Two Moons of Sera Read Online Free PDF Page B

color rise to Tor’s face as he
confessed the reason for his silence. “You were embarrassed?”
    “Huh.”
    “Tor, I... I’m sorry. I didn’t laugh at you. It was just
funny.”
    “Huh.”
    “Think about it.” I set the basket in the sand and stepped
closer. “You were standing there, holding a chicken, pointing to its...”
    “Yes.” One side of his mouth quivered before curving into a
lopsided grin.
    “And the poor chicken! It was squawking and trying to get
away from you! You probably have a whole new set of scratches on you.”
    His grin grew as he inspected his hands. Lifting his head,
his eyes shone with mirth. “Not hurt.”
    “Oh, good. I was worried. Those chickens can be vicious.” I
laughed, enjoying talking to him. I relaxed, knowing he would stay. His ability
to communicate got better so fast it amazed me. To hear his voice, his laugh, I
found it hard to believe this was the same creature I had encountered on the
cliffs the day he stole my papers. I stood next to him, teasing as if we were
friends, laughing like we were children. A stranger with colored eyes made me
feel more normal than I had in my entire life.
    “Vicious?”
    “Mean,” I explained.
    “Yes. Mean, dirty, bad birds,” he mock-scolded, squinting
and pointing at me.
    “I’m glad you aren’t going,” I confessed before ducking my
head and turning away. “I’ll make the eggs.”
    Tor returned to his vigil of the sea as I picked up the
basket and stepped behind the taut cloth posing as a wall. For a moment I just
stood, my hands shaking, my heart pounding with the excitement of the day. I
wanted to rush back out to him, forget breakfast, and revel in the
possibilities. Smiling hurt my cheeks and confused my skin. I had been happy before
I met him, but perhaps I had only known happiness up to a point. I couldn’t
identify the void within me until something filled it and showed me the piece
that had been missing all along.
    I went through the steps of preparing spiced eggs and
peppers by habit. All the while, I kept stealing nervous glances in his
direction. How did I get here? The point of living was insignificant. I was
just sixteen; my birthday had passed without comment or celebration. My entire
existence had been spent in hiding. A war raged around me while I hid in my
utopian cove where the world could not harm me. I never did anything
wrong—there was nothing to do. A lifetime of nothing spanned behind me and
stretched before me. Stories from books and melodisks told of adventures and
loves. Each one engraved in my soul like a promise.
    Until I met Tor. Torkek.
    Until he spoke to me, sat with me, yelled at me, frightened
me, ensnared me.
    Each movement he made fed my hunger for experience. Each
emotion he inspired within me made him more and more vital. I knew I couldn’t
have him. I couldn’t be the princess from the melodisk tales who walked
hand-in-hand with the man who saved her from the monsters. The stories were all
the same. The princess thanked her savior with a kiss so painfully true it
sealed their love forever. Instead, I would have to say goodbye and he would
leave. I would ache for him to return, and maybe one day he would, but for how
long? The reality of my existence excluded his presence. I was an abomination,
a half-breed never meant to exist. What would he think when he found out the
truth?
    He turned his head, locks of hair still pulled back from his
face, and my pain and insecurity was mirrored in his expression. I didn’t know
why he was here, but he had come. I hadn’t forced him or chased him. Something
drew him to me. Whatever I longed for, he sought it as well.
    I shivered, excited by the promise of what the future would
bring. Sunlight shone on us and the ocean shimmered. Always just out of reach,
the fire in the sky bent each night to kiss the water, never meeting.
    “Sera make,” Tor greeted when I arrived. His bag drooped
next to him, a drawstring pulling it closed at one