Burning Stone by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online Page B

never have thought it was tech.
    “Basically, this is a perception filter designed to fool your eyes only. The Kremlod could see me as I am, and they have deep respect for the great dragons.”
    “What are the criteria for a match with a sleeping Drai?”
    “Your genetics are compatible with mine in a manner that will allow our sons to carry the ability to shift.”
    “What about the girls? I mean, if we have any, I mean if we…”
    He chuckled. “The girls will be powerful but unable to shift. This is to protect any children they might one day carry.”
    “Which is why all dragons on record were male.”
    His grin was answer enough. He munched a cracker and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know we had these.”
    “They are hidden in the call sign. Instead of cookies, they are sweet crackers. I knew that one. My mom used to do the same in the house, keeping a tin of crackers around that turned out to be cookies when she opened it.” She smiled at the memory.
    “Would you like to visit your family?”
    She nodded. “Iskan said something about a gateway between worlds that Resicor was crafting.”
    Bohr was making his way through the cookies with alarming speed, so she snagged her serving and kept them safe.
    “The Admaryn used to have a similar system. Some worlds still have the portals in them; they just need to activate it. Iskan is referring to a new portal system offered to the sentient planets. Resicor had a lot of energy when she rose, and it sent a ripple through the worlds. Even I felt it.”
    She nodded. “We definitely felt it at home, but we didn’t know what it was. The idea that the world under our feet was alive is something that many are still grappling with.”
    “It takes getting used to. When the Iskanoi were on the surface, it was a different place, but when they left, Iskan himself was finally at peace. His fading race was forced to the stars. He had hoped that they would reach out and blend with other species, but the purity of race that had caused their decline has kept them a shrinking population on their adopted world.”
    “He kicked them out?”
    “All of them with the exception of his Avatar, and even she had to bid farewell to her family. Her children left, and they were only allowed occasional visits. When Kedna arrived, it caused quite the fuss.”
    He told her about the arrival of the weather elemental and how she met Haedock and the life that she put in the Avatar at long last.
    “How do you know all this?”
    He grinned. “While I slept, Iskan used me as a sort of pen pal. You can’t block out the thoughts of a world, and he needed to share his frustrations. We talked and we still chat nowadays, though the conversations usually revolve around you, or Kedna and Haedock starting a family. Iskan wants a new population, and if everyone on the world has to partner up, he will get what he wants, eventually.”
    She blinked. “I hadn’t realised, although, Halwis-Iskan was asking me if I wanted to have boys or girls. I told her that I wanted to have sex first, and we laughed it off.”
    “Very politic answer. Do you want children?”
    She jerked her head up in surprise. “That is not a very politic question. I suppose I have always imagined having three little ones running around and lighting things on fire.”
    “That is fairly specific.”
    “You did ask. I am not good when it comes to subterfuge about such things.”
    He was still smiling.
    “You do that a lot.”
    “Do what?”
    “Smile like you have gotten an answer to a question you asked a week ago.”
    “Several hundred years, but yes. I finally have my answer and it made me wonder the exact nature of the question I asked. I think I must have been very drunk or very brave.”
    She nibbled at her cookie hoard. “Why very brave?”
    “Because I got precisely what I wanted, and now, I have no idea what comes next.”
    She laughed out loud, and she extended a cookie. “Now, we design a plan together that involves