Free Hathor Legacy: Burn by Deborah A Bailey Page A

Gathering. It was a relief to have it out in the open.
    It had galled her that she still had to submit to the whims of Dakar and the others. The only alternative would be to follow her mother's example and break away. Jon's mother had done the same thing. Dakar thought Jon was an outsider. Little did he know how much she and Jon had in common.
     
    Maybe they should've had something to eat. But after their shower, neither one of them was thinking about dinner. Now that she was awake, she was hungry and cold.
    Rubbing her grumbling stomach, she glanced out the doorway at the darkened living area. How late was it? She shifted so she could grab the edge of the coverlet. Unfortunately, most of it was bunched under Jon, who was sprawled out on his stomach next to her, lightly snoring. Oh, that's right, according to him, he didn't snore.
    Was there a way to get it without waking him? She was about to find out. Securing as much of the edge as she could between her fingers, she yanked. The snoring stopped and he opened his eyes. With half his face buried in his pillow, she saw only one sleep-filled eye, and part of another.
    "What is it?" he asked, drowsily. 
    "You're on the covers. And you were snoring."
    "Hmm." He pulled the blanket out from under him, arranged it over her and closed his eyes again.
    That was better. "Jon, what did Dakar say to you?"
    "Huh?"
    "What did Dakar say to you when you were alone?"
    "He said I would get in the way of your duty…something like that." He yawned and his eyes snapped open again. "Does he know about our connection?"
    "He thinks you won't be strong enough to maintain it." She bu rrowed deeper under the coverlet.
    "Because he doesn't know my mother was born on Hathor and had abilities."
    "No, he doesn't know anything about that." And Nadira had no intention of him ever finding out. By escaping, Jon's mother had broken corporate laws, just like Nadira's mother. Had fate brought her and Jon together?
    "Still cold?" he asked.
    "I'm fine. You can go back to snoring now."
    "Thanks." He closed his eyes. "And I don't snore."
     
     
     

 
    9 Survivor
    When Brant asked Nadira to meet him in his office the next day, she didn't expect good news. And as usual, she was right.
    He was sitting at his desk when she got there, his attention on the glass desktop. Whatever he was reading, he was so engrossed he didn't look up when she took the seat across from him.
    The office didn't get much natural light, seeing how all the windows faced the wall of another building. It had a cave-like feel that Nadira never felt comfortable in.
    "Dakar has asked that I train you as my replacement. Have you considered it?" Brant asked without looking up.
    "Not yet," Nadira replied. "Why should you leave your position for me?"
    "Because I've only been a placeholder. The Sentry Leader position is to be held by a Sentry. And since you are the only one…" He sat back in his chair and glanced out of the window. "I can't say I'll be sorry to leave this office."
    So he didn't like being here either. "And where will you go?" she asked.
    "That depends on what the Elders decide. I answer to them."
    "And to Novacorp," she added. "I've always done my duty to the Guardians, but I'm no company bureaucrat."
    "It might surprise you to know that neither was I when I began." Brant rubbed his forehead as though he was trying to rid himself of an ache. "But I learned to be in compliance, as we all have. The people who run this company will see to that."
    Between the Elders and Novacorp, when would she be able to choose what she wanted? Probably never, if Dakar had his way. "But why is it so important to have me in this spot?"
    "No doubt Elder Dakar will tell you when he's ready," Brant replied. "Most people are not so unhappy about being promoted."
    "I thought Guardians weren't like everyone else. That we were above caring about promotions and status."
    "Nadira if you believe that, you have a lot more to learn," Brant scratched his ear, and