Centyr Dominance Read Free Page A

stay with you,” she continued without
     skipping a beat. “I’ll take Gram with me to Dunbar.”
    “Take them both,” said her brother. “I won’t need
     help searching and Chad can’t track from dragon back. I’d feel better if you
     had two people watching out for you in a strange place.”
    It was uncustomary for her brother to show such
     concern, and she bristled at his suggestion that she might need protecting.
     They argued over it for several minutes before she gave in. Matthew was
     unreasonably stubborn. It wasn’t worth the energy.
    “Tell Mother what we’re doing when you get back home
     this evening,” she told him at last. It gave her some small pleasure knowing
     that he would face their mother’s disapproval alone.
    “You should send one of your little minions,” he
     replied. “I might not go back for a day or two.”
    Something in his words didn’t quite ring true. Moira
     wondered what he might be planning, but then she decided he was just covering up
     his fear of facing the Countess by himself. He’s going to use his search as
     an excuse to avoid facing her for a few days, she guessed.
    She used her aythar and a few quick words to lighten
     Gram and Chad, so they wouldn’t present too much of a burden for Cassandra. As
     they took to the air, she looked down, watching Matthew wave goodbye. She
     couldn’t help but think she had gotten the better of their bargain.

Chapter
     2
    Cassandra’s back was crowded with three passengers.
     Moira rode in front, with Gram behind her and Chad behind him. She had used a
     temporary spell to lighten their weight and another to cause them to stick to
     the dragon’s back.
    Knowing they couldn’t fall off helped with their
     anxieties, but she could tell they were still uncomfortable. She smiled to
     herself as she listened to the hunter swearing quietly to himself. Gram on the
     other hand remained silent, but his hands were clenched into fists.
    It’s going to be a long and tiring flight, said
     Cassandra’s voice in her mind.
    We shouldn’t be too heavy, answered
     Moira. I lightened the load for you.
    It’s more than that, responded
     her dragon, the three of you disrupt the airflow around me, so I have to
     spend more energy using my wings to keep us aloft.
    Let me know if you get tired, said
     Moira. There’s no reason we can’t take breaks if necessary.
    Grace flew beside them, her slender form keeping up
     with ease. She was still too small to help by carrying Gram, but she had been
     growing rapidly. In another month or so she might be able to carry a rider,
     judging by the rate at which the other dragons had grown after hatching.
    The wind made normal conversation difficult, and they
     lapsed into silence. Moira wasn’t bored, though. Her mind was preoccupied
     with the ever changing vista around her. Despite their speed, the mountains
     seemed to pass by slowly beneath them. The sun might have been hot on their
     shoulders, but the frigid air did more than compensate for that. In fact, they
     were becoming increasingly cold.
    Moira created a shield around the humans in a sloping
     dome-like shape to divert the rushing wind, and then she used a word to adjust
     the temperature within.
    That’s better, noted
     Cassandra.
    Were you cold? she
     asked the dragon, somewhat surprised.
    I meant the strain of staying airborne. It
     isn’t perfect, but you aren’t creating as much drag now, explained
     Cassandra.
    That wasn’t what I was aiming for, but
     it’s good to know, thought Moira. She was still relatively
     new to flying, but she was learning that it was more complicated than she had
     originally realized.
    They only had to stop twice before nightfall. After
     their second break, they flew until dusk had deepened to the point that they
     could barely see. Magesight was a poor substitute for normal vision when
     flying, given its range limitations. Without moonlight, they were resigned to
     finding a place to stop in the