Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn by Tracy A. Akers Page B

“I thought it was either the hut or the bump, and we chose
the hut.”
    Kerrik laughed. “What do you mean, bump?”
    “I’m not sure. Perhaps it is a Tearian term.”
Cora tilted her head. “What did you mean by bump exactly,
Reiv?”
    “I misspoke. That is all.” Reiv felt his
throat go dry.
    “Well, I’m going to the hut whether you two
are or not,” Kerrik said. “I’m thirsty.” He trenched up the sand
toward home, leaving Reiv and Cora behind.
    Reiv folded his arms and stared at his feet.
Then he lifted his eyes to Cora, surprised to see amusement on her
face. He studied her, realizing he had never really looked at her
that closely before. She was not what a typical Tearian would
consider attractive, but neither was she an ordinary girl. Her hair
was bleached stiff with sun and salt water, and though an attempt
had been made to pin it, it sprang from her scalp like a spiky sea
urchin. Her eyebrows were white, and her eyes green, or were they
blue? It was hard to tell; the color of them seemed to vacillate
like the shades of the sea. And her figure, so round, so feminine,
so…Reiv felt his stomach flutter and his groin ache. He hated to
admit it, but he quite liked the look of the girl.
    “Well,” he said, glancing at Kerrik in the
distance. “I suppose we could go somewhere else.”
    Cora sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry,
Reiv, but you’re too beautiful.”
    “Thank you, I think,” Reiv said awkwardly. He
wasn’t sure he should be thanking her at all; girls didn’t usually
say those things, did they?
    “I have to be honest with you,” Cora
continued. “I do find you attractive, but there can be nothing
between us.”
    “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “I know what you were thinking when you
grabbed my hand and started marching this direction. But all the
while I was trying to think my way out of it.”
    “Think your way out of it? But you were the
one that asked if you could join—”
    “If you’ll recall, that’s not exactly how the
conversation went, and if I understand things correctly, there is a
big difference between a hut and a bump. You really meant to say
“bump”, didn’t you?”
    “No, of course not.” Reiv suddenly felt
confused. The girl was twisting this all around, or maybe it was
him doing the twisting. He readied a quick defense. “You are
mistaken, Cora. I was only taking you for tea. I knew my aunt would
be there, and now Kerrik of course. I—”
    Cora placed her fingers on his lips,
silencing him. “Please, Reiv, do not try to explain. Thank you for
inviting me, but I fear that for me you would just be a big
shell.”
    “A big what?”
    “Shell. A big shell, Reiv.” Cora sighed
again. “You and I are too different. You hunt for big shells, I
hunt for small ones.”
    “I do not see the relevance in that
distinction.”
    Cora pulled a necklace from around her neck
and draped it around his. Then she kissed him on the cheek. “I’m
sorry, Reiv, but it was not meant to be.” She turned and walked
away.
    Reiv stared after her, his jaw slack. What
had just happened here? What was not meant to be? And what was all
this about him being a big shell? Was that better than being “the
worst?” His skull ached. Gods, girls were so much trouble.
    He headed home, but the image of Cora stayed
with him. He fingered the shell necklace she had placed around his
neck, and lifted it to take a look. There were spires of
peach-colored cockles and fan-shaped shells as transparent as tiny
fingernails. There were swirls the hues of the sea and starburst
shapes the color of the sun. He grinned in spite of himself.
    He entered the hut, muttering to no one in
particular, and went about preparing a robust stew of mussels,
shelled crab, and seaweed. Brina and Torin watched Reiv silently,
the two of them obviously afraid to break the spell that had
enchanted him. Finally Brina placed a hand on his forehead. “Are
you feeling ill?” she asked. “You do not seem