Light My Fire. G.A. Aiken

Чтение книги онлайн.

      Annoyed and more than a little angry, Celyn returned to the room he’d been in before and dropped face-first onto the bed.

      What had he gotten himself into? Trying to prove something to his parents, he’d bargained himself into a right shitty situation with that female. He’d passed her on the way to his room. She’d been studying some silver chalices and he wondered if she planned to steal them. The Riders were known thieves. He doubted she was much better.

      Which was worse? he wondered. Being so unappreciated by his own parents or being forced to deal with that harpy all the way to the Steppes of the Outerplains?

      He didn’t know.

      Honestly, how could any female, dragon or human, be as annoying as that woman? There were dragons who lived in the Steppes who were said in legend to be annoying, but they weren’t friendly or organized and wanted to be left alone, so other dragons did. That meant Celyn didn’t know exactly how annoying they might be, but he refused to believe even the Steppes dragons could be as annoying as this one human female.

      Celyn rolled to his back and stared up at the ceiling.

      All right. So he’d forgotten her. Not his best moment, he’d admit. But she had been sent to assassinate his queen. How could she be so haughty about it all when she’d come here to do something that would normally get her head bitten off?

      In fact, he’d saved her life. Because if Uncle Bercelak had gotten his cruel claws on her, he would have torn her to pieces for such an affront. But it had been Celyn who spirited her away in time.

      Yet did he get any credit for that? A bit of appreciation from the death-ready female? No! The squirrel simply nattered at him. The way real squirrels nattered at Dagmar’s dogs from the safety of the trees.

      Natter, natter, natter.

      And now? Now he would be stuck with her for days. Listening to her complain about his life while wishing for her own death.

      The bedroom door opened, and his sister and Izzy walked in.

      “Oh,” Branwen gushed, “she is fabulous!”

      Celyn lifted himself up on his elbows. “Why is this happening to me? I’m a lovely, lovely dragon. Everyone adores me. Human. Dragon. Centaur. Even those little things in the forests . . . with the ears . . . and the little fluffy tails?”

      “Rabbits?”

      “Aye! Rabbits. They love me, too.”

      His sister smirked. “Only because you don’t eat them. Because you equate dragons eating rabbits with humans eating rats. . . . It’s beneath you.”

      Celyn glared at his sister. “They still love me.”

      Izzy perched herself on the footboard of the bed, long arms wrapped around even longer legs. “It may not be that bad.”

      “She threw a pint at my head.”

      “Nailed him, too,” Brannie unnecessarily added.

      “She was upset,” Izzy reasoned. “Women do not like to be forgotten about. It insults us.”

      “She wasn’t my bloody responsibility.”

      “She is now,” Brannie muttered, but when Celyn glared at her, she quickly turned her eyes to the ceiling.

      “I only did this because my parents think I’m Fal.”

      “No, they do not! Who told you such a despicable thing?” Izzy turned to Brannie. “Why would you tell your brother such a despicable thing?”

      With a roll of her eyes, Brannie admitted, “Mum and Da don’t think of you as Fal. He’s a failure at life all on his own.”

      “But they clearly didn’t want me to go. Why?”

      Brannie shrugged. “You talk too much.”

      “What?”

      “You ask too many questions. ‘Why are we doing this? Where are we going now? Is all this armor really necessary? Why do you insist on yelling at me? Do all humans smell like you?’ It’s bloody endless.”

      “I’m curious is all. Is there something wrong with that?”

      “Yes. When you constantly ask questions.”

      “It’s not like I ask them during battle.”

      “No. But you do ask them constantly every other time.” Brannie gave another shrug. “I think Mum and Da were worried you’d end up СКАЧАТЬ