Free Shadowstorm (Sorcery and Science Book 6) by Ella Summers Page B

that he was good at it too. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind.
    “Are you sleeping?” his hard voice demanded.
    Terra opened her eyes to find Jason staring down at her. He looked about as peeved as that stone face could express. He’d dropped her feet too.
    “No, I was relaxing,” she replied.
    “Do you even know how to relax?”
    “Do you?” she shot back, growing increasingly irritated at the turn in the conversation. He should just take up her feet again and continue on from where he had left off. Or better yet, scoot up behind her to give her a nice, long cuddle. Terra nearly burst into laughter at the thought. Jason did not cuddle.
    “You’re deflecting,” he said.
    “You’re annoying,” replied Terra.
    Jason remained as unmovable as a mountain. “I understand that you don’t like being left behind, but it’s for your own protection. I made a promise to—”
    “If you even think about repeating that old, tired line one more time, Jason Chanz, I swear to you that I will kick you and your rhetoric out of my house.”
    He paused, hopefully to think through his next words. “The Selpes and the Avans are after Elitions, and the Elite Prophet is the ultimate prize, the one both empires desire most of all. Terra, they are experimenting on Elitions, torturing them, corrupting them. I don’t want to see you end up in one of those experiments.”
    “And I appreciate your concern.” She reached forward to touch his face, but he drew back. Fine then. “But I didn’t escape the Selpes to be imprisoned here. I will do what I have to do.”
    Jason rose to his feet and stared down at her with eyes that were darkening even as she watched. “And I will do what I have to do to protect you from your own foolishness.”
    She jumped up and stared him down, even knowing it would incense his Phantom nature. She was too angry to care right now. “Then it would seem we have nothing left to say to each other.”
    “No,” he replied coldly, then walked out of her house, a gust of Phantom energy slamming the door shut behind him.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    ~ The Assassin's Sister ~
    527AX January 9, Eclipse

    EVERETT TOOK A quick bath before dropping off the box of Xenen artifacts at the Eclipse temple for safekeeping. He had no intention of scaring Lana off with the multi-day stench of sweat-stained travel clothes. He wasn’t sure she liked him well enough to put up with that.
    So it was freshly scrubbed that Everett made his way to the temple terrace. There he found her, sitting at their usual table. He crept up behind her, keeping his steps silent against the wooden planks. A bowl of hot soup sat before her, the aroma of spiced pumpkin wafting up to kiss the frosty air. Lana dunked a slice of crusty bread into the thick yellow soup and turned around to hold it out to him.
    “Here,” she offered. “From the sound of your rumbling stomach, it seems like you could use it.”
    Disappointed in his lack of stealthiness—but not that disappointed—Everett took the bread and, nodding in thanks, sat down opposite her. He finished it off in four bites. It tasted good, but after so long on the road, he would have preferred something a bit more substantial. Like a steak. He snuck a subtle glance at the buffet table.
    Lana wasn’t fooled. “There will be a few roasted pigs set out for supper tonight.”
    Everett smiled. She knew him well.
    “Did you arrange that for me?” he asked.
    “Perhaps I heard you were back and asked the kitchen to prepare something I knew you would appreciate,” she said, folding her hands together.
    He grinned at her. “Ah, then you must have missed me.”
    She leaned forward across the table and kissed him very slowly on the cheek. She straightened back up, lifting her teacup to her mouth to give him a coy smile over the top. Everett stole a quick glance over his shoulder.
    “I startled you,” Lana said, then took a slow sip from her tea.
    “No, I’m just waiting for Jason to show up.