Dragon Kiss by E. D. Baker Read Free Book Online

you sure it’s really love, Audun, and not infatuation? Any dragon would be attracted to someone who saved his life, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your entire life with her. Humans aren’t like us. I’ve told you many times that they lie, cheat, steal, and think only of themselves. They can be cruel to members of their own species and twice as cruel to species they regard as animals, including us.”
    “But Millie isn’t like that. She put her own life in danger to help us. And she’s honest and caring . . . I love her, Grandmother, and it isn’t just because she saved our lives. She is the one I want to share my life with. I will never love another dragoness the way I love her.”
    “Perhaps not, Audun, but have you really thought this through? I’ve seen what living among humans can do to dragons. If you get your wish and learn how to change your form into that of a human, you will always have to hide who you really are and what you can do. You’ll live in constant fear of discovery.”
    “It wouldn’t be like that for me,” said Audun. “Millie is already a dragon part of the time and the people in her kingdom accept her the way she is. Her mother is a Dragon Friend, which means that members of our own kind accept and respect her.”
    “Fire-breathing dragons, perhaps, but you heard what King Stormclaw said. Our kind may not revile her as he does, but neither would they accept her. It’s true that the feud between us is old and mostly forgotten, but the king could make trouble for you should you even desire to remain friends with the girl. If you pursue this relationship without his approval, King Stormclaw will banish you at the very least.”
    “What happened between the fire-breathers and us, Grandmother? No one ever told me.”
    “It happened hundreds of years before I was born, so I don’t know precisely, but apparently, by chance, the ice dragons discovered a cave rich in gems. Considering the love of jewels that all dragons feel, this was a marvelous find. Although the cave was in a distant land, we mined it for years undisturbed, bringing the jewels here to the stronghold, and enriching our kingdom’s treasury. When the human king of the distant land discovered what we were doing, he threatened to bring the wrath of all humans down on us. Instead, we made a pact with him wherein we would continue to mine the gems, and he would receive a share.
    “Once again, all was well, until the fire-breathing dragons learned of our pact with the human king. They tried to find the cave, forcing us to take ever greater measures to hide its location. One day they managed to waylay the dragons bringing the gems to the stronghold and stole a vast number of them. There was a great battle and many were injured on both sides. It happened so long ago that most families have recovered from their loss. But some, like the family of King Stormclaw, hold too tightly to their grudges.”
    “And that’s why he hates Millie’s mother?”
    Audun’s grandmother nodded. “He’s a good dragon, but he can be rash at times as can most dragon kings. That is why they have councillors, like me. You do realize, Audun, that even if you lived in a kingdom where you wouldn’t be persecuted for what you are, you would be throwing away a promising future among dragon kind. I’d always hoped that someday you might aspire to a high position, perhaps even the central platform in the audience chamber.”
    “I don’t want to be king, Grandmother. I just want to choose my own mate. Is that really too much to ask?”
    “You sound like I once did, more’s the pity. No,” she said, sighing again. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask. But what about your talent? I know you haven’t learned what it is yet, and you may not for many years, but what if your talent is something you can use only in the Icy North or that you can’t use around humans? If I didn’t live among glaciers, I would never have known that I can hear