Me and My Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page B

wouldn’t mind spending a couple of years there, myself.”
    â€œA spell,” Gabriel said slowly. “Was she a mage?”
    â€œI doubt it. Her power felt . . . different. Not pure. The half-dragon thing fits, if she’s the woman May saw. She certainly had strength beyond what’s normal for mortals.”
    â€œIf the woman I saw is this Thala, then that means you were doing a job involving Baltic.” I gave Gabriel my blandest look. “Care to explain?”
    He grinned, blast his delicious hide. Although I tried very hard not to let him know just how affected I was by the sight of his dimples, somehow he knew, and I had no doubt he was using them deliberately to weaken me. The dragon shard knew, too, but it cared even less than I did. It demanded I jump his bones right then and there. “You knew I had to find that last shard.”
    â€œYes, but I expected that we’d try to find it together,” I answered, laying emphasis on the last word. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you have been taking lessons from Drake on how to be an annoying wyvern. Spill.”
    Gabriel’s grin took a wry twist as he nodded again at Savian. “Her every wish is my every command. Spill.”
    â€œAll right, but I’d prefer not having anyone angry at me.” Savian paused for a moment; then he, too, grinned at me. “Unless there’s a chance it’ll tick you off enough that you dump the boyfriend and hook up with me?”
    Gabriel’s quicksilver eyes narrowed with deadly intent.
    The dragon shard considered Savian’s question. I told it to knock it off, and simply gave him a look that warned him he should know better.
    â€œCan’t blame a man for trying,” Savian said with a mock sigh as he readjusted his position.
    â€œOh, I believe I can,” Gabriel said softly.
    The threat just made Savian smile for a moment before he rearranged his expression to be one of businesslike focus. “Here follows my report for the past week. Per your instructions, I checked locations in Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Riga. There were no signs of activity by the individual in question in any of the cities but the last one.”
    â€œRiga,” I mused, digging through my brain for any information on the location of the city. “Russia?”
    â€œLatvia,” Savian corrected.
    â€œI think I know where that is,” I said, nodding. “But why are you trying to hide the identity of the person Gabriel sent you to find? I assume that’s what all this is leading to—that you were sent to track down Baltic?”
    Savian looked uncomfortably at Gabriel, who made a little gesture of unhappiness. “We both know how important it is to find the shard. I just took the most expedient method of doing so.”
    I eyed him for a moment, ignoring the shard’s demand that I do inappropriate things to him with scarlet-tipped claws, and a decidedly unforked tongue. “Agreed, but why did you feel it necessary to pursue this without involving me?”
    â€œYou are involved, little bird. You are more involved than just about anyone else I could name,” Gabriel said dryly. “I simply asked the thief taker to locate the missing shard.”
    â€œWhich led him to Baltic.”
    Gabriel pursed his lips, obviously about to add the usual rider he felt was necessary whenever I named the mysterious dragon.
    â€œYou said it was clear who he was, Gabriel. I think the time has come to move past any remaining identity questions. He is Baltic.”
    To my surprise, he nodded. “I agree. I have not yet fathomed how he was resurrected—dragons are not like mortals, easily returned to life, and wyverns more so. As a rule, once we are dead, we stay dead—but it was not that statement I wish to dispute. We have no proof that Baltic still holds a shard. It’s my belief it is no longer in his possession, and was given to