MIRANDA PULLED HER arm free from Saul’s grip. “Why do you enjoy humiliating me?”
“Why do you insist on leaving the house without my permission?” Saul paced his breathing and placed a hand to his chest.
“I’m not a piece of furniture you can set in the corner and expect to stay put.”
“I will not let history repeat itself. You know our situation. We must take extra precautions.”
“You must take extra precaution. Me? I have a normal life.”
“There’s nothing normal about what you’re doing, Miranda.” Saul’s eyes locked with his granddaughter’s. Blue like the seamless sky. How similar her eyes were to Chrystle’s. It was as if his daughter had returned, been brought back to life, after all these years.
“What—what are you talking about?” Miranda stumbled over her words.
But Saul just turned and walked away, his head bowed low, shoulders drooped.
“Grandpa! Wait.” Miranda kept pace with Saul’s brisk steps. “You think Mrs. Blaze is at the Laceworks’?” She wrung her hands and looked at the branches.
“If she wasn’t captured.”
“We have to get there quickly.”
“Why so nervous?”
When Saul looked up he reached out, grabbed Miranda’s arm again, and yanked her into the undergrowth.
*******************************
Before them, hidden in a swirl of gray smoke, a white face materialized. Eyes of blue fire and twisted lips contorted into a smile. The being floated stirring the fallen leaves just an arm’s length away from their hiding spot. The smoke drifted to where Saul had stood seconds ago and then wove its way in and out of the leaves and twigs in front of the briar rose where Saul and Miranda hid, as if teasing them to come out. Whispers swished through the foliage all around them.
Sweat dripped from Saul’s temple but he didn’t wipe at it. He stood still, his grip on Miranda firm as they watched Whisperer.
“Beta?” Whisperer whispered.
Can he smell Elfies, too? Saul never asked Whisperer before.
YOU ARE READING
Keeper of Reign
Teen FictionBooks written in blood. Most are lost, their Keepers with them. A curse that befell a people. A Kingdom with no King. Life couldn’t get more harrowing for the Elfies, a blend of Elves and Fairies. Or for sixteen-year-old Jules Blaze. Or could it? F...
