Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin Read Online Free PDF

dropped down to lay on her back, arms spread, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling. Her mind was blank. Deliberately so. She didn’t want to think. Not yet. Too much had happened at once. And none of it good. Life wasn’t normally like that. She knew she often coasted through life, skimming the surface. But that was her choice. She didn’t want life to be too deep. That usually meant pain. She’d seen what emotional pain did to people. She wasn’t an idiot. There was no need to experience something to learn about it. You only had to watch what happened to those around you. Her grandmother was a perfect example of what happened when you lost someone you loved. No way was she going to turn out like her. As friendly as a red-bellied black snake and probably as poisonous.
    Time ticked away without her. She ignored the knock on her door. Her mother tried to insist it was time for dinner, but Amber acted deaf. Even the knock much later, and her mother insisting it was time for bed, was ignored. She continued to stare at the ceiling, only the bedside lamp and laptop screen lighting the room. Pushing thoughts away about her present, she focused on the past. Parties. Sleepovers with Crystal. Whispering and laughing in the dark with Crystal. Always Crystal. She couldn’t picture a single moment of her life that hadn’t involved Crystal since the first day of school. They’d been closer than Siamese twins. That was why she couldn’t understand. How could Crystal have done that to her when they’d been so close?
    A knock at the French doors caught her attention. Amber forced herself to her feet. Checking her alarm clock that showed her it was after eleven. The moment the door was opened, Kade stepped into the room. He wore leather pants, boots of a similar material and his chest was bare.
    After a lingering look at his chest, Amber’s eyes went to his shoulder. Reaching out, her fingers lightly traced the faint scars left on his skin. She tried to comprehend the impossible. Even the stitches were gone. She met Kade’s eyes when his hand captured hers, holding it centimetres from the warmth of his skin.
    “Kade-”
    “You said you wanted answers before midnight. Better ask your questions then.”
    She hesitated. She had so many more questions to ask than the two she was allowed. One sprang to mind she hadn’t even considered earlier. “What did you do last night after you left me?”
    “I went hunting.” He released her hand.
    “That’s not a proper answer. You need to at least add who with and what you were hunting.”
    “I was with Maira and Brann and I hunted deer.”
    Goosebumps rose on Amber’s arms as she stared at Kade. She closed her eyes and her dream rushed in on her. Sight, sound, smell, taste. Opening her eyes, she met Kade’s gaze, holding it a moment before she spoke. “Are you a dragon?”
    Kade swore, turning away from her. “Ask a different one. That isn’t a proper question.”
    “That’s the one I want answered. You said you’d answer two questions. That’s my second one.”
    “What made you ask that?”
    “A dream and your first answer.”
    Kade looked shocked. “You were with me last night? I didn’t feel you.”
    “Only in my dreams. Okay. I’ll ask a different question since you’ve pretty much answered that one with all your drama.”
    “Amber, you can’t even think that.”
    “What? That you’re a dragon?”
    “Forget everything you’ve seen, heard or think you know. It’d be safer for you.”
    “I want to know everything that’s going on.”
    “That isn’t a question. Hurry up and ask your second question. I have to go.”
    “What’s a Pliethin?”
    Kade closed his eyes momentarily. When he opened them, his eyes were almost gold. “Energy. A creature of energy.”
    “Did you get it? Or did Flinn?”
    “You’re out of questions.” Kade turned back to the French doors and started to step through them.
    Amber recalled the way it had felt to have someone speak