Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor Read Online Free

that’s wielding fire like a dragon. I feel like an idiot for not putting that together sooner.”
    “ No, Krys, that’s not why this makes sense ,” she disagreed and it sounded like she was choking back laughter. “ Dragons only spit fire for one of two reasons, according to the books : one, they’re fighting or two, they’re doing fancy flame work to attract a mate .”
    “…Cora, that’s not funny.”
    “ Really ? I think it’s hilarious.”
    Yes, she would. “So you’re saying that playing around with fire will actually…er…”
    “ Make her more enamored with you ?” she finished helpfully, a smirk in her voice. “ Yes. Also, from your description, that’s probably a girl .”
    “A girl? Really?” I couldn’t see anything that would suggest gender. “What makes you say that?”
    “ Girls are smaller, and usually have a darker skin tone than the males. From your description, I would say this one is a girl. ”
    That didn’t make the situation any better. “So what do I do to get this dragon to go away?”
    “ You don’t. They either get bored and leave on their own, or they’ll follow you around forever .”
    “You’re not helping.”
    “ Want me to tell Garth to come get you ?”
    If Garth took me on the earth path, there was no way that the dragon could track me and keep following me after that.
    “Please?”
    “ Will do. You might have to sit tight for a few hours. I know he left to go get some new students .”
    “Roger that.” I could put up with this for a few hours, surely. 
    ~*~
    Three hours later I was more than ready to leave. I hadn’t heard one word from either Garth or Cora, which made me a bit anxious. That was only half the problem, though.
    The real problem was the dragon.
    She intently watched my every move. Most of the time I tried to sit still, going with the theory that if I didn’t do anything showy, she’d get bored and leave. I even took off the fire shield, leaving the weapons and power shields in place, hoping that a lack of fire would help encourage her to go away. Every time I so much as twitched, though, she perked right up with this expectant look in her eyes. 
    Despite the whole situation fraying my nerves, I couldn’t help but study her as carefully as she studied me. In an alien, reptilian sort of way, she was fascinating to look at. Her skin looked like tanned leather under her belly and head, the rest hardening into scales that protected her back, legs and the top of her head. Relaxed as she was, the ridges along her head and back were down, resting along her body. Her tail was certainly different than the pictures I’d seen. Instead of a sleek taper at the end, it fanned out at two different points. I couldn’t imagine what the purpose of that was. To help her change directions while flying, perhaps?
    She certainly wasn’t acting like the ferocious beast dragons were rumored to be. At one point, completely bored, she let out this disappointed sigh and curled up so that her head was resting on her front legs, tail coiled up around her. The position was so feline that it made me smile in bemusement. Quite a bit of her appearance reminded me of a cat, especially her dark golden eyes.
    “ Krys .”
    The abrupt end of the silence made me jump. I scrambled to pick up the mirror lying next to me. “Cora?”
    “ We might have a bit of a problem. Apparently Shad has gone off on some sort of secret solo mission. Garth didn’t give me the details, but whatever Shad is up to, it’s got him worried sick. He’s rushing all over the place trying to find someone of the Red Hand to go after Shad. ”
    That didn’t sound good.
    “ Garth wants to know how much danger you’re in. If it’s bad, he’ll detour to come get you. ”
    “It sounds like Shad is in more danger than I am,” I told her honestly, knowing as I spoke that I was probably resigning myself to a very long walk back to Solian soil. “Right now, she’s just sitting next to me,