Free The Ruens of Fairstone (Aeon of Light Book 2) by Aron Sethlen Page B

Pard’s face, and Pard doesn’t flinch. Miles turns around and sees Selby then he lets out a laugh everyone in the library can hear.  
    Selby lowers her book and turns to Pard and Miles.
    Pard snaps out of his moment and swallows the lump in his throat.
    Miles eyes Pard and then Selby. Miles waves at Selby, and she smiles and waves back. Nodding, Miles turns to Pard. “Ha, I see now .” He gives Pard a goofy grin as Pard lowers his head back to the quiz.
    “What do you see?” Pard says.
    “Why you said you’d come to the library and tutor me—because of her.” And he flicks his head toward Selby.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Pard snatches Miles’s paper and grades the phylum.
    “Sure you don’t. So did you talk to her yet?”
    Pard doesn’t look up and continues to scribe corrections. “Talk to who?”
    Miles slides his fingers across the table and rips his paper away.
    Still grading, Pard marks a two and a minus sign on the table before lifting the tip of the pencil.  
    “ You know who ,” Miles says.
    Serious, Pard stares Miles down with a death glare. He quickly glances toward Selby, and she smiles at him. He smiles back though his lips twitch in a blink of an eye and they only make it a hair past horizontal before they immediately return to their normal reserved state.
    “So what’s up—did you talk to her yet?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    Pard furrows his brow. “That’s Selby Barrow.”
    “Yeah, so what?”
    “She’s the daughter of the mayor of Greysin, and she’s the most beautiful girl in all of Vetlinue.”
    “Yeah, and you’re not bad-looking either, I guess, and you’re definitely the smartest kid I know, not to mention you’re a badass that can shoot light out your fingers and blow shit up.”
    “Shut up about that.” Pard looks away, upset that Miles reminded him that something is seriously wrong with him. He puckers his lips. Heat radiates off his skin and his armpits sweat as his temper rises. A flash of aqua light flashes over Pard’s pupils. Panic and anger take over, and Pard sweeps his books into his arms and rushes away from the table and Miles. Ignoring Selby, he swoops past her so fast the wind wisps Selby’s hair off her shoulders.
    Miles rolls his eyes, and with the same motion, slides his books into his pack. He winks at Selby as he passes her by then runs to catch up with Pard. “Slow down, come on, wait up, Pard. No need to run off, it’s not a big deal, I was just talking.”
    Pard bulls through the library front door and lunges through the threshold. Embarrassed and in flight, he doesn’t feel the harsh cold and brisk wind.
    Miles slips through the front door and bounds down the marble stairs toward the cobblestone street. “Wait up.”
    Pard waves behind him with a floppy arm and hand. “Leave me alone!”
    “Come on, I meant nothing by it, slow down. Let’s talk for a minute.”
    “I don’t want to talk.”
    Miles opens his arms wide. “So does this mean you won’t tutor me?”
    Pard, amazed at the nerve and block-headedness of Miles, Pard snorts in fits as he keeps barreling forward, eyes fixed on the rising turrets of Fairstone perched on the hill surrounded by evergreens.
    Miles leaps forward and latches onto Pard’s shoulder.
    Pard skids to a stop next to two draft horses attached to a sleigh.
    “Settle down,” Miles says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just a stupid girl. You should talk to her if you like her so much.”
    Pard’s arms shake, infuriated as he imagines what he must have looked like running out of the library in a panic. He clinches his teeth, No way will she talk to me now, she’ll think I’m weird . His head twitches in anger as Miles looks him in the eyes. Pard turns away and his gaze finds the giant solid brown eye of one of the sleigh horses.
    A web of aqua-blue light arcs away from Pard’s chest.  
    “What the heck—” Miles says as his eyes widen, his hand still