Blood of Retribution Read Online Free PDF

just start this day over?”
     
    He chuckles.  “If only we could.”
     
    We sit like this in silence until we hear Tabitha coming back down.  “How is she?” I ask when she enters the room.
     
    “She is resting,” Tabitha says.  “Kegan will stay with her until she is well again.”
     
    “She didn’t react to you being close to her?” I ask. 
     
    Tabitha shakes her head.  “No, she did not.”
     
    “Then it was just me?”  Both she and Kallen look uncomfortable.  Guess that answers that question.
     
    “Come here,” Tabitha says holding out her hand.
     
    Reluctantly, I stand up and walk over to her.  I know what she’s going to do.  She’s going to try to read my aura.  I don’t want her to because I’m terrified that Alita is right, but I go to her anyway.
     
    Tabitha engulfs me in a hug, pulling me close to her plump body like a grandmother would.  Although I do have a long lost grandmother, she didn’t exactly live up to my expectations like Tabitha does.  It helps that Tabitha has the ability to ease tension with her touch.
     
    After a moment, she steps back.  Her face does not say ‘Alita is full of crap and your aura is pristine’.  It says ‘boy, are you ever screwed’.
     
    “Tabitha?” Kallen says rising from the couch and walking to me.  He puts a comforting arm around my shoulders.  “What did you sense?”
     
    Tabitha shakes her head as if trying to shake things up in there hoping the right thing to say pops up.  Finally, she says, “It is the strangest thing.”  It is amazing how many conversations about me begin that way.  The price I pay for being an enigma.
     
    After several heartbeats, I say, “Tabitha, you’re killing me here.  What is the strangest thing?”
     
    With a sigh, she says, “I can feel the darkness that Alita speaks of, but it feels to me as if it’s a layer on top of your aura.  Almost as if it was painted on.”
     
    If someone was going to take the time to paint my aura, I sure wish they would have gone with a sunny yellow or maybe a ripe peach color.  “Is that even possible?” I ask.
     
    Kallen speaks first.  “No.  Aura’s cannot be changed.”
     
    “But they can be hidden,” Tabitha says thoughtfully.
     
    “Do you think someone is trying to hide my real aura?” I ask.  Why would someone do that?
     
    Tabitha shrugs and shakes her head.  “I do not know.  I can see no purpose for that.”
     
    “Unless it is to throw Alita’s sensors off,” Kallen says thoughtfully.
     
    My brows crawl together.  “What do you mean?”
     
    “If someone wants to attack the King with dark magic, then the first thing to do is get rid of his dark magic detector,” he says.
     
    I get it.  “And since I’m her best friend and she’s around me a lot, I was the best candidate.”
     
    Tabitha snorts.  “You may be around her a lot, but Kegan has you beat in that.  He is with her most of every day.  They are almost as difficult to keep apart as you and Kallen were.”
     
    My cheeks pink, but I ignore her comparison.  “Then why me?”
     
    She shakes her head again.  “I simply do not know.”
     
    Kallen looks down at me.  “We should go to the palace.  Both to do research on familiars and to let Dagda know that Alita is temporarily incapacitated.”  Also, that he might be under a death threat, but that is left unsaid.  At least it runs in the family; that makes me feel better somehow.  I am sure Dagda will see that differently.
     
    I nod.  “Okay, let’s go.”  Feeling like a thousand pounds of darkness is weighing me down, I teleport us to the front steps of the palace.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Stumbling on a step and nearly falling, Kallen frowns at me.  “A little warning when you are going to do that would be nice.”
     
    I smile at him sheepishly.  “Sorry.”
     
    The front door of the palace swings open and a doorman I don’t recognize steps out.