Evermine: Daughters of Askara, Book 2 Read Free Page B

counter’s edge and grabbed my chin. I was lucky she didn’t poke me in the eye. “You look like crap.”
    Askaran royals suffered varying degrees of night blindness. With the main lights out, I knew she couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of her. With an arm’s length between us, I was all but invisible. I’d bet my dinner her sisterly concern was as blind as she was.
    “Have you eaten at all today?” Her eyes, slightly out of focus, narrowed on my face.
    “Um, a handful of jelly beans were involved.” I’d snitched those from Doc’s candy dish.
    “You’ve got to take better care of yourself.” She snagged my upper arm and hauled me to a booth, which shouldn’t have been possible since halflings were stronger than most full demons.
    “The day got away from me.” I grunted when she shoved me onto the bench seat. When she turned and made her way back to the counter, I rubbed Lysol-smelling hands over my face.
    “You need to get something warm down you.”
    My stomach agreed with her. More than that, my addiction agreed. Gaze sliding past her, I stared at the counter and the neat row of coffeepots behind her. Empty. All of them were drained dry. I knew, because I’d polished off every drop, even the sludge in the bottom. Burnt? Bitter? Grounds? Grainy? It didn’t matter. My hands shook so hard, I placed them palms-down on the table, hoping Maddie wouldn’t notice I’d had a hit of caffeine, or that I was already jonesing for another, and another, until those flashes of Harper bloodied and broken dulled to a bearable throb, one I could handle.
    Caffeine was off-limits to demons, even halflings like me. Our bodies weren’t wired to handle it, and one taste sparked an instant addiction. Coffee did it for me, and I brewed pots day in and day out. Funny how I’d ended up running a diner, funnier that it had ended up running me.
    Maddie was right to worry. I’d been foolish. Halflings could lapse into a coma unless we consumed enough calories daily, and my stomach’s grumble said I was nowhere near hitting that mark. No wonder mopping had wiped the floor with me. I’d been so lost in thoughts of Harper that I hadn’t noticed the hour or my hunger, only the craving that rode me harder by the minute.
    “Eat.” Maddie dropped four Styrofoam boxes on the table in front of me. She didn’t wait for me, but popped open the first and stuck a fork in my hand. Her expression said, Eat it or I’ll make you eat it . But she needn’t have worried. Steam laced with hints of garlic made me salivate.
    “Have I told you lately that I love you?” I grinned around a mouthful of crispy chicken.
    “Yep. Twice. Today.” She propped a knee on the bench beside me and used her hairband to secure my mess of curls away from my face and from the sauce dying my blonde tips brown.
    I shot her a sheepish grin. “You’re my vinda koosh .” My little sister. “I’m allowed.”
    Rolling her eyes, she gave my head a pat. “Yeah. You keep on thinking that.”
    After she cleared away the first box and set me up with the second, she slid onto the bench opposite me. “So, you and Harper talk after I left?” She toyed with crumpled plastic wrap.
    My fork paused halfway to my mouth. “I guess.” We just hadn’t said much.
    Her earlier excitement returned. “So who do you think should get the consul position?”
    Rice landed in her lap when my fork hit the table. “Who should get the what?”
    “When you say you and Harper talked…” she grinned, “…were any words involved?”
    The attempt to hold back my blush resulted in a coughing fit. “Damn peppers.”
    “Uh-huh.” She rested her chin on her palm and her elbow on the tabletop. “Sure.” She dug around in the bag and pulled out a couple of sweaty soda cans, then popped us one tab each.
    “A consul, intended for…Askara?” I asked between sips. “Nesvia’s doing the hiring?”
    Maddie tilted her hand from side to side. “It’s a fifty-fifty