The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) by Dan Michaelson (good summer reads .txt) 📗

us. They were moving quickly, and it seemed Joran was agitated—even more so when he saw me.

“I don’t think he recognizes you,” Tara said. She chuckled. “Of course, were it not for Sophie, I might not have recognized you either.”

“I haven’t changed that much.”

“More than you realize.”

She turned to her brother as he approached. I looked behind and watched him until he regarded me for a long moment.

“Ashan?” Joran glanced to his sister before turning his attention back to me. “You came back!”

“I did. Not to stay, but to visit.”

“I don’t suppose you have anything to do with that dragon we saw,” Joran said.

“See?” Sophie’s voice called out from the kitchen. “He did come on a dragon.”

“Great,” Joran said sarcastically. “Now you’re going to have to take her with you.”

“Well, she did ask for a ride.”

Joran chuckled, continuing to look at me. “Are we just going to stand outside, or do you want to come inside and visit?”

“Visit. Definitely visit,” I said.

I figured I might as well spend the better part of the day. Seeing as I had left the city in the dark with the dragon, it would probably be better for me to return to the city in the dark. Which gave me most of the day to spend here. At least that way when I did return to the capital, I could check and see if Thomas had returned, and if there were any way for me to figure out what had happened to him. That way I could ask him about the Servants.

“Good. We have a lot to catch up on.”

I followed Joran into the house, and I couldn’t help but feel Tara’s gaze lingering on me, almost as if she were upset—or at least disappointed. Given her connection to the Vard, I figured she needed to provide me with some answers. If she couldn’t . . .

Once inside the home, Sophie appeared with a plate filled with sausages. Joran frowned at her. “What are those for?”

“Ashan! And the dragon in his belly.”

“Dragon in his belly?”

“I heard him when he came. He sounded like he was roaring at me. I might as well get him something to eat.”

“What about me?” Joran asked.

“You can get your own. You know where to find the sausages.”

Joran turned to me and chuckled. “See? You haven’t even been gone that long, and as soon as you come back, my sister is more than happy to serve you.”

“I think she likes me better.”

“There’s no doubt about that.”

“We’re going to stay in here?” Sophie asked.

“Ashan wanted to visit,” Joran said.

“But I want to see the dragon.”

Joran ruffled her hair. “Give it time. I’m sure Ashan will show you the dragon. I did tell you that there are lots more dragons than what we see out here. Maybe when you’re older, you’ll want to go to the city like Ashan.”

She giggled and hurried over to take a seat by the fire. Joran motioned for me to sit. I looked around before doing so. There was something quite comforting about this place, a reminder of who I had been. As I took a seat in a chair at the table situated along the side of the wall, I found Tara watching me, and I realized she knew more than she was letting on. She was worried about my presence here, but why?

Maybe this would be more than just a simple visit.

10

I took a bite of the sausage, savoring the meat. It was so different from what I got in the capital. This was the taste of home, the taste that reminded me of growing up. I chewed slowly and looked over to see Joran watching me eat, amusement glittering in his eyes.

“You look as if you haven’t eaten anything in days,” he said. “I thought they fed you, gave you money, and treated you almost as well as the king.”

I finished chewing. “It’s not that I haven’t eaten anything in days, it’s more that this tastes incredible.”

“The sausage?” Joran asked, shrugging. “Nothing all that impressive. The stuff we had when I visited the capital was much higher quality.”

“It was not,” I said, glancing toward the kitchen. “Besides, it’s not so much the quality of the meat as it is the familiarity of it and its overall taste.”

“It tastes the same as it always did.”

“Exactly,” I said. I took another bite, chewing more quickly this time. My stomach had finally settled, the rumbling eased, leaving me feeling much more at peace. I looked around the inside of Joran’s home and breathed out slowly before turning my attention back to him. “You left the capital too soon.”

Joran watched me, a hint of a smile coming to his lips. “Did some festival come through that I didn’t get a chance to be a part of?”

I shook my head and proceeded to fill him in on the details of the attack, how it had been made to look like the Djarn were responsible. When I was done, he glanced toward the door leading to the kitchen. “It wasn’t the Vard?” He kept his voice low, soft, but there was an uneasy quality to it.

“Not the Vard. At least, not that time.”

He breathed out. “Good. I don’t want them to get mixed up in anything they shouldn’t.”

“I don’t think you should . . .” He started to watch me, and I realized it didn’t matter. Nothing I said would make a difference, short of showing him the Servant captured in the Vard lands. Instead, I asked a different question.

“How’s my sister?”

“You came here to ask about her?”

“I could go into Berestal, but . . .”

I looked around again, wondering how much I should share with Joran and his family about the restrictions I had on traveling. It wasn’t that I didn’t have permission to leave the Academy, or even the capital, it was more that I raised some concerns if doing so with the dragon.

“She’s fine,” he said. “We haven’t seen much of her for a while.”

“You haven’t? I