Feudlings In Smoke (Fate On Fire Short Story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

so he could glare at her properly. “These people are better than family. They aren't going to tell, Ari. You know that.”
    It was a conversation they'd had many, many times, and he knew where it was heading. Ari would suggest getting captured so they could all be free, he would tell her how idiotic that was, and then she would change the subject. Just like always.
    “I forgot your pizza,” was the way she did it this time. Which worked, because she knew how much Will loved his pizza.
    “I see.” He glanced around the room before mock-glaring back at her. “Well, you're not welcome here. Out ya go.” He made shooing motions with his hands and Ari rolled her eyes.
    “Why, Will?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Because you forgot my pizza?” he said slowly, wondering if she'd been hit in the head again sometime recently.
    “No no.” She frowned at him like he clearly should have followed her jumpy train of thought. “Why do we have this stupid war?”
    Ah. Her jumpy train of thought had jumped back to the war track. He dropped his head to his chest in defeat and went back to sit next to her. “Because Ada Aleshire was a spoiled, rich brat who hurt the wrong guy one too many times.” His mother had told him the story many times, and in her opinion, Ada was completely at fault. Her opinion, though, was not popular among the Edren Family, so she had only told him.
    “What do you mean, hurt?” Ari asked. So, Vivian had not told Ari the story. Interesting. Maybe Richard had done his complicated little “forget” spell on Vivian, too, and now she couldn't even remember what she was fighting for. If she fought, that is. Vivian hadn't fought in a battle for as long as Will had been alive. He’d only heard rumors of her fighting — old, old rumors.
    He realized Ari was still waiting for an answer. Right. “He was in love with her. She refused him and married a rich guy named William. Where my name came from, by the way. I bet he was stunningly handsome.”
    Ari rolled her eyes, not impressed at all with his knowledge or comparisons. “So this guy… this Carules, he did it all because he got shot down?”
    Good question. Will stared out the window, toward his colony. The Carules he lived with had told him their version of the story, and the Edrens shared theirs, although they had strict rules against arguing over it. That's all they'd need, a mini-war to break out inside the wards. So he tried to play it middle-of-the-road. “Some say he lost his mind. Some even say that Ada and the duke were torturing him with experimental spells.” He glanced back at her and shrugged. “I don't know. A lot of people have died for a cause no one believes in but the ones in charge.”
    Ari frowned. “The Family. And the Council.”
    Will sat down next to her, spilling her healing tea that she wasn't drinking. It would leave a nasty stain on his couch, and getting a good stain remover into the colony was next to impossible. She was lucky she was more powerful than he was, or he would have made her clean it herself. Instead, he distracted her with talk of her new friends. It was clear right away that she had a serious thing for one of them, a boy named Shane and a not-so-serious interest in another — who happened to be Shane’s best friend, a guy named Hunter, and Will mentally cackled like an evil villain at the chance to finally threaten some helpless boys about the consequences if they should happen to hurt and/or touch his sister. And then he rearranged his face before Ari realized he was on to her.
    She had made girl friends, too — Charity, Nevaeh, and Olivia — which was such a relief to Will that, if he were the weeping kind, he would have wept. Ari might not admit it, but his sister needed friends. Good friends. Desperately.
    Thankfully, she'd gotten enough of the tea down her that it made her sleepy, and when her eyes started to droop he left her there to sleep, and went to work. In his office. Approximately four feet