Princess Ahira by K.M. Shea Read Free Book Online

followed the tiny cry and weaved my way through the treasure chests and tables before I came to a blue bowl that was skidd ing across the ground. Curious, I bent over and picked it up, revealing a pint sized Azmaveth.
    I stared at him for several moments. “Thank goodness,” I said, placing a hand on my chest as I sighed in relief . “I was so afraid you had ruined all of my haphazard cleaning work from yesterday.”
    “Who cares about a clean den?” Azmaveth cried. “This is bad! M y spell went wrong and all you care about is the state of the stupid cave,” he said in what would have been his impressive, rumbling voice. Instead, because he was smaller than a cat, he sounded whiny, like a cricket. “We are in so much trouble!”
    “What? Why?” I asked.
    “I was working on another shrinking spell when it blew up in my face, getting all over me i n the process,” h e said. I actually felt a small piece of satisfaction. I was right, being a mage and an inventor was a terrible combination. “I don’t know how to reverse it!” he continued.
    I held out my arm and he hopped on , scurrying around so his butt rested in the crook of my elbow, his muzzle on my wrist.
    He carefully wrapped his tai l around my elbow and his paws around my arm. His wings were extended to keep himself from falling over and his tiny claws pricked m e as he peered up into my face. “Eventually,” he started. “The spell should wear off , probably some time tomorrow.”
    “What will we do for the time being? Your frie nds as supposed to come today, ” I reminded him . 
    “Um, I don’t know!” h e said and suddenly the loud, clanking toll of the doorbell echoed through the cave.
    “Oh bother ,” Azmaveth groaned a s we exchanged worried glances. I walked out to the main entrance as Azmaveth scurried up my arm and rested on my shoulder. He wrapped his tail around my neck , thoroughly attaching himself to me before hiding in my hair.
    I blushed when I rea ched the door and realized that I must be a sight to behold. My hair was down and cascading over my shoulders and back, and my feet were still bare. I gently pushed the door open and shook under the gaze of three enormous dragons. 
    The first dragon was a rose r ed female with blood red eyes. S he was dainty and pretty wi th fine features. The second dragon was a sea green male with dark green eyes. H e to wered over the female but was still a great deal smaller than Azmaveth. The last d ragon was silver blue with gre y eyes who was roughly Azmaveth’s height and girth.
    The female looked down at me. “Why hello darling!” s he said in a sweet , honey smooth voice. “You must be Azmaveth’s new princess!”
    She turned to the other dragons. “Isn’t she just the sweet est thing? I can see w hy Azmaveth picked her!” she cooe d before turning back to me. “My name Rose,” she said in her own version of Azmaveth’s dragon smile.
    The se a green dragon rolled his eyes. “Knock it off Rose. She ’s Azmaveth’s pet, not yours,” h e rumbled. 
    Rose rolled her eyes. “ There’s nothing wrong with being friendly” she scolded.
    The sea green dragon ignored her and instead lowered his head to speak to me. “Hello, I’m Shammah. He’s Zerah,” h e said , tossing his head in the general direction of the large silver dragon. Zerah completely ignored me, but once my at tention was turned back to Rose I could tell he was sneaking pee ks at me .
    “We’re here to see Azmaveth,” Rose said, her eyes carefully studying my odd appearance.
    “I’m not home! We can’t let them see me like this. T h ey’ll never let me forget it!” Azm aveth hissed. “I’ll be the laughing stock of the dragon court—again!”
    “Master A zmaveth isn’t here,” I said respectfully as possible while fighting the urge to pinch the small dragon hanging off my neck . 
    “W e’ll just go inside and wait , then ,” Shammah said, sitting upright again. He paused, as though it occurred to