Shadow Magic by Cheyenne McCray Read Free Book Online Page A

Starbucks .
    She shook her head. First thing she was going to do when life returned to “normal” in San Francisco would be to buy one of those Frappuccinos she’d been craving.
    Her gaze riveted on a glittering blanket of gems ahead in a windowless display. Goddess, a fortune in jewelry was spread out. Diamonds the size of eggs, rubies as big as a fist.
    Gem-encrusted leather collars?
    Hannah’s head snapped up. She brushed her crescent and moon armband with her fingers before dropping her hand to her side as she caught sight of a few women on the path in the direction she and Garran had been heading.
    The women were so scantily clad they might as well have been wearing nothing. Practically sheer tops were so short they exposed the roundness of the underside of the women’s breasts and the filmy material hardly covered their nipples. They also wore short gauzy skirts that hardly reached the bottoms of their ass cheeks.
    Most of the women wore collars.
    Collars, for Anu’s sake! Like dogs or other animals, they wore collars and served a Master .
    Heat filled her as she watched the women. Their skin was smooth and supple in the cavern’s soft lighting, their curves in all the right places—their bodies virtually perfect.
    A couple of the women whispered to each other when they saw their king with Hannah and they bowed to him almost
shyly. But otherwise the women smiled, talked, and laughed among themselves. Despite the fact they wore collars, they appeared … happy.
    â€œExplain to me,” Hannah said through gritted teeth, “why these women allow themselves to be collared and why they are practically naked. Are they sex slaves or something?”
    â€œThe collar means a woman belongs to a Master.” Garran came up short and they stopped in front of the jewelry store as he glanced down at Hannah. His expression softened. “Sex is important to any consenting adult relationship, but our way of life is not ‘all about sex’ as you would say.”
    Hannah braced her hands on her hips as she glared up at him. He was so damned tall she had to tilt her head. “Then what is it about?”
    â€œCome.” He touched his hand on her elbow. “We will talk.”
    One thing Hannah never did was cause a scene in public. She clamped her jaws shut as she realized that was what she’d just about done. She blanked her expression and held her carriage high as she usually did.
    Garran guided her past a fish market, the scents reminding her of home and the wind off the bay, calling up memories of her old life and a twinge in her belly. They strolled beyond the market to a display of wooden figurines and children’s toys. Then the smells of fresh fish and wood drifted away as they continued on to what appeared to be a park.
    Children wearing rough-spun tunics and pants laughed and played on the flat, moss-covered rocky area filled with boulders and stone statues. Hannah couldn’t help a smile as she and Garran stopped outside the park and watched the children racing, kicking black leather balls, climbing boulders, or sitting cross-legged on the mossy ground playing with toys. They had wooden dolls and figures including something that looked like the ugliest troll she could imagine. Some of the male dolls were dressed like warriors wearing breastplates and leather chest straps, and even leather pants. The female dolls tended to have iridescent clothing that shimmered in the blue lichen lighting.

    Barbie and G.I. Joe had nothing on these dolls.
    Hannah touched one of the smooth boulders surrounding the park. “I never thought about Elves having children.”
    When she glanced up at Garran, he wore an amused expression. “Did you think we are created from stone?”
    â€œActually, I had been wondering if you were.” She turned her attention back to the park. Several women were dressed in a little more clothing than the ladies Hannah had seen in the