Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) Read Online Free

going,” Ashby
interjected loudly. Aria blinked, startled out of the reverie that
had enveloped her. Braith’s hands tensed on her shoulders, she
could feel his frustration, his aggravation as he turned slowly
toward Ashby. Ashby gulped but forced a smile. It was nowhere near
as cocky as normal though. “Don’t you think?”
    Braith squeezed her shoulders before
slipping her hood back into place. Disappointment filled her. She
never thought she’d miss her captivity in the palace, but she found
herself missing the time when they had spent hours together,
uninterrupted as they shut out the rest of the world. No matter
what happened, she was certain this wasn’t going to end well for
them. She needed as much time as she could get with him before that
time came, but it wasn’t going to happen now.
    “Stay covered,” he whispered. She
nodded as she slid her hand into his. 

CHAPTER 2

    “What is a chev…ro…let?”
    “Excuse me?” Braith inquired in
response to Aria’s halting question.
    Braith turned away from Ashby, his
attention brought back to the twins as they studied something that
he couldn’t see. It was a little disconcerting how similar the
scowls on their faces were. Aria turned to him, her gaze
inquisitive while William simply continued to look aggravated. She
had slipped the hood from her head again, as had William. Their
dark auburn hair, dampened by sweat, gleamed in the bright light of
the wastelands. It was an annoyingly bright homing beacon in this
washed out land of little color. Frustration filled him as he
stalked back to them; it was bad enough she didn’t listen to him,
but neither did her damn brother.
    “That.” Aria thrust her hand out to
point at something hidden by a dilapidated building. What was left
of the roof was sagging; the walls were leaning toward whatever
Aria was pointing at. He stepped around the corner of the building,
focusing upon the rusted out hunk of metal housed in what he now
recognized as a garage. Years of bad weather and bright sun had
stripped the vehicle of any semblance of its former glory except
for the back end. The roof of the garage had held up over the ass
end, and though it was rusted and falling apart, it was not in as
bad of condition as the rest of the car. “What is that?”
    “A Chevrolet,” Braith informed
her.
    She blinked in surprise; her blue eyes
were bright even though she squinted from the bright sun.
“What?”
    “It was an automobile.”
    “A what?” the twins asked
simultaneously.
    Ashby stopped whistling as he walked
over to join them, he was grinning as he leaned back on his heels
and folded his arms over his chest. Braith would like to punch him,
not just for that smug look, but also for all the interference he’d
been running between him and Aria for the past two weeks. He tried
to tell himself that Ashby was simply missing Melinda and that was
why he kept interfering, but Braith was growing tired of it
all.
    “An automobile,” Braith explained. “At
one time humans used them to get around.”
    Aria frowned at him; she looked
completely confused as she glanced back at the hulking bucket of
rust. “Why didn’t they just walk?”
    In her world he could understand that
question, but a hundred years ago… Well, it had simply been
different. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “They were fun though. I
had one of these, and a Mustang.”
    “So, I had a mustang once too,” William
informed him.
    Ashby guffawed loudly and even Braith
nearly burst out laughing. He managed to keep it contained as both
Aria and William shot Ashby disgruntled looks. “A Mustang was a
different kind of automobile.”
    Aria’s attention returned to the car,
her head tilted to the side as she studied it inquisitively. “It
doesn’t look like it would get far, walking would be a lot
quicker.”
    Ashby spun away and walked briskly to
the corner of the building. Aria and William couldn’t see him
anymore but Braith clearly could. Ashby’s