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

head, draping his wings over my ears as I picked up the tea and wa lked back to the sitting room. We reached the dining room in no time.
    I carefully set the tray down and tried to ignore the dragons , who were staring at me. Azmavet h was still lounging on my head without a care in the world as I poured the tea.
    “Umm…. Azmaveth? ” Shammah started. His eyes were fastened to the cups . The small, human sized cups.
    “Watch,” Azmaveth ordered unintereste dly as he flipped onto his back.
    “Glistenblossum,” I mumbled self consciously after setting a cup down in front of each dragon. The delicate silver cups grew in size un til they were perfect for the dragons. 
    “Ooooooh,” Shammah said .
    “That’s a useful spell , did you invent it yourself, Azmaveth? You always were so ingenious with magic, ” Rose cooed, rapidly raising the miniature dragon’s ego .
    Zerah was as animated as a rock.
    Azmaveth tapped m y forehead with a silver claw to draw my attention. “You may go Ahira,” h e informed me as he flew off my head and landed on the chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling. 
    I drew a deep breath and walked b ack into the east tunnel. I paused about halfway down t he hallway . I was clearly out of their sight, but the dragons, with their rumbling musical voices, were most certainly not out of my hearing range.
    Feeling slightly guilty for intruding on their conversation, I leaned against the tunnel wall and slid down to the ground. I was curious why three dragons would call on Azmaveth. I originally thought it was to show me off, but I was getting the feeling that I wasn’t the only reason.
    “She’s sweet. She seems useful too. I bet she actually helps out around this disgusting bachelor cave ,” Rose laughed.
    Azmaveth, in his cute little voice, said something sharply in retort, but it was so high pitched I couldn’t make it out .
    It was Shammah who spoke next. “You really should be grateful , Azmaveth. I heard Behemoth is terrifi ed of his princess. What will you do when a p rince comes to take her away?”
    “One already tried. I don’t think she’s g oing to go with anyone other than her brother. I can’t say I blame her. The chap that stopped by seemed to be mentally unstable,” Azmaveth criticized in his small voice . 
    “Excuse my interruption ,” a said cold, icy voice that cou ld only be Ze rah . “A s interesting as your human is,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “We need to get to the real matter on hand.” 
    “ We know , Zerah,” Shammah said as one of the dragons shifted their weight, Rose I imagine d . 
    “Rose, report,” Azmaveth said. Even with his high pitched voice he sounded serious.
    “The goblins and o rgs are creeping toward th e forest, and a swarm of k rakens have swum into twilight bay. The k rakens haven’t been doing much damage. The Keeper of the forest has been able to keep them back,” Rose recited.
    I had to cover my mouth with my hands to muffle my laughter. Keeper of the forest? How cliché sounding was that title?
    “The v alkyrie are starting to appear in our lands , so we must be on our guard. Also, trolls and giants have taken to disrupt ing the human said of Somnio ,” Rose finished.
    “ That’s bad. This is the first time the v alkyrie have pu lled the humans into our battle,” Shammah worried.
    “Remember that the v alkyrie prey on humans , Azmaveth,” Zerah’s coldly intoned . “I’d keep a close wa tch on that princess of yours. You wouldn’t wan t anything to happen to her , ” f rom t he way he said it he clearly wanted otherwise . 
    “ So we know the movement of the enemy. How about the front lines?” Azmaveth asked. It got boring after this and I left shortly after. 
    Throughout the late morning and early afternoon I returned to serve the dragons more tea and a batch of dainty cookies I had baked on a whim. It was about seven hours after the dragons first arrived that Azmaveth bellowed for me for