The Dragon’s Appraiser: Part Two Read Online Free Page A

had been so fixated on her disastrous confession that she hadn’t even noticed they’d already made it to the pier.
    “What?” she asked.
    He glanced down at her, eyes wary. “I was trying to recall a word. To want something you cannot have, it is to be frustrated .”
    “I suppose so. Why do you mention it?”
    “You,” he replied. “You frustrate me often.”
    Insecurity made her voice small. “How so?”
    He thought about it for a moment. “Usually when you sleep. You sleep all night. Lately, you’ve been sleeping during the day as well.”
    “My sleeping frustrates you?” she asked, unsure where he was going with this.
    “I often want to mate with you, but when I try to wake you, you get angry and refuse me,” he said with a sour face. “Other times, I want to talk to you, but I cannot. I have grown to greatly dislike nights. But that is beside the point. Right now, you are frustrating me.”
    She placed a hand on his sleeve. “I’m wide awake.”
    “But you are not talking to me and I do not know what you are thinking. I always tell you what I am thinking, but you do not do the same. It is frustrating.”
    Feeling slightly relieved, she leaned against him. “One of the many differences between you and me is that my thoughts are the only thing that are my own.”
    Even you’re not really mine , she thought.

4
    “ W e usually make the soup with Vrynesh beef, but I’m afraid the city is running low on imported meats.”
    Sevrrn stared down at the bowl of soup . That was a new word and he wasn’t sure if he liked it yet. The odd concoction smelled appealing enough, but there were numerous pieces of vegetation floating in the liquid.
    Dragons did not eat plants.
    There were pieces of chicken floating in the liquid and he decided to give them a try. As he moved to grab a fat chunk, Madja intercepted his hand, a small smile playing on her lips. She placed a metal spoon in his hand and then inclined her head toward the innkeeper and his daughter. They had already begun eating and Sevrrn could see that they were using the spoons to extract the chicken and plants from the liquid.
    The whole process of using a spoon seemed impractical to Sevrrn, but he humored Madja. For the first time since returning to the inn, she seemed to be in good spirits.
    “I noticed that the docks were unusually desolate,” Madja said to the humans. “Have the trade values gone down here?”
    The young woman shook her head. “The Allonans have paid mercenaries to attack any ships that are bound for the island. Not even the Kaletani will come anywhere near our ports.”
    Using a spoon was not as easy as it appeared. It seemed as though every time there was a piece of meat within his reach, it would slip out and he would end up with a piece of vegetation instead. How annoying.
    “Are the Allonans trying to stifle our trade?”
    Madja was able to use the spoon without even looking down at her bowl. How could she do that so easily?
    “That’s one theory,” the woman said. “But many of us believe they’re trying to provoke Sevrrn’s wrath.”
    Sevrrn looked up at the mention of his name. Intrigued, he decided to address the woman directly.
    “Explain.”
    She looked confused and Madja quickly sought to elaborate. “What he means is, why would the Allonans want to provoke Sevrrn?”
    “They don’t believe he truly resides in the mountain,” the woman said. “They think he’s just a tale we made up to scare away potential invaders.”
    “Why would they think that?” Madja asked.
    “No one living has ever seen him. We’ve only ever heard of him in legends.”
    Interesting .
    His curiosity satisfied, Sevrrn returned his attention to the soup and his newest nemesis: the spoon.
    “If he doesn’t come to the defense of the island, Allona will advance,” the woman said. “Rumor is, they have thirty warships prepared to descend on the capital.”
    Madja placed her spoon in her now-empty bowl. Sevrrn looked down at his