Read Online Thin Air by Rachel Caine - Free Book Online

shoulder, and then moved it to the back of his neck. He crouched down next to him, and his eyes burned like lava in the darkness, nearly bright enough to read by.
    Lewis made a sound. Not a happy one. His face went an even more alarming shade of gray. “Sorry,” David said quietly. “You should have let me do this sooner. There’s damage to your lungs.”
    Lewis just nodded, tight-lipped. He was sweating from the pain, and his hands were trembling where they gripped the foil blanket around him.
    With a glance at me, David brushed his other hand across Lewis’s forehead, and with a sigh, the man’s long body relaxed against the wall.
    Out like a light.
    â€œHe’ll be better when he wakes.” David settled Lewis more comfortably, then turned back to me. “He was afraid to let go. He didn’t want to leave you alone with me.”
    â€œWhat?” I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. “Why?”
    David smiled slowly. “Because like most Wardens right now, Lewis doesn’t fully trust the Djinn. Even though I have more reason than anyone else to want to keep you safe.” David eased down on the rock next to me, not quite close enough to touch. “He thinks my loyalties are divided. He’s right, of course. And the Djinn certainly aren’t making any of this easier.”
    â€œWhat do the Djinn have against me?” Was there anybody who didn’t hate my guts?
    â€œYou, personally? Nothing, really. But many of them hate Wardens, and most of the rest have a kind of benign contempt for humankind in general. Our two species are not friends,” he said. “We’re barely neighbors.”
    â€œWhat about you and me?” My eyebrows rose. “I thought we were neighborly.”
    â€œWe’re different.”
    â€œBut Lewis is still worried about you. Because you’re Djinn.”
    â€œExactly,” David said. His eyes met mine, and in the shadows they were dark, human, and very gentle. “And as I said, he’s right to be worried. I won’t hurt you, Jo. I swear that. But I can’t make that vow for other Djinn, not yet. There’s too much anger. And—long-term, the future for us may not be bright.”
    I sucked down a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about relationships. Look, Lewis said the only way to stop a Demon was to throw a Djinn at it. Which I guess used to be an easier answer—”
    â€œTry convenient,” David said. “At least when the Wardens had plenty of Djinn as slaves. Now, they’ll have to rely on our goodwill if they face a true crisis. Which, as I’ve said, isn’t extensive.” He glanced sideways at me, then became very interested in the deep, still waters of the black pond. “I wish I could tell you that I would sacrifice myself for you, if I had to. I would give anything to tell you that, and a few months ago I would have, without hesitation. But now—now I have to think of my people. I can’t confront a Demon, not directly. Not even to save your life. I also can’t order one of my people to do it. Lewis knows that.”
    I could tell what saying that cost him, and I didn’t quite know how to answer. It took me a few seconds to work it out, and when I spoke, my voice sounded soft and very tentative. “You’re ashamed of that, but you shouldn’t be. It’s okay, I’d never ask you to risk your life—or any Djinn’s life—for me. I don’t want Lewis to do it, either. If it comes down to it”—I swallowed, hard—“I want you to promise me you won’t throw yourself on any Demons for me. Because…I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
    He didn’t speak, and he didn’t move. I couldn’t tell if that had helped or not, so I blundered on. “I should have stayed back there earlier, to help Cherise and Kevin. They needed help, but I