Read Eversworn: Daughters of Askara, Book 3 for Free Online Page B

could I forget?
    “Are you on patrol tonight?” It explained why he’d been the one to come for me.
    “I am.” His strides were long and meant to deter my much shorter legs.
    Though I’d taken a tour of the colony once, it had been minimal, all the finer points glossed over in favor of keeping their secrets. I recalled where the mine’s entrance was located. It was rather obvious, being a gaping cavern offset by tents and sand. Was the salt kept there? Or would they have hidden their stores in plain sight? I measured the tents for clues, but they all resembled one another and all were the same size and shape. Alone, I stood a better chance of wandering across a sleeping family and rousing an alarm than discovering the supply’s location.
    I struggled to keep pace. “Would you like company?”
    His answer was sharp. “No.”
    “Then can I at least check your leg?” I padded my request. “It is the reason I came out here.”
    He stopped two steps from me, and I bounced off his back. “Is it?”
    I retreated a step. “Yes.”
    “If you were so concerned for me, for my leg, then why didn’t you come sooner?”
    “I—” I fumbled for a reason that might wipe the sneer from his face.
    “Don’t waste time thinking up an excuse. Mason told me he guilt-tripped you into coming.”
    “Mason?” I hoped he found my act convincing. “I asked about you, but I always do.”
    His glare said he didn’t believe me. “I’m training my replacements.” His words were clipped. “When my shift ends, you can check my leg. Until then…”
    “I’m stiff from the ride.” I also had a second phase to implement. “I wouldn’t mind a walk.”
    He grunted. “Suit yourself.”
    With little else to do until we reached the edge of the colony, I monitored his gait. His stride was stiff. His shoulders tensed each time before his foot hit the ground. Considering how smooth his steps had been before returning here, it was easy to pin the blame on overexertion. I would speak with Harper… The thought trailed into regret. I would never speak with him again. Not about Dillon or any other colony matter. This betrayal marked the end of that casual friendship.
    My fingers tangled in the cool metal of my necklace chain and crushed my rising guilt.
    We all made choices. What we could live with, and what we couldn’t live without.
    The uneasy feeling I was being watched made me lift my head. Hard stares from the colonists unnerved me. Part of their glares was my fault. I had dressed to entice, reasoning that if Dillon failed to succumb to my charms, then I would make my diversion another way. Which fed into the second reason such a simple ploy should work best. It was in the glitter of their eyes, the eager swipe of tongues over lips. They believed I was a female of their breed, a rarity worth spilling blood to possess. However, a brawl here and now served no purpose. Until I knew where the salt was, I couldn’t direct my would-be suitors in the opposite direction of my escape route.
    “And you thought no one would notice.” Dillon sounded disgusted.
    I straightened my shoulders. “It’s late. They should all be asleep.”
    He shook his head. “Evanti are nocturnal. Without Askarans to pin us to their schedules, our bodies are normalizing. Nights are running later and later, the days turning shorter and shorter.”
    We walked in silence for several minutes while I chewed on my thumbnail. I’d made a grave error, it seemed, by assuming the colony would sleep through my thievery and wake to what I’d done. I had discounted the fact I’d heard Evanti were once nocturnal. Not to mention several had endured the sort of horror that made sleep another form of torture. Dillon was a prime example.
    His screams had woken me on several nights. When I’d confronted him, he’d denied what I knew to be the truth, and the stubborn male had stopped sleeping, opting for catnaps during the day.
    I’d considered slipping soothing herbs in his