Rebel by Kristina Douglas Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted was to march in at the same moment he did, like a bonded couple. With any luck he’d forget how to get there and spend dinner wandering the labyrinthine passageways. Not charitable of me, but I was desperate for any kind of reprieve from his mercurial presence. It disturbed me in ways I couldn’t begin to fathom.
    People were already seating themselves when I skidded into the assembly hall. This had been Allie’s idea, that the Fallen and their mates should share a daily meal. It fostered their skills when working together, fighting together, and only those newly bonded were excused. I dashed to my seat beside Tory, keeping my head down.
    It was then I noticed how damnably low-cut my dress was, even if the scarring was hidden, and I moaned in despair. I couldn’t very well drape a napkin over my front, much as I wanted to.
    “What’s wrong?” Tory whispered.
    “I left the room in my underwear,” I muttered.
    “I can fix that,” she said cheerfully, pulling the shawl from around her own shoulders and draping it over me. It was soft wool, fine as silk, and I covered myself gratefully.
    “Now, that’s a crying shame,” camean all-too-familiar voice on my left, and I turned to watch Cain slip into the seat that had once been Asbel’s.
    Before I realized what I was doing I groaned out loud, then at least had the presence of mind to keep from clapping my hands over my traitorous mouth. Averting my gaze didn’t help—I could feel him, the heat of his body; I could smell him, the scent of leather and sea air and indefinable male like no other. “Are you feeling sick, Miss Mary?” he inquired solicitously. “I heard you groan—are you in need of a healer?”
    I had no choice but to look up at him, and I wanted to bang my forehead on the table in front of me in frustration. I met his strange silver-gray gaze, keeping my emotions hidden.
    “I’m perfectly fine,” I said politely. “Thanks for asking.”
    His mobile mouth curved in a smile. “De nada,” he murmured. “Though I take it you have a chill.”
    “A chill?” I echoed, momentarily confused.
    He nodded toward my shoulders draped in Tory’s shawl. “You’re swathed like a mummy. Maybe I should see about getting the heat turned up in our rooms.”
    I managed to hide my reaction to that one. He made it sound like we were sharing a room, and for some reason I felt my body warm. Presumably in embarrassment. “The heat in my separate room willbe just fine for me,” I said. Bad phrasing, but it was too late.
    I should have known he wouldn’t let it slide. “The heat in your separate room ?” he echoed, amused. “Did you think we were going to share?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped, turning my back on him, by now thoroughly irritated, still gripping the shawl around me. It was too hot, but I was damned if I was going to let go.
    Tory was watching all this with great interest in her green eyes. She was the newest addition to Sheol, not counting the albatross on my left, and after a rough beginning we had become good friends. It had been my stupid vision that had thrown her entire life into upheaval, and the half-assed nature of my prophecy hadn’t helped, but Tory wasn’t one to blame me for something that was out of my control. Besides, she’d managed to pluck a ridiculously happy ending out of death and disaster, and her happiness washed over everyone.
    “Interesting,” she murmured in an undertone as the conversation around the table rose and Cain forgot about taunting me, caught up in a conversation with Tamlel. “I’ve never seen you so rattled.”
    “Wouldn’t you be?” I said, equally quiet. “He’s trying to get my goat and I don’t know why.”
    Her grin was sly. “I don’t think it’s your goat he’s interested in.”
    I felt color suffuse my face. “Don’t be ridiculous. He strikes me as the sort who wants to cause trouble wherever he can, and he sees me as a likely victim. With luck he’ll find