Free Evermine: Daughters of Askara, Book 2 by Hailey Edwards Page A

thoughts.
    “He’s asleep.” I had the insane urge to offer a compromise, sit outside until dawn and watch him rest. “His back will require attention for the next day or so. Make sure he gets it.” Unsettled by the way he watched me, I asked, “Were you there?”
    He recoiled. “Yes, and I’ve already been seen by the healers.”
    “It figures he would see to everyone else first.” I grabbed a rag and cleaned my fingers. “You’ve got to take better care of him than this. He can’t lead your colony from a sickbed.”
    “No offense, Emma.” His tone dipped low. “But you have no right to tell me—or him—how to take care of business. You walked out, remember?” He snorted. “I sure as hell do.”
    My mouth opened, but no defense sprung to mind. “I did the best thing for us both.”
    “You did what was easiest for you.” Dillon stepped into moonlight, his bicolored eyes glinting. “If you say you did it for his sake, you’re letting yourself off easy.”
    I glanced at Harper, who was still sleeping. “He won’t face his past. I lived through that once with Maddie. Pain festers. It chews you up, makes you numb.” My glamour crackled, failing against my anger. “Well guess what? I don’t have it in me to do it a second time. I think I deserve to have a life outside of watching the people I love most try to suffocate themselves with denial.”
    “You’re a coward.”
    “No, I’m not.” For once, I had the right of it. At least I had tried to cope, to heal myself. “I’ve kicked my addiction and taken responsibility for myself. It’s time he does the same.”
    Dillon landed one more hit, far below the belt. “He still waits for you.”
    Remnants of my heart shattered, sinking jagged edges beneath my rib cage. “He doesn’t have to. I didn’t ask him to.” But I melted inside to know he did. I did too. Did he realize that? “I’m sorry he’s hurting, but I’m not sorry I left him before he left me.” I clued him in on what I had accepted. “Sometimes love isn’t enough. Sometimes people are better apart than together.”
    “And sometimes people should lower their voices if they don’t want to be overheard.” Harper teased my peripheral vision. He scrubbed a hand across his face, rolling onto his side.
    Blood drained from my limbs in a cold rush. Dillon’s smug satisfaction made my fingernails stretch to razor tips. He’d set me up, led me by the nose right where he wanted to take me. Anger prickled my skin, but rage boiled away the chill. He had no right to play with me.
    “I think I’ve gotten enough air.” Harper stood, rubbing the base of his neck.
    He turned, but I didn’t let him go far. “You always block what you don’t want to hear.”
    His shoulders tensed, wings twitching. “You’re wrong, Emma. I’ve heard every word you’ve said to me.” His dark skin shimmered with glamour. “I particularly remember goodbye .”
    “You would have left me, and you know it.” The unexpected words ripped from my soul. Why had I opened my mouth? I knew accusation would tumble out. “You can’t even look at me when you deny it.” It shocked me to hear the words aloud. I thought I’d made peace with our past, but I guess he wasn’t the only one stuck to the comfortable road. I lied well, even to myself.
    “This isn’t the time or the place,” he said softly.
    “It never is,” I replied just as soft.
    Wood slapped hard to our right, snapping our conversational stalemate.
    “Lady, I’ve a message for you.” Aaron stumbled through the garden’s gate. His hair swirled in spiked peaks, his cheeks burnt raw from wind. His eyes widened as Harper’s glamour flickered into place. Dillon shouldered past me, standing between him and my courier.
    For a shocked moment I noticed he extended his same protection to me. Glowering at Dillon’s back, I couldn’t forgive what he’d done. This visit could have been a pleasant social call between old friends. Instead, he fed me