Harshini Read Online Free PDF Page A

become fluid, as one byone they flowed together until the towering form of a dragon took shape, with metallic green scales and delicate, silver-tipped wings that glittered under the sullen sky.
    When the dragon was complete, Brak reached up and scratched the bony ridge over its plate-sized eyes. With a final word to R’shiel he climbed onto the back of the magnificent beast. With a couple of powerful beats of its massive wings, the dragon was airborne, banking slowly to the left as it headed south.
    Damin turned then and saw her.
    “Brak asked me to say goodbye,” he told her when he reached the place where she was standing, open-mouthed, as she watched the dragon dwindle into the distance.
    “That was…astonishing…” she managed to say.
    “Well, let’s hope your father is just as impressed,” R’shiel added as she and Mikel came up beside them.
    “A dragon landing in the courtyard of the Summer Palace should get his attention,” Adrina agreed with a faint smile. Then she turned to Mikel. Even the sight of the stunning demon-melded dragon had not made her forget the boy had been lax in his duties. “Where have you been, child? Lord Wolfblade sent you to get my breakfast.”
    “I—” Mikel began, but R’shiel came to his defence.
    “I asked him to help me with something,” she explained. “You might have to find yourself another page for a while, Adrina.”
    R’shiel took Mikel’s hand and walked back towards the camp, leaving Adrina wide-eyed and more than a little put out.
    “Did you have a hand in this?” she demanded of Damin.
    He shrugged and looked almost as puzzled as she was. “It’s the first I’ve heard of it. But it’s not a bad idea. I’m going to have enough trouble explaining away a Fardohnyan bride when we get to Hythria, without having a Karien page to worry about.”
    “I can’t just abandon the child!” she protested.
    “Isn’t that what you were planning to do with him when you first crossed the border?”
    She glared at him, annoyed that he was right, even more annoyed that he had guessed her intentions. “It’s not the same thing.”
    “Of course not,” he agreed drily.
    “Don’t you dare take that tone with me!”
    “Then don’t treat me like a fool,” he retorted. “Are you still hungry? You’ve missed breakfast, but I’m sure we could prevail upon the cooks for an early lunch.”
    “I will not be patronised like a small child!”
    “Stop looking for a fight, Adrina. Did you want to eat or not?”
    Adrina was about to explode with fury when her stomach rumbled complainingly. Damin heard it clearly and laughed at her. “I’ll take that as a yes. Come on, you’ll fight better on a full stomach.”
    “This is intolerable! I am not going to spend the rest of my life having you laugh at me.”
    Damin’s amusement faded and he looked at her closely. “Then drop this spoiled princess act. There doesn’t seem much point any more.”
    “It’s not an act!”
    “The hell it isn’t.”
    “You don’t know the first thing about me.”
    “Don’t I?”
    “No!”
    “Shall I tell you what I do know about you, Adrina?” he asked, suddenly more serious than she had ever seen him. “You were smart enough to keep the Karien Crown Prince out of your bed so you couldn’t conceive an heir. You ordered your troops to surrender rather than see them slaughtered. You rode as hard as I ever pushed my own men without a complaint, because you knew your life depended on it.
    “You are not who you pretend to be, Adrina, and it defies logic that you keep on pretending you are a fool. You’re an intelligent woman, yet you insist on hiding it behind tantrums and childish, idiotic demands. I don’t know why you do it. Perhaps it’s because you grew up in a court where a smart woman was a dangerous one. The truth is, I don’t really care. But if you want to survive as High Princess of Hythria, then you’d better learn to use that brain of yours for something other than