Elvenblood by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton Read Free Book Online

petty quarrels between them, that only betrayal of the worst kind can force them to become enemies. They say that where the dragons are, there has been peace for thousands of years. That's supposed to be why they helped the halfbloods; the wizards were just trying to live in hiding and it was the lords who attacked them to destroy them. I suppose the dragons must have felt sorry for the halfbloods, and disliked the lords who were trying to hurt them."
    "I wish we were like that," Rena sighed, and studied her reflection.
    If we were like that, I wouldn't be served upon a platter to make some drooling old dotard a tasty bride
, she thought glumly.
If we were like that, I could do what I wanted to do, and Father would leave me alone
.
    To do what?
    "What do dragons do when they aren't helping the wizards?" she wondered aloud.
    "Oh, marvelous things." Myre replied immediately. "Fancy flying, playing games, exploring, using their magic to create beautiful sculptures, telling stories, all kinds of wonderful things. It would take me all day to tell you."
    Rena swallowed around the lump in her throat that the vision of such freedom had conjured up.
If only I could run away, somehow, run away to the land where the dragons come from! If only I could go somewhere where I'd never have to obey Father again, where there aren't any rules
—The rules and her father's will weighed her down as truly as the terrible jewels he had created for her weighed her down. How could anyone fly beneath such a weight?
    But wishing to run away was as useless as wishing for a dragon to come carry her off; one was as likely as the other. How
could
she run away? She'd never even been off the estate! She had no idea how to fend for herself—which was precisely what she would have to do to keep from being found and brought back before she got more than a foot off the grounds.
    Running away was as out of the question as—as pigs donning court-gowns and playing harps!
    What was more—she had already drawn these preparations out as long as she dared. Much longer, and her father would come here to find out what the delay was about, and he would not be pleased to find her completely gowned and jeweled, staring into the mirror.
    She rose once again, with dignity, if not with happiness. "Don't wait up for me, Myre. Tell one of the others to wait in my rooms until I come home."
    That would at least save Myre from the tedium of a long and boring evening alone in these echoing rooms.
    "Who?" Myre asked, promptly.
    Rena shrugged. "I don't know, and I really don't care. Pick someone you don't like. Tell her I ordered it." No slave would dare direct insolence to the daughter of the House, so if there was anyone giving Myre trouble, this would be a subtle way for the human to have a little revenge. All of the closets and drawers would be mage-locked by Rena's absence, so there would be nothing to do but sit and wait in this eternally peaceful and eternally boring dressing room until Rena returned.
    Myre grinned slyly, and bowed—and if there was a touch of mockery in her bow, Rena was not going to say a word about it. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and waved her hand at the door, which opened at her signal, and stepped through it into the hallway of pink marble.
    Like her rooms, the hallway had been created by the previous owner of this estate, a High Lord with
far
more power than Lord Tylar had. Every room had doors that answered only to the signals of those with elven blood, or power-curtains that would only pass those who were keyed to them. Sourceless lighting illuminated the entire manor, until and unless someone with elven blood wished a room in darkness, so there were no windows in this place, not even a skylight. Slaves lived and died here without ever seeing the sun once they were brought from the pens to be trained.
    Some aspects of the manor were still as they had been when the original owner died; Lord Tylar did not have enough magic to change them.