Spell Fade by J. Daniel Layfield Read Free Book Online

She didn’t look at him as she spoke, instead focusing on the ground, trying to stay calm. It helped, a little.
    “I know,” Dartan answered, and immediately realized it was a mistake. The glare he got told him he had best keep his mouth shut, to which, he clamped it closed and lowered his head.
    She stared at him a moment longer before continuing. “Did you even think about me? Wonder where I was? Or why I hadn’t come by?” The last two days had been filled with packing, and while he had missed her, the idea something might be wrong had not occurred to him. He opened his mouth, but snapped it shut before she noticed. Even if she expected an answer, there was no right one to any of her questions.
    Her words came slowly at first, unsure, but then they began flying out, piling on top of one another, trying to express everything she had felt over the past three days all at once. “What is going on here, Dartan? The last time I came over here to see you I swear I saw … something.” She folded her arms across her chest, the memory giving her a sudden chill.
    “I was scared, and I ran,” she admitted. “It wasn’t until I got back home I realized I wasn’t just scared for myself, but for you too. Whatever it was I saw, it was watching you.” She took a deep breath, and looked back up at Dartan. “I tried coming back more than a dozen times that day. Every time I stepped out my door I felt the chill cover my body, enveloping me, just as it had outside of your barn.” An involuntary shiver interrupted her for a moment. “My feet froze, refusing to take me any further, but I had to check on you. I had to make sure you were alright, but I could never make it further than our fence.” There was shame in her eyes, but she continued. “As the day grew later, my fear for you grew. I knew, or I thought I knew, that if you could, you would have come to check on me since I hadn’t shown up. Then I didn’t see you the second day.”
    She uttered a single, short, painful laugh. “I finally had to send Marcus. I had to beg and plead with him to go and make sure you were alright.” She stared hard into Dartan’s eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to just stare at the ground, but he dare not look away now. “Do you know how hard that was for me? The look and condescending tone I had to endure from him? He made me feel awful about it before he finally relented.”
    “I paced the room hundreds of times, anxious for news of you, but dreading what it might be.” She stepped closer to Dartan, who stood his ground. “And when he finally returned, do you know what he told me?” She stared into his eyes, silent, until Dartan simply shook his head. “He said you were fine, and that you and your mother looked to be packing up to leave, just like everyone else in this forsaken village.” She stepped back and looked down. “He told me if I wanted to know anything more I should come talk to you myself. He had failing crops and sick animals to tend, which left no time for problems between me and my … boyfriend.” She whispered the last word, reluctant to use it, but not willing to change the words he had used.
    Looking back up at him, her glassy eyes betrayed the pain she was trying to mask with anger. A single tear streaked down her face, but she didn’t dare acknowledge it. Instead she let it trace a path down her cheek and onto her shirt, unabated. Dartan reached out to comfort her, but she moved back, and he watched the fire in her eyes quickly dry them.
    “I spent the rest of that day helping my brother. If you weren’t concerned about me, then I wouldn’t concern myself with you either. I was sure I meant enough to you for at least a good-bye, so I waited.” She swallowed hard and paused a moment. “But you never came.”
    “When I woke this morning, my memory of what happened here seemed almost like a dream. In fact, everything about the past three days seemed not real. I stepped out of my door, headed for