Earth's Hope by Ann Gimpel Read Free Book Online

rescued me far sooner than she did.”
    Fire belched from Dewi’s mouth. She wanted to launch herself at Kra, rip his throat out, but she forced herself to remain by Nidhogg’s side. “Answer him,” she growled.
    Kra focused his gaze on Nidhogg. “Have you been to Asgard since your return?”
    Nidhogg shook his head until his scales rattled. “I haven’t been to Asgard, or spoken with Odin, since he threatened me.”
    “Threatened you with what?” Dewi clacked her jaws together. “You never said anything about it.”
    “Oh but I did, just not directly. He said if I mated with you, he’d hunt us down and kill our young.”
    Fire roiled from Dewi’s belly and burst through her mouth. “That bastard! I’ll hunt him down and—”
    “Which is exactly why I was vague about the particulars,” Nidhogg broke in. “Odin didn’t mean it. That man always had a nasty disposition. I figured he’d get over himself if we gave him a wide berth.” Steam and smoke rose from his nostrils. “Perrikus captured me about twenty years after Odin threw his temper tantrum.”
    “Aye.” Berra, the red dragon, moved to Kra’s side. Dewi recalled they were mated.
    “Once you’d been kidnapped”—she shot a meaningful glance at Nidhogg from whirling golden eyes—“Odin came unglued. He rampaged through Asgard and Valhalla and said if his dragon was gone, no dragons should survive.”
    Suddenly Dewi understood, and felt thunderstruck by the revelation. She clacked her jaws together and said, “Since Arawn knew your whereabouts, he must have rounded the four of you up and brought you here.” At Kra’s nod, Dewi went on, stuttering with fury. “He had no right. He didn’t ask my leave, or for my help. It was my job to protect you. Mine.” She scraped a taloned foreleg against a nearby limestone formation, reducing it to dust, and then pulverized another.
    “At first, Arawn said we wouldn’t be here for very long.” Royce stepped out of the shadowed section of the cavern, bringing his mate, Vaughna, with him. Royce straightened, and his black scales chittered against one another.
    “So much time passed, I feared the god of the dead forgot about us,” Vaughna cut in. The green dragon narrowed her copper eyes. “Royce and I left on a reconnaissance after we’d been here a few years. The first person we encountered was one of Odin’s spies.”
    “Crap!” Dewi leaned forward, fearing the worst. “You didn’t.”
    “We had no choice,” Vaughna said. “If he’d lived, he’d have reported back to Odin.”
    “But the covenant forbids us from killing humans who haven’t harmed us,” Dewi protested, aware how feeble the words sounded. “Never mind. It’s not relevant. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? Why didn’t Odin harm the other four dragons? The ones living near me.”
    “They were old,” Kra said. “Nearly at the end of their lives. Odin probably didn’t think them worth bothering with.”
    Dewi remembered how feeble they’d been, and how sad and apologetic, when she’d asked for help hunting Nidhogg. They’d even declined egg nanny duty to keep her clutch warm, saying they no longer possessed enough heat. It hadn’t been long after that when they’d teleported for the last time, returning to the dragons’ borderworld to die. They’d been gone when she returned without her mate.
    With her clutch gone cold, Dewi had almost returned to the borderworld herself, intent on self-destruction. No one who had kin left could possibly understand what she’d gone through. She’d never gotten used to being the only dragon. Even joy at discovering Aislinn, a MacLochlainn bonded to her through ancient ritual, hadn’t tempered the grief that shrouded her with numbness.
    I’d have done away with myself if I weren’t such a coward.
    “I’m leaving,” Nidhogg said.
    “What?” Dewi stared at him, incredulous. “Where are you going? Our brood needs you.”
    He laid his snout alongside hers.