Wings of Nestor Read Online Free PDF Page A

turned and was heading out of the barrier. She jumped toward him, throwing a bubble.
    Emane was fuming, and she didn’t need to feel his anger to tell. When they got back to camp, he grabbed her arm before she dropped her bubble. “Since I can’t bubble, I am stuck here, and I need some time to sort through this—without you.”
    Kiora stiffened. She deserved that. Stepping backwards, she let Emane slip out of the bubble.
    ***
    EMANE STOOD JUST INSIDE the enclosure, shaking with simmering rage as he stared down at a sleeping Alcander, his hands balling into fists.
    Picking up on Emane’s ill intent, Drustan made a noise of warning, leaning forward. “Emane,” he cautioned, “I don’t think—”
    “Is Kiora gone?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Emane’s lips tightened. “If our connection hadn’t been severed, I would have known.”
    “You know it had to be done. She was feeling every bit of pain Dralazar was inflicting on you.”
    “I am going to wake Alcander up, and you will not interfere.”
    Drustan leaned back on his elbows. “If anyone would benefit from my interference, it would most likely be you.”
    Emane nudged Alcander with the tip of his boot, hard. “Wake up.”
    Alcander leaped to his feet, eyes darting around to find the threat.
    “How dare you,” Emane seethed.
    Alcander’s eyebrows furrowed as he focused on Emane. “What are you talking about?”
    “You know what I am talking about! While I was having my flesh burned off, you were kissing Kiora!”
    Alcander’s posture straightened, his eyes narrowing. “Watch your tone, Witow.”
    “Don’t you call me that,” Emane hissed, shoving his finger in Alcander’s face. “I saved your miserable life.”
    “And I yours,” Alcander retorted.
    “You have always thought you were better than me.” Emane started circling Alcander, his hands clenching in and out of fists. “Is that what it is? I am not good enough for your Solus?”
    “I did not kiss her to hurt you,” Alcander said, turning to protect his back.
    “Then why did you?”
    “The same reason you did.” Alcander was infuriatingly calm.
    “You barely know her.”
    “I know enough.”
    “Alcander,” he breathed, “I am only going to say this once: leave—her—alone.”
    Alcander inclined his chin. “Or what, Emane? What will you do?”
    His question caught Emane off guard. “What?”
    Alcander took a step toward him. “What will you do?” he asked, raising his voice for the first time. “Will you love her when you are old and gray and she looks barely older than she does now? Will she still love you? Will you ask her to watch you die a slow death as you wither away before her? She is not one of you anymore. She is magical. The magic that runs through her veins will keep her young for hundreds of years. If you loved her, if you truly loved her, you would let her go.”
    Emane internally deflated. He had heard those words once already, from Drem. In the madness of Dralazar’s torture he had shoved them deep into the recesses of his mind, his heart not ready to relinquish—not yet. “And what—let her go, to you?”
    Alcander laughed. “You would punish her because of your hatred of me? Perhaps she and I could find happiness.”
    “Enough!” Emane shouted. “Don’t touch her—don’t even look at her! If I so much as see you within ten feet of her, I will—”
    “Will what?” Alcander interrupted with a demeaning chuckle. “Fight me? We both know who would win.”
    Emane lunged at Alcander, who lazily held him back with a magical shove.
    “Emane,” Drustan cautioned. “That is not a good idea.”
    “Stay out of this.”
    “Drustan is right, Emane,” Alcander said. “Out of respect for Kiora, I am not going to hurt you, but you can only push me so far. My patience wears thin.”
    Emane lunged at him again.
    ***
    KIORA WANDERED AROUND THE rocks for a bit, nursing her wounds. Emane had dismissed her. She snorted. What had she expected? A pat on the