Avian (The Dragonrider Chronicles) by Nicole Conway Read Free Book Online

argued about it for weeks. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer,” she said. “Now we’re living in a much smaller house out here in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone where we were going. He’s going to be so mad when he finds out I told you, but I didn’t have a choice.”
    I took her hand again and squeezed it a little. “I won’t tell anyone, Beckah.”
    She smiled at me weakly. “I know. I trust you more than anyone.”
    The silence got awkward as we sat there, staring at each other in the light of the fire. I got this weird feeling like I should do something, but I wasn’t sure what. She was looking at me like she was waiting for something to happen. It put nervous knots in my stomach and I didn’t understand why.
    “We’ll figure it out,” I promised her. It seemed like whenever I was around her, I started making promises like that.
    She looked a little disappointed, and sighed as she looked away back toward the fire. “I hope so. Maybe you can talk to him about it. He trusts you, too, you know.”
    I wasn’t sure what to think about that. I knew how much I respected and admired her father, Sile Derrick. It was hard to believe that he thought of me as anything more than a scrawny kid he’d had to protect from being pummeled by the other students while he was my sponsor and instructor. Sure, I’d saved his life a few times, but I didn’t consider that to be anything other than my duty as his student. I didn’t expect any praise or respect because of that. If anything, I still felt like I owed him for all the time’s he’d stuck his neck out for me.
    “I want to understand why, Jae.” Beckah whispered. The emotion in her voice surprised me. I noticed there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked haunted, and her voice trembled when she spoke. “I don’t believe what they told us, that it was just some kind of plot by the Lord General. They didn’t choose my daddy at random. It was planned. There’s a reason they tried so hard to kill him twice. If it was only a plot to use him as some kind of a sacrifice, they could have picked anyone. They could have plucked someone else off the street and no one would have even noticed. They came after him for a reason, and now I think he’s afraid they’ll try it again. I think that’s why he moved us like this. I think he’s trying to hide from them.”
    I could tell she’d been beating herself up over this. I couldn’t imagine what it had been like for her, but I wanted to make her feel better. I put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward me to hug her again. “I don’t believe what they said, either. It’ll be okay. Your father is the best man I’ve ever met. You have to trust that he knows what he’s doing.”
    Beckah hid her face against my shoulder. “I’ve felt so alone,” she whimpered. “I’ve missed you so much.”
    My face burned and I was glad she couldn’t see it. No one had ever said that to me before. Not like that, anyway. It made me blush until the tips of my ears felt like they were on fire.
    “What about Felix?” I have no idea why I even said something like that. It was stupid, and I knew it the moment the words left my mouth. I regretted it immediately.
    She pulled back and looked at me strangely, like I’d suddenly grown a third eyeball. “What about him?”
    I swallowed hard. “Well, I mean he was there with us through everything. Do you miss him, too?”
    Beckah frowned. “That’s different.”
    I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t get a chance. She grabbed my chin and kissed me on the cheek.
    It seemed like the world was moving in slow motion. I just sat there, staring at her. At first, I wasn’t sure what to think. But as the seconds passed, I realized I liked it. I really liked it.
    “We should go back to the house,” she said as she stood. She offered me a hand to help me up, and then started folding up the quilt. “Momma’s probably already gone to