The Diatous Wars 1: Rebel Wing Read Online Free PDF

don’t want to hear this, but I just have to say it. Calix didn’t Promise to you. He didn’t give you
anything
. He’s gone, and who knows when he’ll be back? I’m worried you’re going to put your whole life on hold for him.”
    Aris yanked her hand free, pressing it against the knotted, variegated wood of the table. “Calix believes in following the rules, and that means Promising when we can actually be together. We decided to wait because it was the right thing to do, not because he didn’t ask!” Okay, so that wasn’t entirely true. But it might as well have been.
    Rakk stood and slipped around Phae, his hands on her shoulders. “I think I’ll have a smoke. Pardon me.” He made his way to the bakka bar without another word.
    Phae turned her reproachful frown on Aris. “Why’d you have to say that?”
    “I’m sorry!” Aris raised her hands. “I wasn’t commenting on
your
Promise, I was just—”
    “Let it be, Phae. I’m sure he just wanted a smoke. You’re too sensitive.” Echo leaned against the table, cutting her eyes to a group of men a few tables over who were openly staring at her.
    “Now
I’m
too sensitive?” Phae asked. “This isn’t about me! You were the one who said Aris should just
forget
Calix, like that would ever happen! She follows him around like a blighting puppy, and you think—”
    “That’s enough.” Aris got to her feet, ignoring the weakness in her legs. “You think whatever you like about us. It has been a very,
very
long day, and I don’t have the energy to argue.”
    Phae held up a hand. “I’m sorry, wait—”
    Aris turned away. The air was suddenly thick, the bakka smoke choking. She pushed toward the door, knocking into tables and shadowy figures indiscriminately, desperate for fresh air and the sky’s embrace.
    Travelers often suffered vertigo when visiting Lux; the milky walkways that connected the buildings, built high on carbonate stilts, were translucent, and the impenetrable chest-high walls transparent. Aris had lived in Lux all her life. Tonight she was dizzy, but not because she could see shadowy trees below her feet.
    Rakk emerged from the darkness of the bar. “Aris,” he said. “Wait for a second.”
    “Tell Phae I’m sorry.” She glanced toward her wingjet on the landing pad. “I just can’t handle it right now, okay?”
    “It’s not that. I know you don’t feel like talking. I get it.” He scuffed a boot on the glowing pathway. “It’s just . . . for what it’s worth, I respect what you and Calix are doing. Waiting, I mean.”
    Aris raised a brow in surprise. “But you didn’t wait.”
    “Yeah, I know.” He lifted a hand as if to run it through his hair, but when his fingers touched the scarred skin at his temple, he dropped his arm to his side. “The thing is . . . I wish we had.”
    Aris’s mind balked. “But—”
    “Look at me.” Rakk gestured to his face, grimacing. “This is not what Phae signed up for.”
    “Phae
loves
you,” Aris replied forcefully.
    He sighed. “I know she does. And I love her. That’s why I didn’t break the Promise.” He leaned against the translucent wall. “But I would have done things differently if I’d known. You and Calix are smart to wait. Anything could happen. Sometimes I think about . . . if my sectormate hadn’t shoved me out of the way just before the firebomb blew, Phae’d be mourning me right now instead of planning our wedding.”
    Aris’s stomach dropped. He’d never spoken about what happened. “Did your sectormate—”
    “He lost his leg.” Rakk looked down. “He just about died trying to protect me.”
    You could save lives. Maybe even Calix’s.
Theo’s words echoed in Aris’s mind.
    “Thanks, Rakk.” Aris gave him a hug.
    “Good luck.” He released her and made his way back inside.
    Aris scrambled into her wingjet and let the familiar start-up sequence calm her shaking hands. She drew the jet into a hover, then shot straight into the