Flight (Children of the Sidhe) Read Online Free PDF Page B

used in this situation, too. We all just want to see it over, and our families safe again. The Blood Wars are no joke; they stir up all sorts of trouble.”
    “The Blood Wars?”
    “There you go again,” Hazel laughed.
    Nathan didn’t laugh. “I’ve never heard any of this. Part of me thinks I’ve just gone bonkers and I’m hallucinating.”
    “It isn’t a big part, is it? If you were going to fantasize about being a part of fairy land, is this really the way you’d frame it? Serial murderers are much more common beyond the veil…although I guess that is where Abarta’s been, hunting you guys down.”
    Ian decided to intervene in the conversation right then , giving Hazel a warning look. Maybe he thought it wasn’t best to talk about Nathan being hunted down. He’d appreciated the frank talk, to be honest. He felt a little more centered after talking to someone who knew his world, even if she wasn’t completely human.
     
     
    Seven
     
    When Tessa returned to her study, she found Hazel sitting cross-legged next to a smiling, apparently well-fed Nathan. He had a nice smile, and that was a positive change. But it rankled that Hazel had been the one to accomplish it.
    Most of the Sidhe seemed to love Hazel, regardless of their feelings about half-humans in general. Maybe it was that her father was Aengus, the love god. Whatever the cause, Tessa hadn’t joined the party. She couldn’t stand Hazel. She also had to admit that her reasons weren’t pure. What had Hazel done? Met and married Tessa’s sweetheart from adolescence. That’s it. Just loved Ian, while Tessa was alone. It was petty, so Tessa didn’t spend much time pondering it.
    But when she found Nathan and Hazel laughing together, at Ian ’s expense, jealousy tinged her vision for a moment. Jealousy over the ease of Hazel and Ian’s relationship, though it was still fairly new, or at Nathan’s easy gift of a smile for Hazel, Tessa wasn’t even sure herself. Neither was valid.
    “ Ian, I didn’t want to take Nathan out before his father returned. But now I wonder if I misunderstood, because we’ve heard nothing from Nemglan. I’d like to take Nathan into the forest. He’s understandably rather bored here, with a whole new world out there to explore if he could only get beyond my walls.”
    “ I see no problem with that, as long as you are wary of your surroundings. Birds need to fly.”
    Tessa smiled. “That’s true.”
    “ I’m not sure I can shift again,” Nathan said quietly.
    “ You’ll shift,” Tessa assured him. “The hawk will have its time. That’s the way it works, especially if your other form is a predator. Occasionally, hawk will take you over without your leave, like yesterday. If you let him out by choice, that’s less likely.”
    Nathan nodded. His smile had died, but he wasn ’t looking at Hazel now, so Tessa would take his somewhat sullen expression in stride. “When?”
    “ There’s no time like the present,” Tessa answered.
    Hazel had risen from the floor and the hand-holding, happily married couple was headed for the door.
    “We’ll let you know when we hear from the other half humans, or Nemglan, or if we learn anything new about Abarta. Do be careful out there, Tessa. Nathan.” Ian gave Nathan a reassuring smile, and then they were gone.
    Tessa breathed a sigh of relief. Hazel in her home was just too much to ask. But at least she ’d taken care of the pressing needs of Nathan’s body. At least the need for food.
    Maybe it was the tension of the past few days, but as she thought about pressing needs, and his body, a picture of them together, naked limbs intertwined, flashed into her mind. If only he wasn ’t half human. Not that it made him unattractive. No, his form was pleasing. Yesterday, the very idea would have made her shudder, but the idea of Nathan didn’t.
    Tessa frowned, turning to stare at her desk and the bookshelf beyond, a sight that always grounded her. Her long-held beliefs