In the Land of Tea and Ravens by R.K. Ryals Read Free Book Online

Something loud and wild, unspoken but wordy.
    “No man’s land, then?” he asked.
    She threw him a look. “No man’s land?”
    He gestured at the house. “This world of yours … a no man’s land.”
    Her lips quirked. “A no man’s land,” she mumbled. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
    The ravens from the yard followed them, their black eyes watching … waiting. Grayson stared back at them, his gaze searching theirs as they perched along the room. Doubt was an uncomfortable, queasy feeling.
    “You’re afraid,” Lyric accused.
    She was kneeling on the floor, hands submerged in a plain red backpack. It was a loud color for a dark room, like a splash of blood in the middle of a silent corpse.
    Grayson watched her. “I’m not afraid.”
    She pulled a tea kettle free of the bag before leaning over a portable butane one-burner stove she’d purchased at the sporting goods store earlier in the day.
    “Aren’t you?” she asked.
    Distracted, Grayson murmured, “What?”
    “Afraid,” Lyric said. Her gaze slid up to his, her eyes brown in the dim light. “There’s no fear in myth or lies, you know. But truth,” she inhaled, “there’s fear in truth because you can’t run away from it.”
    Grayson stared. “You’re trying to convince me you’re related to the birds, right?”
    She should have smiled then, but she didn’t. She met his stare with one of her own, a frankness about her gaze that startled him. She was talking as much about him as she was herself.
    “The scariest part,” she whispered, “is that you can’t control truth. Truth often controls you, and there’s nothing more terrifying than that.”
    Grayson’s chest throbbed, and he rubbed it. There was no real pain, of course, just the phantom memory of a pain that was far worse than any wound. Far worse than the lies he kept telling himself. Lyric was right. There was true terror in truth.
    Her gaze didn’t leave his. “It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff, the wind whipping at your body. You look down, and you have two choices. Stand there and enjoy the beauty or take the plunge and jump. There’s no fear in the fall. The true fear is in knowing humans can’t fly. The true fear is in honesty.”
    Grayson swallowed, his heart rate climbing. “You are a witch!”
    Lyric laughed, the sound harsh, her chuckle met by cawing ravens. “No. There’s your myth again. Witches aren’t scary. I’m not a witch. I’m trapped. There’s my terrifying truth, Grayson Kramer.” Her gaze captured his. “What’s yours?”
    He had no answer, the words stuck in places he dared not touch. He wanted to leave, but he couldn’t. There was nothing keeping him here, no spells or enchantments, nothing to keep him rooted to her tiny kitchen, to the decaying no man’s land. And yet, he couldn’t leave.
    She held up an empty tin cup. “Tea?” she asked, her brows arched.
    His gaze fell to the cup, to the slender fingers that held it. She wore a ring on her thumb, a simple ring, a plain silver band.
    The ravens in the room fluttered, throwing dust into the air.
    Grayson knelt across from her, his fingers touching hers as he accepted the mug. She started to release it, but he stopped her, his hand trapping hers.
    “I killed my brother,” he confessed. “I killed my sixteen-year-old brother.”
    She stared.
    “Try that for terrifying truth,” he added, his fingers tightening on hers.
    Lyric didn’t flinch, and she didn’t pull away. “There’s this thing about terrifying truth,” she said, her gaze searching his. “We often let it become too big. We often let it grow too much for us to bear. We can’t let it go because we’re afraid that if we release it, if we quit blaming ourselves, then we truly lose the ones we love.”
    Grayson’s heart pounded, his mouth growing dry. “Death would be easier,” he whispered.
    Lyric tugged her hand free, turning away from him long enough to drop a few strange-looking leaves into her kettle before