Read Online Guns of the Temple (The Polaris Chronicles Book 1) by Bryan Choi, E H Carson - Free Book Online

manlier than you by far.”
    “I can’t argue with that,” Draco sighed. “Well, what’s it like?”
    “What’s what like?”
    He quickly looked around to make sure they weren’t being eavesdropped upon. “You know, sleeping with her.”
    “Lady fluids everywhere.”
    “Really?” Draco steepled his fingertips.
    Hadassah rolled her eyes. “Of course not, you nitwit. It’s actually annoying most times. I’m always too warm and she’s always too cold. If I toss and turn, she swats me. And sometimes she’ll just start weeping for no reason.”
    Draco pouted. “When you fart, I also feel like crying.”
    “Oh, go sniff your own bung.”
    “If I could sniff my own bung, do you know what else I could do? I’d never want for company again…”
    “And the world would be better for it,” Hadassah said, smacking him on the chest. She yawned, flailed as if to fend off sleep, and poked Draco in the arm. “Actually, speaking of wanting for company, do you think Natalis has been with many girls before?”
    “Oh, so you fancy the new boy?” Draco chuckled at the thought. “He’s only a bit younger than you are, anyway…”
    “N-no! I just, you know… All men are dangerous perverts, and virgins are even worse, so I just kind of wanted to know if he’d try to molest me in my sleep or something.”
    “If that happens, kick him in the dick.”
    “Were you serious about getting him to teach us about how to write and do numbers?” she asked, changing the subject. Another deep yawn escaped from within and she fanned at her face.
    “I was. And I intend to make him follow through. If we can learn that, it means that our lives after our fighting years won’t be so hard. You remember how hard the scrubbers worked, all scrabbling around the academy? How Maryam’s hands are always aching and bound up and shaking? They were once fighters like us, and they were among the best. Basically heroes. Now their bodies are spent, but they still have to live, you know? Sometimes I see them picking through the midden for scraps. I don’t want to end up like that. I don’t want you to share that fate, either.”
    “That’s assuming we don’t die first.”
    “Compared to slowly grinding apart, dying would be a relief. The thing is, they don’t tell you this stuff at the academy. We live to fight, yes, but what happens after that? It’s not like we can go and start our own little farms, and it’s too expensive to lease a storefront. We’re stuck wasting away on our sacred rock.”
    “Maybe I’ll just trick Natalis into marrying me. He’ll probably end up working at the shrine or something. The neokoroi don’t seem to have it that badly, with their fancy linens and pompous attitudes.”
    “Don’t throw all your chances into some guy. What if he dies, or turns out to be a philanderer?”
    “Then I guess I’m just screwed! ” She spat. “Why are you lecturing me about this, anyway? Hell, why are you always lecturing? ”
    “Because you’re the most disagreeable little twit I’ve ever known. So I want to set you straight.”
    “You can’t tell me what to do, damned oppressor.”
    “Says you.” Draco rolled his eyes and continued his attempts to scan the river. “God’s droppings, it’s got to be four bells by now. Even the Imperium needs to sleep. Let’s give up on this and just pack it in up here…”
    He almost missed a subtle flicker in his vision. Not really wanting to, he focused his lenses on a break in the fog and clenched his jaw.
    “Wait, you don’t think Natalis is queer, right? Then I’m really out of options...” Hadassah said, sleepily.
    “Damn!” Draco said. “Put glass on the riverbank, now! ”
    “Okay, okay! Keep your leggings on.” Hadassah balanced her rifle in the crook of her elbow and peered through the attached, fabric-wrapped scope. The Mosin-Nagant fired one of the most powerful types of ammunition they had, with a heavy bullet that could punch through brick on a direct