Alliance of Serpents Read Online Free PDF

down. Was she finally beginning to let go of her angry
demeanor? " My people? The doctor said that you descended
from humans, too."
    The grin vanished. She stared at him for a
moment before responding. "I'm not supposed to talk about that.
There are dangers—"
    "Yeah, yeah, I know," Arus groaned, shaking
his head. "But let's be realistic for a second here. I'm here, in
this ship, talking to you about food from the distant planets of
the universe. I know that you're not from my planet, and looking
around at these soldiers, many of them clearly aren't human. I
mean, even Damien isn't human! I don't know what more you intend to
protect me from; the damage has already been done."
    Her lips formed a sympathetic pout, but her
eyes were still filled with suspicion. "But if you return to your
planet—"
    He slammed his fist down on the table, a
gesture he certainly would've avoided had he thought twice. "I can't return! I don't know if you've noticed or not," he
knuckled the implant with his cybernetic hand, "but I'm a
mechanical freak now! I'm stuck here, or wherever you people decide
to send me to, whether I like it or not!"
    Her mouth didn't move, but he heard her
voice. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Arus! I don't know how, but I'll
make it up to you somehow!
    And this time, there was no mistaking it. It
was no hallucination, no figment of his imagination. "And why do I
keep hearing your bloody voice in my head?"
    Her eyes grew with surprise. "You . . .
what?"
    Caution hit him; the wrong words here would
make him seem like a madman. Maybe I am a madman. "I
keep thinking I'm hearing your voice," he said, lowering his voice.
"Maybe I'm just hearing things because of this bloody implant, I
don't know." He knew that wasn't what it was, but for the sake of
appearing sane, it seemed like the best story to give.
    Kitreena's gaze was distant now. "Maybe . .
." she said, almost whispering.
    The next several minutes passed in silence.
They ate quietly, carefully avoiding eye contact with one another.
Arus searched for what to say to smooth the situation over; he'd
never meant to explode like that. But he suddenly felt like a
homeless orphan with no one who wanted him, and that made it
difficult to stay calm.
    "You're not an orphan," she said, her eyes on
her food. "You'll find your place. Everyone does sooner or
later."
    Arus' human eye grew. "I didn't say
anything," he told her. "How did you know that's how I felt?"
    "Yes, you did," Kitreena nodded as though it
was the most obvious thing in the world. "I heard you say it. You
said you felt like a homeless orphan with no one who wants
you."
    "Kitreena," he said, waiting until she looked
at him before continuing. "I don't understand it, but you somehow
heard what I was thinking. And I get the feeling that I've been
hearing what you're thinking."
    Now her face went pale, and she nearly
dropped her fork. Her mouth worked silently, trying to coming up
with some kind of response. Finally, she jumped from her chair.
"I'm sorry, I have to go."
    Before he could protest, she was off, running
for the door as fast as she could. Arus rose to follow, but thought
better of it. Don't intrude on her space. Whatever is going on
with her, she'll figure it out. Better to leave her alone, for
now. With a sigh, he sat back down and went back to work on his
food. The next bite left him sputtering and grabbing for his drink.
"I should've listened to her," he groaned between gulps. "Manue and
rufen certainly do not mix."

Chapter 2
     
    The little egg in the incubation chamber
captivated Kindel. Not only had it been created from a single of
the Lephadorite's cells, it had such an incredible growth rate that
it had gone from a microscopic cell to the size of a pebble in only
a few days. The death of Lady Almatha's second assistant was
regrettable, but the price had been well worth it. The reproductive
properties of the new baharinda had fed on the lephadorite
perfectly, allowing Barrine's team to create the egg.