Fire In The Blood (Shards Of A Broken Sword Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

the point of the dagger,” said Akish softly.
    Rafiq didn’t try to resist the order: his hands were less controlled when he was resisting, and he would much rather prick Kako’s neck on purpose than cut her throat by accident. He heard a small, sudden intake of breath from Kako, then something liquid and hot burned his thumb and forefinger. Rafiq stiffened and looked down to find that the blade of his knife was gone. No, not gone: melted, the steel of it dripping on his fingers and burning the flesh. He took in a silent breath through his teeth and quickly wiped the burning liquid away on the shoulder of Kako’s bodice, prompting the scent of scorched silk to rise faintly in the air. Her head turned as he looked down, and her eyes met his, faintly challenging.
    Fortunately, Prince Akish hadn’t noticed the melted blade. He was glaring around the room as if expecting attackers to leap from behind the curtains and under the books, and by the time his gaze fell on Rafiq and Kako again, Rafiq had angled the handle of the dagger so that the prince wouldn’t have been able to see the blade if it was there.
    “There’s no one to save me,” Kako said. Once again, her words had the ring of universally known truth.
    Was that, Rafiq wondered privately, because she really had no one to look after her, or because she didn’t need anyone to look after her?
    “Enough of this foolery,” said Prince Akish impatiently, interrupting his thoughts. “Let the wench go, Rafiq. We’ve wasted enough time on this trial.”
    Rafiq released Kako in relief. It was bad enough that he’d killed a she-dragon. To kill a human female as well would have been a hard thing to live with, as impossible as it would have been for him to do anything about it.
    Kako adjusted her neck scarf with a great dignity that was only slightly ruined by the tiny, still-smoking holes Rafiq’s melted blade made in the light fabric and the smell of burnt silk that still permeated the air.
    “What are your instructions?” Rafiq asked the prince. In general he made it a rule not to ask for Commands: he far preferred misinterpreting those orders given him and dodging the ones that he could conveniently not hear. In this case, however, it seemed safer to direct Prince Akish’s thoughts toward anything but threatening the female servants of the Keep.
    “We shall search for secret passages,” said Prince Akish. “A keep as big as this one must surely be bristling with hidden nooks and crannies. I’ll search in the main hall: you can have the library. Don’t leave any corner of the room unsearched.”
    As far as it went, thought Rafiq as the prince removed himself to the hall; the command was both comfortable and easy to follow.
    He very precisely searched the corners of the room first, while Kako watched with narrowed eyes, then investigated the corners where book-cases met walls for good measure. That did away with his Burden and left him to search in comfort and with just as much vigour as he chose to exert.
    He was carelessly tipping books on their spines with the rather nebulous idea that any secret passage in the Keep would likely be activated by a bookish lever when it occurred to him to ask: “Why a library?”
    “Why not?” said Kako, with her elegant half-shrug.
    “I’m a dragon.”
    “Yes, we established that.”
    “Libraries don’t adjoin grand halls. Or foyers.”
    “I see. You’re saying that on your authority as a dragon.”
    Her voice was so reasonable. Rafiq was certain she was laughing at him.
    By way of explanation, he said: “If even a dragon knows it, everybody must. Why a library?”
    “Well, the foyer out there isn’t always the foyer, if you know what I mean. Sometimes the Keep likes to put another hall or foyer there instead.”
    “Mm,” murmured Rafiq, to give himself time to think. She was only telling half of the truth. “What’s written on the lintel?”
    “That? It’s Shinpoan. Books are the door, but Knowledge is