Draykon Read Online Free PDF

broken windows and
disordered shop convinced Eva that he told the truth: someone had
broken in during the darkest hours with the specific purpose of
finding that one item. How had anybody known that it was there? The
notion that someone had been watching her actions was
disturbing.
    'Isn't she a
friend of yours, the maker?'
    'Her mother
is.'
    'Well, maybe you
can get a new one made.'
    'I'm not sure I
want one.'
    Meesa blinked at
her, her mouth dropping open in surprise. 'Don't want an
istore ring? Everyone wants an istore ring, including you. I
hardly saw it off your finger until yesterday.'
    'Yes, but now
it's an official trend I can't possibly have anything more to do
with it.'
    Meesa rolled her
eyes. 'True; nobody ever caught you following a
trend.'
    'Setting them,
maybe.'
    'Well, set a
trend for something new then. I'm getting an istore piece of my
own, and I don't want everyone to think I was just copying
you.'
    'What? I didn't
know you were even interested.'
    'Of course I am.
It's far too beautiful to be ignored. Numinar ordered it for me.
It's an anniversary gift.'
    Eva found herself
with nothing to say. She felt a vague sense of foreboding that
puzzled her. A few days ago she might have sincerely congratulated
her friend on the acquisition of a prized piece, but now she was
changing her mind. Barely a week had passed since the Sanfaers had
turned up at the Darklands Market with their unusual bejewelled
wares, but enthusiasm for the strange gem had circulated with
astonishing speed. Everybody wanted an istore piece. A popular
fashion paper had rushed through a special article about the
jewellery and its enigmatic maker, doubling its readership
virtually overnight. Eva had been interviewed three times in as
many days for the society pages, finding herself the subject of
some unusual interest for being among the first to acquire an
istore item. With each new article she received a fresh storm of
requests to borrow or offers of purchase. Demand had risen so high
that the prices had swiftly doubled, then quadrupled as the Sanfaer
girl fought to keep up.
    And now it seemed
some had taken to theft in their pursuit of this new status symbol.
In light of all of this, Eva could not feel entirely pleased about
her friend's anniversary gift.
    'Just be careful
with it, Meesa.'
    'No worries
there. I shan't take it off my finger.'
     
    ***
     
    In the coach,
Meesa sank back against the comfortably cushioned seats, smiling.
She loved Eva's coach almost more than Eva did herself.
    'You know, I can
hardly believe what's become of you.'
    Eva glanced
round, surprised. 'What? You speak as though I've become some kind
of delinquent.'
    Meesa grinned.
'Stopped being, more like. At school you were the rebel, always
breaking the rules and pushing your luck. Now look at you. A model
peer, a member of the government, and now you decide to get
married. And just like that, you'll turn your favourite lover into
your husband and become the perfect married woman. No doubt with a
perfect brood of children on the way in due course.' Meesa wrinkled
her nose. 'I can't decide if you're still the same Eva under all
that perfect conformity.'
    Eva rolled her
eyes. 'Wisdom comes with age, or something. I was stupid when I was
at school. It took me some time to understand why the rules are
there, that's all.'
    'And somehow, two
decades later, this translates into a sudden urge to get married
and reproduce.'
    'Oh, stop
probing.'
    'Sorry, can't
help it. I'm curious. I still can't believe you're actually going
ahead with it.'
    Eva sighed. 'I
was fifteen when I inherited my father's title. He spent his whole
life working towards it, and then he died within a year of being
appointed to the peerage. And me? I was just throwing it all
away.'
    'I thought you
didn't even like your father.'
    'I didn't, but
that's not the point.'
    It
isn't?'
    'A peerage is
more important than my personal feelings for my father. Anyway, I
feel like maybe my mother would've been