The Dragon’s Appraiser: Part Two Read Online Free PDF

she looked over the empty cove and out into the vast expanse of ocean, she felt smaller and more insignificant than ever before.
    There was nothing that belonged to her. She didn’t even belong to her. She was just another object in an ancient dragon’s sea of possessions. While she didn’t doubt that she fascinated him, she knew deep down that it was only a matter of time before that fascination subsided.
    The year before her father died, Madja had fallen head over heels for the handsome son of a Mandurian trader. She had spied him standing at the bow of his father’s ship, bare-chested and gloriously tanned. He’d had long, lustrous black hair and the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. After he disappeared below the deck, she had run home at full speed to tell her father that she’d seen the boy she wanted to marry. It was love at first sight.
    Rather than laugh at how irrational his daughter was being, he had asked why it was she thought she was in love. She had told him how her palms had sweat and how her heart had pounded. She had told him how she had wanted to stand by his side more than she had ever wanted anything in her entire life. Much to her despair, her father had told her that what she was feeling wasn’t unique and it most certainly wasn’t love.
    “Love is not a pounding heart or a burning desire,” he had told her. “Those are purely the forces that pull two people together and while they are powerful forces, they can often fade as abruptly as they appeared. Love is what is left once they’re gone. It’s the quiet comfort in knowing that there is someone in the world who values you above all other things.”
    How long would it be, how many new and fascinating treasures would it take before Sevrrn lost interest in her? Would she be no different than one of the coins that made up his floor?
    Her morbid thoughts remained wrapped around her like a black cloak as she stepped onto the pier. It was busier there. Barrel-chested laborers hauled crates up and down the wooden street, making half-hearted attempts to ignore the giggles and croons of low-level prostitutes.
    There was a time when Madja would have been anxious about walking the docks alone at night. After three months of living with a dragon, her threshold for fear had drastically increased. Even so, she couldn’t help but be startled as something slammed into her from behind.
    Madja staggered forward, hearing a loud thunk from behind her as she regained her balance. Turning around, she saw that it was a little girl. She had fallen, legs splayed awkwardly as she stared down at the blood pooling on a scraped knee. She looked up at Madja, her brown eyes wide.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “No worries,” Madja said, crouching down to the girl’s level. Bunching up the sleeve of her robe, she pressed it to the tiny knee. “Are you okay?”
    They were distracted as another girl, this one slightly older, came dashing up. She skidded to a halt in front of them and narrowly avoided crashing into Madja herself.
    “What happened?” the older one asked after catching her breath.
    “I fell down,” the smaller one mumbled.
    Madja realized that she recognized the girls. They were the two bored-looking children that had been sitting at the fish cake stall earlier that afternoon.
    Standing up and brushing herself off, Madja asked, “What are you two doing down here at this hour? Where are your parents?”
    They exchanged guilty looks.
    “Our father is working late tonight, because of the festival,” the older one said.
    “We got tired of sitting around,” added her sister.
    “There’s a festival tonight?” Madja asked as she helped the little girl up.
    “For the dragon.”
    Madja stiffened. Had they found out that Sevrrn was in the town?
    The older girl said, “They’re going to light fireworks over the cove. When Sevrrn sees them, he’ll know he has to come and keep us safe.”
    Madja knew what they were referring to and relaxed. Years ago,