Fire Control (Birch Hearts) by Elva Birch & Kalikoi

Author:Elva Birch & Kalikoi [Birch, Elva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-09T21:00:00+00:00

9

It was just like her, Dalinya thought, to find a mate who didn’t want a relationship.

Her dragon was broken, why shouldn’t her heart be, too?

Her dragon gave a huff of protest. Curiously, she wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by Leona’s rejection.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t how mates are supposed to work, Dalinya thought wryly.

Leona bounced ahead of her in the buffet line, filling her plate with everything it would hold.

It was a more interesting spread than usual; most mornings there were some day-old donuts and bagels by a serve-yourself-toaster, plus some dry cereal choices. But with more guests, the food was fresher; they had clearly brought up more supplies from Fairbanks to replenish their stores. There were platters of not-half-bad bacon, and scrambled eggs in warming trays.

Dalinya took a modest serving of everything and joined Leona at a table by the window. It wasn’t much of a view today, with the low orange smog obscuring the mountains and making the trees fade quickly into oblivion.

They were late, and the servers started packing up the spread as they sat down. The dining room was half empty. A quick glance showed that no one was in earshot.

“I mentioned that I grew up near here,” she started cautiously, when their initial earnest need to eat had eased a little.

Leona looked wary. “Yeah?”

Dalinya considered. Did she open with secret royalty? Or start with dragon shifters? She wasn’t a coward, to try to hide the truth, but she had to admit that she was nervous.

“My family has a castle in the mountains.”

“A castle?” Leona said, pausing in the act of buttering her bagel. “Like with turrets and banners and flying buttresses?”

“No flying buttresses,” Dalinya said. “But lots of turrets and banners. Dragons tend to like drama.”

She caught Leona just as she was taking a bite of her bagel, and her surprise made her startle and bite her finger. She swore colorfully and sucked on it, then stared at Dalinya. “I’m sorry, did you say dragons?”

Dalinya braced herself. Was the reaction going to be straight disbelief? Was Leona going to assume that she was stark raving mad? Abandon her breakfast and flee? Cling to the idea that it was a joke? “Yes,” she said as calmly as she could.

Leona managed to stuff a quarter of a bagel into her mouth. “Are you a dragon?” she asked around it.

It was not the follow up question that Dalinya had been expecting. “Yes,” she said in surprise.

Leona chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “Well, that would certainly explain a lot.”

“You aren’t as surprised as I’d expected you to be,” Dalinya confessed, taking a sip of her coffee.

“I’ve seen some weird shit,” Leona said flatly. “When you’re out on the crew for a couple of weeks and you catch one of the guys randomly turning into a bear and back, it’s easy to think you’re just really tired. But later that summer, you see a dragon up in the smoke, and you think...maybe the world is bigger and more filled with magic than you knew.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.