Earth's Hope by Ann Gimpel Read Free Book Online Page B

fury blasted from her golden eyes.
    “My younglings! Are they—?”
    “They’re fine,” Aislinn interrupted. “Everything isn’t about you.”
    Dewi blew out a frustrated breath, tinged with flames. “Are you going to tell me what happened, or are we going to joust with one another? Four other dragons will be here soon, and—”
    “You told me there weren’t any more.”
    “I didn’t think there were. I have a bone to pick with Arawn about that.”
    “Fucking Celts,” Aislinn snarled.
    Dewi snorted. “Och, so you’re beginning to see them in that light too?”
    “Don’t forget you’re one of them.” Aislinn screwed up her face as if she’d bitten into a rotten lemon.
    “Child.” Dewi folded her forelegs across her scaled chest. “We can spar, or you can tell me what happened.”
    Rune bounded from the shadows around Fionn’s manor house and planted himself in front of Dewi. Bella flew through the air and landed on the dragon’s shoulder.
    “They took Fionn,” the raven shrieked.
    Trepidation gripped Dewi and sent icy tentacles winding around her spine. “Who?” she demanded and twisted her head to look at Bella.
    “Harpies,” Rune answered.
    “This just gets thicker and thicker,” Dewi muttered. “Why? What would they want with him?” She sent a penetrating glance Aislinn’s way. “What did Gwydion say? Or Bran?”
    “It’s terribly convenient, but neither of them knows shit,” Aislinn said.
    “Damn it! I haven’t laid eyes on a Harpy since the fifteen hundreds. Which ones showed up?”
    “Why does it matter?” Aislinn asked sullenly.
    “You have to find him,” Bella quorked. “We must leave now.”
    Dewi sought the bird’s mind with her own and sent soothing magic her way. “We can’t go anywhere until we know where to look.” Dewi switched her attention to Aislinn. “It matters if Celaeno was one of them.”
    “She was.” Angst and frustration streamed from Aislinn, forming a bubbling mass of energy around her. “Why did you ask?”
    “Momma! Momma’s back!” All seven younglings picked up the chant, streaming from a side door in the manor house. Dewi bent and opened her forelegs. The baby dragons pushed, bit, and shot fire at one another as they fought for a choice spot next to their mother.
    “You didn’t answer me,” Aislinn shrieked. “While we’re at it, where’s Nidhogg?”
    Dewi straightened with dragons clinging to her body. “Celaeno is the dark one. She’s the brains behind the Harpies and by far the most dangerous. Did they tell you why they needed Fionn?”
    Aislinn spat on the ground. “Somehow they think if he’s out of the way, the war with the dark gods will vanish. What a crock! If Celaeno’s their mastermind, she’s not a very smart one. A bigger problem, though, is Aello. She fancies Fionn back in her bed.”
    Breath whistled through Dewi’s teeth. “I’d forgotten about that. I don’t believe he spent very long with her—”
    “I don’t give a flying fuck if he spent a hundred years with her.” Aislinn picked up a handy rock and threw it so hard it shattered against the manor house wall. “I don’t want him with her now.”
    Wing beats sounded, loud against the still of the new day, and Aislinn and the wolf gazed skyward. The other dragons floated to the ground and formed a rough circle around them. Hackles raised the length of Rune’s back and he growled.
    “They’re friends,” Dewi said to reassure the wolf. Clearly he was reacting to Aislinn’s ill temper.
    “How could they be?” Rune demanded. “You told us there weren’t any other dragons.”
    Kra inclined his head at Rune. “I greet you, bond wolf. My name is Kra. The red dragon is my mate, Berra. The green is Vaughna, and the black, Royce.”
    “Where did you come from?” Rune persisted.
    “They were on the dragons’ borderworld,” Dewi said. “Nidhogg and I found them when we went there to bury our daughter.”
    “Yes, but what were they doing