Dragon Sacrifice (The First Realm Book 3) Read Online Free

wondered.
     
    “They believe upstairs people shouldn’t mix with downstairs people.” I threw up my hands.
     
    “There’s no budging them. They practically raised me but they insist on keeping to themselves.”
     
    “They’re old,” Mina said. “You don’t see elves with wrinkles every day.”
     
    “Almost never, really,” Dagonet said. She was sitting beside me.
     
    “Dagonet, don’t do that!” I said.
     
    You’d think my assistant would be easier to spot. She’s a redhead, with freckles on her nose and cheeks. Also her cleavage. She defies the stereotype by fading into the background.
     
    “Surely you noticed me come in?” she asked. “I passed right in front of you.”
     
    “We’ve talked about this,” I said. “Make more noise! Every time you startle me you take years off my life.”
     
    She smiled.
     
    “Angrod, what’s this for?” Heronimo asked. He pointed at the empty platter in the centre of the table.
     
    “It’s for the snapdragon,” I said. A waiter came by with a bowl of raisins and a glass of rum.
     
    “Someone order an aperitif?” Mina wondered, but then the waiter sprinkled the raisins into the platter and poured in the rum.
     
    “Do the honours?” Meerwen asked. I made a coin-flipping motion and flicked a tiny ball of fire into the platter. (Foom!)
     
    “The game is to snatch the raisins and eat them,” I said.
     
    “Not much of a game,” Cruix said. “But then, fire makes everything better.”
     
    I ordered while everyone gave it a try. Nothing fancy on the menu—halflings weren’t into things like butterfly shadows or edible balloons. But they did know how to cook things that stuck to your ribs and sent feel-good signals to your head.
     
    “Ow!” Mina said. She’d jerked her hand from the platter, spilling drops of burning rum. “Shit, ow!”
     
    “I see you have years of practice,” Cruix said.
     
    “It’s fucking hot,” Mina said. She tried her hand again. “Fucking hell!”
     
    “Watch me,” I said. “I won’t use my silver hand.” I plucked a burning raisin and ate it. “When they’re slightly singed they start to get all crispy.”
     
    Mina tried again, but snatched her hand back. “Ow!”
     
    “You can share mine,” Meerwen said.
     
    “Wimp,” Cruix said. He reached over, plucked a raisin, and popped it into his mouth.
     
    “Haha!” Heronimo said. He swept his hand into the platter and came out with a handful. Dagonet reached over and took a couple. I took another. We all looked at Mina and burst out laughing.
     
    “Very funny,” my dwarven friend said. “This is the worst game.”
     
    “It isn’t hard,” I said. “You move faster after the first scorching.”
     
    “I have this thing about fire…” Mina said, but then she plunged her hand in. “Aack!” She splattered burning rum all over the table.
     
    “Whoah,” Heronimo said. He pushed his chair backward and started beating the flames. “We might have to pause the game.”
     
    “Relax,” I said. “They’ve got sand buckets here.”
     
    Mina tried again and managed to land a raisin on the table. “Yes! The first!”
    “Good for you,” Meerwen said. Then she and everyone else got a raisin.
     
    “I’m gonna get one straight to my mouth,” Mina said. “Ow!”
     
    “I’m thinking baby steps,” I said.
     
    Cruix snickered. “The secret is not to reach over and wait.”
     
    “It smells like burned hair,” Heronimo said.
     
    “Singed all the hair on my damn hand...” Mina said.
     
    “Do it like this,” Meerwen said. Her hand blurred into the blue flames and pulled back. “See? That way they go straight to your mouth.”
     
    “Fast hands,” Heronimo said.
     
    I leered. “I know, right?”
     
    Meerwen elbowed me.
    “Lick your fingers, they’re on fire,” she told me. I’d been eating raisins absent-mindedly.
     
    “Mina, maybe you should stop,” Heronimo said. “You won’t have any hand left if you keep this