Read Online Divided: The Alliance Series Book Four by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online Page A

creatures are a legitimate threat both to the Alliance and to the Balance. And if no one else will do anything, then yes, I’m going to break Alliance code.”
    And I turned heel and left.
    ***
    I’d pay later. I had no doubt. But there was something more important I had to do, and I refused to think about the rest until I had to.
    “Kay.” Markos crossed my path, looking unusually concerned. “Ada’s missing?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “I know. I’m going to talk to her family.”
    The centaur’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure?”
    “Her brother works in tech. He’ll be—” I checked the time. It was early afternoon; I’d been knocked out for hours. But if he’d heard the news, he’d have gone home. They’d be… planning to leave? To mount their own rescue initiative using their old contacts? I didn’t know her family, not really. Except one thing: they’d die to protect her, and they would never forgive the Alliance.
    “You’re going after her.”
    “I have to,” I said, and all but ran into the corridor before he could respond. From the shouting coming from Ms Weston’s office, someone was in trouble. Hopefully not Ada’s family. I backed up, and walked into Amanda.
    “Shit. Sorry.”
    “I heard.” She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. “I was looking for you.”
    Oh, shit. She and Ada had been friends, for the brief time Ada had been at the Alliance.
    “Sorry,” I said, like that made a blind bit of difference.
    “I know it wasn’t your fault,” she said. Her concerned expression ought to have been a relief after the crap I’d faced, but it wasn’t. It was my fault Ada had been in the Passages in the first place.
    “You’re the only person who seems to think so.” I edged past her. “I have to go and talk to her family.”
    “Kay…” Her voice followed me. “Was there really no trace? From the tracker?”
    How much did she know? She was Ms Weston’s sister, so she was more aware than others in the Alliance about certain things. Like…
    Sources.
    “None.” I turned back to face her. “Did your sister tell you what they were made of? The people who took her? They weren’t human. But apparently I’m not in my right mind.”
    “She said you were raving about adamantine.”
    Something inside me clenched at the word. “Yeah. That’s what they were made out of, like solid unbreakable rock. They beat the hell out of me and took her through a doorway.” I ran a hand through my hair. “If you know anywhere I can get more information, it might stop me from getting killed when I go after them.”
    “You’ll die,” said Markos from the office doorway, unhelpfully.
    “Yeah, already did,” I said. “Hell didn’t care for me, so here I am. And there has to be a way. For those creatures to even exist…” The only adamantine on Earth was the outside of this building, and parts of the inside, too. And the other Alliance branches. And…
    I automatically reached into the pocket of my coat, before remembering my dagger had shattered when it made contact with the Stoneskin.
    “What’s stronger than adamantine?” I said, aware both Markos and Amanda were staring at me like I was crazy. Again. “My dagger’s made of the same material as them, it shouldn’t have broken so easily.”
    “If they had a higher concentration of antimagic in their skin than the dagger, then it’s possible,” said Amanda. “Novices have shattered those blades when fighting in the Passages. It’s why we have so many in storage.”
    “Fighting Cethrax,” I said, another possibility striking me. “The vox-kind have magicproof armour, but it isn’t adamantine. What is it?”
    “Kay, if you’re thinking of recruiting a wyvern to go after Ada, you’re digging yourself an early grave,” said Markos.
    “No,” I said. “Adamantine isn’t unbreakable—evidently. And there are ways to enhance it.” Like the coat I wore. It had antimagic woven into the fabric. Not that it made any