Dragon Maid by Ann Gimpel

Author:Ann Gimpel [Gimpel, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00HNAVGVC
Barnesnoble: B00HNAVGVC
Goodreads: 19490636
Publisher: Taliesin Publishing
Published: 2014-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

A Few Hours Earlier

Kheladin drew Tarika close and summoned magic to transport them to Fort William. “What think ye of the new bond?” The walls of his cave disappeared beneath them.

“It feels…strange. I have been linked, talon and claw, to Britta for so long, it feels as if a part of me is missing.” She blew a plume of smoke. “What is even stranger, though, is her fascination with Jonathan. Not that I’m not pleased by the turn of events, mind ye, but I thought sure she’d be a maid forever.”

“’Tis far more than infatuation,” Kheladin informed her. “It has the feel of Lachlan and Maggie’s bond.”

“Aye, ye’re right about that, which is why I bit him to formalize their mating.”

Kheladin chuckled. “Aye, and ye dinna wish to risk Britta changing her mind.”

“Mayhap that too. ’Tis a good thing he makes her happy. When I met Britta, she was an overly serious maid, and she grew into a woman with grim edges.”

“All dragon shifters are dour at times,” Kheladin concurred. “’Tis because they forego much to be bonded to us.”

Scales rattled as Tarika shook herself. “I miss flying places. Having to be shrouded in magic is trying. ’Tisn’t far from Inverness to where we are going. We could have taken to the skies and—”

“I havena been here long,” Kheladin cut in, “but there are no dragons, except for us, that is.”

“So?”

“Maggie says modern people have weapons that could shoot us out of the skies.”

“We’re immortal, or have ye forgotten?”

“Nay. I havena forgotten, but it could take long years to repair our bodies if they are too badly broken.”

“And we must save our strength for the battle that matters. Doona mind me. I stayed too long at Fire Mountain. ’Twill take a wee bit of time afore I’m familiar with the realities of living in this world.”

“Let us hope the world remains intact long enough for ye to get your wish.”

“Do ye believe straits are so dire?” Tarika asked.

“Aye, but doona take my word for it. Ye can speak with Maggie’s grandmother and Mauvreen, two powerful witches.”

“Aye, I met the one. A wee bit on the overbearing side.”

Kheladin laughed. “Wait till ye meet Mary Elma. She makes Mauvreen look like a piker. It willna be long, we are nearly there.”

He brought them down in the warded yard outside Mauvreen’s house. The witches must have been expecting them because they sat on the bottom porch step, mugs of something that smelled alcoholic in hand.

Mary Elma sprang to her feet and trotted toward them. “Where is that granddaughter of mine? And her consort.”

Kheladin blew a plume of smoke skyward. “I’m thinking Lachlan might see Maggie as his consort, but it doesna make all that much difference. They are at her home in Inverness—”

“—fucking each other’s brains out.” Mary Elma rolled her dark eyes and raked her hands through long, black hair flecked with gray. Her black skirt brushed the ground, and a long black tunic encased her wraith-thin upper body.

“Don’t be hard on them.

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