Framework of the Frontier, Sain Artwell [read me a book .TXT] 📗

If you want to run off on your own, that’s up to you, but don’t lure them to us.”

“I’m not moving either.” William crashed on his bedroll, leaning on his backpack. Pain and weariness had a fight inside him and the latter was quickly gaining ground. He didn’t care if his clothes were bloody or if he still had sandals on. He needed sleep.

Ember sat down next to him on his unwounded side, pulling her bedroll closer. She had a dead tired look on her too, but something else behind it, a pinch of nervousness that he had felt earlier as if it were his own.

Right, the blessing. Did she see back into me through it too?

She gave him a nervous look of a girl wanting to talk.

Fuck, William breathed out a groan. He kept his voice lower than the loot debate between Nevija and Orien.“Three a.m. is not when I wanna be discussing unexpected telepathic properties of my blessing.”

“That was weird,” Ember whispered back.

“Ayup.”

“Not bad weird, but…” Ember’s ears twitched as her cheeks blushed. “Maybe that’s how divine magic usually works? I don’t know too well to be honest. But, what I mean to say… I didn’t expect you to be interested like that.” She licked her lips, swallowing.

Ember’s warm shoulder bumped against his. Up close, she smelled damn near as gorgeous as she looked. Feminine, soft, woody, silky, and warm. William released a deep breath, trying to control his pulse so as to not open the wounds.

His lips were dry as he licked them. “So. You saw into my head as well?”

“Mm-hm.” Ember didn’t elaborate.

William didn’t dare to ask her to. Though ready to keel over into dreamlands, the thought of her seeing into the confused cockles of his heart was too intimate for comfort. She was cute, yes — all sorts of adorable and hot. But, he was a mess. Beneath the cheat body and powers earned by a fluke was the same confused loser that had lost his one chance at life and spent the last seven years growing hollow inside in a dead-end job.

William didn’t want to fake it and trick this sweet girl into thinking he was some great paladin-slash-hero worth giving a damn about. So, they sat through several long moments of awkward breathing.

In that time Nevija and Raia ended up not daring to explore the chimera nest on their own.

“That blessing you gave me was amazing,” Ember finally said, her lips curling into a small smile. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and shifted her hips, brushing her thigh against his. “My body felt light and quick and Sorcerer’s Eye… It felt like a different spell altogether, it was as if I could see everything at once.”

“You were straight up kick-ass. Damn unfair. For me it only buffed strength for a few seconds and you get a minute long turbo mode.”

Ember chuckled softly, blushing. “No, I wasn’t. You were cooler. Like a hero.”

Don’t say that, please. I’m not…

“Don’t look so down. You’re not worthless like you think. Not in my opinion. I think you’re doing good for someone from a place where people think realms are round.” Her ears flapped about as her body tensed for another few moments. “You’re very…” ‘Cute’ was the word where her voice broke and lips mouthed.

He felt all sorts of fluffy relief from the look of adoration in her eyes, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to separate what was caused by the sleepiness and his desire for that sexy perfection of a faun — a woman. As much as William wanted to figure out this new boon of the blessing and sort out what it might’ve sprouted between them, William really really needed a few more hours.

“Sorry Ember, could we pick this up in the morning?” he asked, feeling his eyelids fall against all efforts to keep them open.

Ember made an agreeing noise. “If you let me sleep here.” She rested her head on his shoulder, tickling his nose with her soft hair. It had the scent of vanilla. A pleasant scent. A sleepy scent.

“Yeah… Sure…”

William wasn’t sure if he spoke his reply out loud or if that was already a dream. That night, for the few hours that he spent snoozing, he didn’t dream of being lost in the crowd on an endless plain anymore. Instead he dreamt of a cutiepatooty faun girl chasing him on chimeras. It wasn’t a nightmare.

8

“Three, two, one. Push,” Orien shouted.

William put his legs into it together with the other men. Slowly, the limp corpse of the chimera slid off of the roof, eventually sloughing off. It ragdolled onto the ground, snapping a couple of bushy conifers under its weight.

The adventurers followed, climbing down a rope to reach running speed before letting go. Trotto helped lower down William and the brothers.

Even if the vitality elixir would help with healing, it was best to take it easy for a couple of days.

Need to figure out I have healing powers. Damn I wish I have some.

The world felt almost silent when the last cart clanked past an overgrown archway and out of view. Slowly, the chirp and chirrup of birds and bugs returned with a warm whistle of sea-wind. Finally, they could speak without shouting.

Finally, it was a good time to have that one chat about the blessing.

William looked at Ember, only for the blonde faun to brush some hair over her eyes and pretend like she hadn’t noticed. A blush rose on her tan cheeks. She had shared her breakfast with him, but they had mostly discussed Earth’s medical practises. A certain palpable tension of awkwardness had hovered even over that. Although, she had continued sticking close to him, nearly sliding right up on the edge of his personal space.

It was a bit confusing.

Does she not have much romantic