Read Online Ecko Burning by Danie Ware - Free Book Online Page A

The moonlight left deep gouges in her face - lines under her eyes, down the sides of her nose and mouth. There were shadows beneath the gems in her cheeks where the flesh was softer, beginning to drop.
    The image was as sudden as a flash-projector, footage burning white-hot into his retinae...
    Tarvi.
    Hot lush flesh, gasping, hand reaching behind her to pull him closer, hair in his face, turning to look back at him, her profile in the moonlight soft through the -
    Stop it!
    His adrenaline had redoubled, screamed silent in his throat, choking him. For a moment, his insight, his defiance, his realisation - all of it - were swamped by a rush of very real physical need.
    “Say that again.” Triq was glowering at him, belligerent with booze. “I’ll strip the skin off your body one limb at a time.”
    Inexplicably trembling, Ecko curled his lip.
    “Been there, done that.” The words came out like a challenge, daring her to touch him.
    “Yeah?” She swayed slightly. “Then you’ll know just how much fun it is when I start sharpening the blades.”
    “I don’t have time for this.” He shook himself, bared his teeth. “I delivered the message, already, dropped it at the gate. Tell Lord Whatsit you never found me, an’ crawl back into your bottle. Carafe. Whatever the fuck.” Then he forced himself to turn away. The memory of Tarvi kissing her, feeding from her, draining the very time from her skin, was pounding too hard in his blood. “I’m done here.”
    Startling him, she said, “You fucked her, didn’t you?” It caught him, hooked into him like a grapple and held him fast. There was a twinge of bitterness to her tone, a need to understand something.
    “‘Fucked’?” The word sounded odd in her mouth.
    “You use the word often enough. I know you fucked her.”
    “I think she fucked me.”
    “I think she fucked everybody.”
    “I think you’re right.” He snorted mirthlessly, understood what she was asking. “An’ no, I dunno why she took your time and not mine.” Glancing back past the edge of the cowl he could see that she was watching him, waiting.
    Blood and adrenaline raced under his skin. He didn’t move.
    Then she dropped her gaze, looked at the cobbles, the pooled moonlight. His chest was tightening, just like she’d wrapped her thighs around him and squeezed.
    “I’m done here,” he said again. It was softer than he’d intended, he’d no idea if he was telling her, or himself. He searched for his defiance, made an effort to snipe. “No more games.”
    “I need you to see something.” Undaunted, Triq stepped after him.
    “Chrissakes!” Now, he paused to round on her, a harsh black grin slashed under the cowl, a focused effort of rejection. A loose piece of cloth blew into his arm and stuck there, flapping. “What the fuck -?”
    “Something Jayr’s taken to Nivvy, something... something we don’t understand. I need your eyes, your fingers...” She waved a hand as though she’d run out of words. “Guess I thought you might be able to see -”
    “See what ?” He peeled the fabric from his skin, held it up and let it go, whirling over and over down the street.
    “Ecko, please.” Triq half-stepped forwards, blinked as though struggling to focus. “This is important. Critical.” She grinned, briefly mischievous. “Come on, or I’ll drag you by force.”
    “Like you could.” He met her gaze. Gold in blazing moonlight, it shone like she was Queen fucking Midas, like everything she touched...
    Fuck!
    She was closer than he’d realised. Under the reek of cheap alcohol, she smelled like soft leather, like horsehide and sunshine and spring. She snorted, warm air on his skin, said again, “Please?”
    He found himself backing away from her, like she was some sorta siren, luring him to a rocky doom. “I told you,” he said it again, hammered it home, “I’m fucking done here. I played your errand boy, okay -”
    “Ecko, we all went through the rhez together,” she