The Changeling (Book One of The Síofra Chronicles) Read Online Free Page A
Author: K.R. Wilburn
lush landscape surrounding us.
I scowled. "Please don't call me Cassandra. Only my grandfather calls me Cassandra. "
"What would you like to be called then?"
"Call me Cassie," I said. "What is Otherworld?"
"All right then, Cassie. It’s hard to describe in mortal terms, but I will try," he said with a grin, reaching out and taking my hand in his.
I inhaled sharply when his hand touched mine. My palm tingled strangely, and a strange heat passed briefly between us. I wondered if he had felt it as well. He caught my gaze, his startled green eyes mirroring my own before he looked down at our hands, studying them.
I was sure he had felt that sizzle too. I was starting to get curious. I couldn't recall ever actually feeling in my dreams before. Unless you counted my nightmares. Somehow I always felt those as if they were real. Was this a nightmare?
When I thought about it, I realized that I shouldn't be able to taste the salt in the air or smell the woodsy aroma of the trees around us. I frowned with confusion. This dream was far too real for my taste, and it was starting to make my head hurt.
"The Otherworld is the land of the Fae," Aleksander explained patiently. He tucked my arm under his, turning and leading me down the beach. The waves swept gently up the beach and over my feet, deliciously warm and again bothering me because I knew that I shouldn't be able to feel the warmth.
"The Fae? You mean like faeries?” I asked finally, trying not to think too much about how disturbingly real it all was even as I relished the feeling of the warm water and the sand. It had been so long since I had seen the ocean, and strange as this all was, I wasn’t in that dark clearing sniveling and waiting to be killed.
"The Fae are...well, for lack of a better term, yes, Faeries. We are what is left of the guardians of the realms of dreams."
He must have seen the look of confusion on my face because he patted my hand reassuringly, drawing me closer to his side as he led me across the glittering sand. My breath caught in my throat. Under any other circumstance, strolling down a beautiful beach hand in hand with a gorgeous man would be happy dream. Instead, I was overwhelmed and felt panic starting to build within me. My heart beat rapidly and my breath sped up as if adrenaline were beginning to flow.
"This place is our home. It lies outside of the mortal realm, on a different plane of existence, but one that runs parallel to it. I know that probably doesn't make any sense to you yet, but it will with time.”
"Are you seriously trying to tell me that I'm in some kind of alternate dimension here?” I asked, frustrated and confused. “Oh man, I've got to lay off the Supernatural reruns before bed."
A different realm of existence? Those cheap grocery store cakes were off the shopping list permanently. All those preservatives had probably fried my brain. Becca was right. It was time to go organic. Science fiction and junk food obviously had dire consequences when combined.
"You are a Síofra,” he said, ignoring my outburst.
“Sheefra?” I repeated, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. What weird language was he speaking?
He stopped and turned to face me so quickly that I walked into him. I could feel his breath on my cheeks as he looked down at me, bringing his hands to my upper arms and holding them gently as if bracing me for something important.
"You, Cassandra Matthews, are a changeling."
My jaw dropped as I stared at him, my eyes wide with shock. I thought about the bedtime stories my gran used to read to me. Myths about babies being stolen in the night and swapped for goblin babies or bundles of sticks because they felt like it, and stories about parents who had gone crazy and murdered their babies or left them to die in trees because they didn't believe it was their child.
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm some kind of monster baby you people smuggled into a cradle?" I asked, aghast. "I mean, don't get me
I scowled. "Please don't call me Cassandra. Only my grandfather calls me Cassandra. "
"What would you like to be called then?"
"Call me Cassie," I said. "What is Otherworld?"
"All right then, Cassie. It’s hard to describe in mortal terms, but I will try," he said with a grin, reaching out and taking my hand in his.
I inhaled sharply when his hand touched mine. My palm tingled strangely, and a strange heat passed briefly between us. I wondered if he had felt it as well. He caught my gaze, his startled green eyes mirroring my own before he looked down at our hands, studying them.
I was sure he had felt that sizzle too. I was starting to get curious. I couldn't recall ever actually feeling in my dreams before. Unless you counted my nightmares. Somehow I always felt those as if they were real. Was this a nightmare?
When I thought about it, I realized that I shouldn't be able to taste the salt in the air or smell the woodsy aroma of the trees around us. I frowned with confusion. This dream was far too real for my taste, and it was starting to make my head hurt.
"The Otherworld is the land of the Fae," Aleksander explained patiently. He tucked my arm under his, turning and leading me down the beach. The waves swept gently up the beach and over my feet, deliciously warm and again bothering me because I knew that I shouldn't be able to feel the warmth.
"The Fae? You mean like faeries?” I asked finally, trying not to think too much about how disturbingly real it all was even as I relished the feeling of the warm water and the sand. It had been so long since I had seen the ocean, and strange as this all was, I wasn’t in that dark clearing sniveling and waiting to be killed.
"The Fae are...well, for lack of a better term, yes, Faeries. We are what is left of the guardians of the realms of dreams."
He must have seen the look of confusion on my face because he patted my hand reassuringly, drawing me closer to his side as he led me across the glittering sand. My breath caught in my throat. Under any other circumstance, strolling down a beautiful beach hand in hand with a gorgeous man would be happy dream. Instead, I was overwhelmed and felt panic starting to build within me. My heart beat rapidly and my breath sped up as if adrenaline were beginning to flow.
"This place is our home. It lies outside of the mortal realm, on a different plane of existence, but one that runs parallel to it. I know that probably doesn't make any sense to you yet, but it will with time.”
"Are you seriously trying to tell me that I'm in some kind of alternate dimension here?” I asked, frustrated and confused. “Oh man, I've got to lay off the Supernatural reruns before bed."
A different realm of existence? Those cheap grocery store cakes were off the shopping list permanently. All those preservatives had probably fried my brain. Becca was right. It was time to go organic. Science fiction and junk food obviously had dire consequences when combined.
"You are a Síofra,” he said, ignoring my outburst.
“Sheefra?” I repeated, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. What weird language was he speaking?
He stopped and turned to face me so quickly that I walked into him. I could feel his breath on my cheeks as he looked down at me, bringing his hands to my upper arms and holding them gently as if bracing me for something important.
"You, Cassandra Matthews, are a changeling."
My jaw dropped as I stared at him, my eyes wide with shock. I thought about the bedtime stories my gran used to read to me. Myths about babies being stolen in the night and swapped for goblin babies or bundles of sticks because they felt like it, and stories about parents who had gone crazy and murdered their babies or left them to die in trees because they didn't believe it was their child.
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm some kind of monster baby you people smuggled into a cradle?" I asked, aghast. "I mean, don't get me
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