Ice Burns by Charity Ayres Read Free Book Online

on the window ledge, pushing the casement open so it could perch in the expansive opening.
    It needed the space as it was easily the biggest hawk she could have ever imagined seeing. Chandra was shocked to think that birds of prey could get so big. Though she had never seen one up close, the bird seemed unusually massive. The size of the creature could be likened to one of the noisy hunting dogs with the long ears that lounged near the fire and snarled at passersby. She morbidly wondered if the hawk was large enough to carry off one of the lazy creatures.
    The bird eyed her through liquid silver eyes; its immense head cocked to the side as if it studied her as she did the same. The hawk was almost pure white. Its body was lined with the palest shade of gray, making it almost look like it was white with white lines. The feathers on the underside of its wings were a shade darker of gray. Even the creature's hooked beak was little more than a dark shade of white. Chandra wondered if it would disappear if it were to land in a snowdrift.
    Chandra's eyes widened at the thought that this may have been what she saw in the tree earlier in the day. It made sense that something so perfectly white and shadowed would seem to make the other colors disappear.
    The great bird had finished studying her and was using its beak to straighten out some feathers on one of its long, white wings. She surmised that if the hawk were to stretch out to its full span, the reach might parallel her own.
    As if on cue, it spread wide and fluttered gently; its wings created a substantial breeze in the room. Chandra realized the hawk might have had a longer reach than she did. It raised its regal head and eyed her with a look that seemed speculative.
    "I wonder what you see," she said and then jumped at the sound of her voice. The hawk did not move, but tucked its wings back in and continued to watch her.
    Chandra imagined herself in the dish-shaped eyes as somewhat angular in view, with a long braid of varying degrees of brown trailing down her back. Her skin was pale from all of the time she spent in the estate and no doubt her green eyes were wide and dilated from the shock of a magnificent creature like a hawk landing in her room. To it, Chandra probably looked as terrified as she felt. She looked up at the creature and met its eyes.
    Is it wise to make eye contact with a bird of prey or will it think I am somehow challenging him?
    It was then Chandra noticed the bird's eyes were less silver and more of a pure white. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, though most of her experience was through books or the odd bit of artwork scattered through the estate. She had seen hawkers hunting with the birds from one of the windows, but they had simply looked like specks and no larger than a small house cat.
    Chandra was at a loss what to do next. She knew she couldn't continue the stare down forever and cringed at the thought of trying to shoo the bird back out the window. The hawk was the most extraordinary creature she had ever seen up close.
    It's also big enough to carry me off if it wanted to.
    The thought made her shudder, and she considered her options. If she went about her business would it get bored and fly away? The chair she had been reading at, where her forgotten meal adorned the table, would place her back to the bird. She felt more than a little uneasy at the thought of turning away when she didn't know what the bird would do.
    She also had a fleeting image of her lifting the chair and motioning at the bird with loud sounds and big movement. It looked silly in Chandra's head, and she grinned at the visual.
    The hawk made a soft keek sound as if to ask, "What?"
    "I'm not sure you would get the joke even if I could explain it," Chandra tapped her head and finished with, "You had to be there."
    The bird seemed to shrug and settle into its "perch" on the window.
    Chandra decided she could call the guard to get rid of the hawk, but shook her head at