Dragon and Phoenix Read Online Free PDF Page B

…”
    Taren stopped, biting his lip, as if what he would say next was too painful. Silence filled the room. At last he drew a shuddering breath and went on in a whisper, “I said nothing of this to the young man who brought me here, for I feared it would upset him too much. His friend, you see, is a Dragonlord.
    “But Taorun also told me that in the oldest records, there were reports that the creature had been seen to change from man to dragon!”
    Silence turned to uproar.
     
    One arm still about Boreal’s neck, Maurynna looked around, laughing in truth now. While “little one” was the traditional endearment for the youngest Dragonlord—which she was—its use by this particular weredragon was always a delightful absurdity.
    Lleld Kemberaene perched on the fence like some red-capped bird, eyeing her with exaggerated innocence. “Ah. That’s much better. Yes, it would look silly, wouldn’t it? All of you trying to fit into my lap.”
    The tiny Dragonlord stood up on the top rail and walked along it as easily as if she walked the road leading to the Keep. She sprang into the air, somersaulted, then landed in the paddock and stretched to her full height, roughly that of a ten-year-old child—a somewhat undersized ten-year-old.
    Maurynna applauded; Boreal stamped a foot and snorted in appreciation.
    “Thank you, Your Grace, and noble Llysanyin steed,” Lleld said, bowing with a flourish.
    Maurynna knew that before Lleld had Changed for the first time, the other Dragonlord had been a tumbler and a juggler in a band of traveling entertainers. “You’ve lost none of your old skills, have you?” she asked with a touch of envy, remembering her own awkward landing. Would she herself be so lucky, or would she forget how to read wind and wave if immured in Dragonskeep
for too long? A sudden need to hear the crying of gulls shook Maurynna to her soul. Her breath caught in her chest once more.
    “No, I haven’t forgotten,” Lleld said. “Too useful when traveling as a truehuman.” She tossed back her mane of fiery red hair. “Is Linden being an ass again?” the tiny Dragonlord demanded, hands on hips.
    Maurynna swallowed against the lump in her throat and half smiled. “That’s not entirely his fault, Lleld, and you know it. Though I do wish he would argue with the Lady on my behalf; she won’t listen to me.
    “No,” Maurynna continued. She paused to start a braid in Boreal’s long black mane. “This is something different. A friend of mine from before I Changed—my oldest friend, we grew up together—is here. I—I had never realized that he expected we would one day marry. I suppose I should have; I just never thought of him as anything beyond a friend.”
    “You wouldn’t have,” said Lleld. “Our dragon halves know we’re waiting for someone else and hold us back. We have to be pushed into a marriage.”
    The braid tangled somehow. Maurynna picked at it. “As Linden was, centuries ago.”
    “Just so.” Lleld cocked her head. “But I’d guess that you weren’t grieving for your friend’s hurt feelings, not the way you looked when you came over that fence. So what is it?”
    Tangle turned to knot under fingers suddenly grown clumsy. Maurynna said bitterly, “My best friend Raven was another one who thought to keep me from the sea.” The betrayal hurt. It would, she knew, for a long time. She explained Raven’s erstwhile plans for them.
    Lleld listened, shaking her head in disbelief. “Rynna, we’ve got to find you a way to sail again. For the sake of the gods, you were captain of your own ship! I freely admit I don’t understand why you wish to leave the mountains—I’ve never heard of a Dragonlord or a truedragon who didn’t love them—but, blast it all, it’s not fair to you.”
    Despite the comfort of hearing her own feelings echoed, sudden misgivings danced down Maurynna’s spine as a wicked smile crept across the little Dragonlord’s face. She’d known Lleld for only a