection. “And to regain your strength, and learn more about the way this world works and how to make your way in it.”
    â€œThey will escape me. I will know not how to find them again.”
    â€œYou can feel them. Sense them. Can’t you?” Nashmun shrugged, not awaiting a reply.