Bloodrage by Helen Harper Read Free Book Online

protested and intensified at the idea of having to continue to think and focus, but I nodded dumbly and reached behind my neck to massage it.  The little creature remained expressionless, and instead placed a sheet of paper in front of me that he’d magicked from seemingly nowhere.  He also picked up the pile of books, raising a single bushy eyebrow at me as he did so.  I was vaguely impressed that he managed to balance the pile of books in one hand, and vaguely insulted that he thought that I’d cheat and had to whisk them away from me.  I had to try hard not to bite out an annoyed comment and instead tucked the chair back in, curling my ankles around the legs.  I rubbed my forehead and began.
    All the books had been incredibly dry documents detailing long histories and laws relating the ridiculously complicated mage society.  I now knew more about the state of legal affairs within the wizard system than I’d ever wanted to.  Fortunately for myself, I’d had the shifter Way Directives hammered into me from the moment I’d arrived in Cornwall from a young age so I was pretty confident that I could absorb ridiculous rules and regulations without too much bother.  The best thing was that there were remarkable similarities between the mages’ system and the shifters’ one.  Other than some different terminology relating to specific magic details, the rules could virtually have been written by the same person.  Once I started answering the questions, I realised that I was able to block out the pain in my head and fly through the answers.
    When I’d finally finished, I put down my pencil and stood up.   Looking around, I could see no sign of the little gargoyle.  I was tempted for a moment just to leave my answer sheet where it was and let him pick it up when he deigned to reappear from behind whichever pile of books he happened to be hovering next to at this point in time, but I was cognizant enough to recognise that it was possible that if some other mage like Thomas, who was keen for me to fail, came across it, then it would mysteriously disappear into the ether.  There was no other choice but to find Slim and put it into his purple paws in person.
    The light in library had a different hue now to when I’d arrived, casting softer dapples across the floor and shelves.  The growl in my stomach attested equally to the fact that I’d been here for some time, and I started to wonder what time it was and whether I was too late for lunch.  There were a few mage-ly looking figures hovering in between some of the stacks, but I didn’t bother asking them for help in locating Slim.  I had a pretty good idea by now how helpful I could expect them to be.  I nstead, I continued to wander up the vast corridor, peeking left and right as I went and breathing in the familiar and comforting smell of old books.  My headache had returned with a vengeance now and seemed to be getting worse, throbbing more and more the further into the annals of the library that I went.
    I was starting to feel the familiar heat of irritation uncoil itself in my veins when a title crammed tightly onto one of the shelves to the left of me caught my eye.  My eyebrows raised in surprise , and I reached over to pull it out.  I’d been right.  This edition was older than the one I’d used in John’s office all those months ago but it was definitely the same Fae-Human dictionary that I’d used to break the password and hack into his computer.   Almost unconsciously, my fingers turned through the pages until I found the entry for Herensuge – the Basque definition for dragon.  My chest tightened when I found it, and again I couldn’t help wondering just how much John had really known about my heritage and why he’d never told me.  I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.  I’d never know the truth so it was pointless wondering.  Snapping the dictionary closed, I leaned back to the shelf to attempt to slide it back.  It was a