Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) by Barbara Kloss Read Free Book Online

need to rest a moment," I said.
    I hated that I had to say it, but the throbbing in my shoulder had grown unbearable and I felt dizzy again. Alex was at my side before I'd even released the reins, with his hands at my waist helping me down. My boots crunched in the snow when I landed, and I winced.
    Alex studied me, his expression somewhat austere. Particularly when Vera announced, "At this rate, we won't get there till next year." Alex glared at Vera with a mien that made even her shrink back a little.
    Grumbling, she jumped from Nimarra and dusted the snow from her leather pants. "Well, then, I'll be right back."
    Alex frowned. "Where are you going?"
    Vera folded her arms in a challenging gesture. "To relieve myself." She headed into the winter wonderland of a forest. It had snowed the previous night, though we had been safely tucked away in our stone shroud. The snow wasn't so deep as to make passage impossible, but it had slowed us down a bit.
    Alex placed a hand on my shoulder; energy pulsed from him and into the wound, dulling the fire that kindled there. It had been like this ever since we'd left. My body had initially felt better—a little numb, but better. But not long after we'd left the comfort of our rocky shroud, winter had stolen my warmth and made my joints stiff and achy.
    "Why don't I join Vera?" I said. "It might help to move my joints a little."
    Alex examined my face then nodded.
    I followed Vera's footprints in the snow and paused to look around. The forest was beautiful in winter. Even the boughs of these magnificent pines must bend beneath their snowy burden. The white blanket of snow stretched in all directions, untouched and interrupted only by large tree trunks, like a scene from a fairytale. There was an inherent peacefulness to it all, a certain tranquility in the quiet. I inhaled a full breath of winter and cold and pine, clutching my cloak tightly. A soft breeze stirred, dusting a few snowflakes from the branches so that they fell to the ground in a rain of glitter.
    The sun hadn't shown itself today, but I didn't mind. I found the dulled light somehow less invasive. A bright sun would have been at odds with my health, and its reflection upon so much snow probably would have given me a migraine.
    I paused before a beautiful winterberry tree. Or at least, it looked like a winterberry. In Gaia, one could never be quite sure. The tree had long since shed its leaves for winter, and it stood there like a branching icicle with grapelike clusters of vivid red berries clinging to its web of frozen branches. Even in this frozen world, winter could not steal its brilliance; in fact, it was the winter that enabled such splendor. The tree was a defiant splash of color in this world of shades.
    "I didn't realize we were taking a break for arboriculture." Vera appeared from behind a large tree trunk, arms akimbo.
    I smiled at her. "We aren't. I just think winterberry trees are beautiful in winter."
    She arched a brow. "Winterberry?"
    "That's what they're called on Earth," I said. "What are they called here?"
    She looked at me like I was an idiot, which was fairly typical for us. "On Gaia , it is called Dragon's Blood. They grow mostly in the north, but there are a few of them here in the alpine regions of Valdon. Their berries are used to make fire and ice… highness ."
    Vera was master of turning titles into insults. "Thank you, Aegis Vera. Always so willing to help correct my ignorance. Maybe some day I, too, will know everything, and will have earned the right to despise the rest of humanity because they don't."
    She frowned and her cheeks colored a little.
    "Anyway," I continued, "I followed you because I thought I should probably go, too."
    She looked relieved. As though she'd been worried I'd come out here to chat and was grateful I'd had another purpose. One that didn't require conversation. "I'll wait for you." She turned around right where she stood.
    Okay.
    I moved a little behind a pine, and when I