Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin Read Free Page A

me what’s going on? You were the one who landed on my balcony, walked in and demanded I lock the door behind you. I deserve to know.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    Amber searched his face carefully. She couldn’t tell what he thought or if he told the truth. “Are you saying that so you can get out of here without me screaming the place down? Or are you actually considering answering me?”
    Kade grinned. “No. It depends on other things.” He started to move away again.
    “What other things?” Amber followed him to the French doors that were open again. She noticed his friends stood on the balcony.
    “Don’t you have to shower and see your mother?”
    Amber shrugged. “She’ll come and hassle me again if I take too long.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Kade muttered. He reached out and grabbed hold of the curtain that hung at the French doors. With a quick movement, he spun it around her.
    Amber struggled to free herself. The moment she escaped, she stepped out onto the balcony and glanced around, looking for the three of them. She peered over the rails, her eyes scanning the ground. Having nowhere else to look, she studied the sky. In the distance she saw three large… Amber’s mind struggled with the word bird. But what else could she call a creature that flew through the air, propelled forward with large wings? She laughed nervously. Prehistoric bird? Dragon? Mutated bird of prey? She had no idea.
    Closing the French doors, she made sure she locked them. It was the first time since she’d been here. Her room was on the second storey of the house. She’d thought she was safe. It wasn’t like it was a major city or anything. A shudder went through her as she recalled the past six nights she’d slept with the doors unlocked. She drew the curtains together and turned away from the doors. It took her several minutes before she could make herself walk to the bathroom.
    After a quick shower, Amber stepped out of her room and walked towards the other end of the corridor. She passed two closed doors that were next to each other and opposite the stairs. From habit, she tried each doorknob as she passed. They were still locked. The only comment about them she could get from her grandmother was that if she hadn’t been so nosey she wouldn’t have known they were locked. Her mother’s room was the last one. She knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she knocked again.
    “Mum?” Amber opened the door a fraction when there was still no reply. Her mother lay on her side, one hand under her cheek, still dressed and on top of the quilt. She was fast asleep. Amber carefully closed the door, relieved she didn’t have to endure the discussion. It was probably yet another one about her attitude. She was sick of those conversations. Who wouldn’t have an attitude when they’d been ripped from the life they loved with absolutely no say in the matter.
    Returning to her room, Amber locked her bedroom door then flicked the light switch off so only the bedside lamp lit the room. Pulling back the sheets on the queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, she flopped onto it, rolling onto her back. Her eyes were drawn to the curtains that covered the French doors and she sat up in annoyance. There was no way she’d be able to sleep. She had too many unanswered questions.
    Her eyes travelled around the room. Clothes spilled from a built-in wardrobe that wasn’t quite shut, a suitcase open on the floor beside it only half unpacked. Her schoolbag sat by the door, books in a precarious tower near it and a hairbrush, clips, scarves and hair ties overwhelmed a duchess. In the middle was a crystal tray on a frilly piece of embroidery with two crystal containers. A laptop sat closed on a desk in the corner. Amber’s eyes came to a stop on her laptop. She frowned and glanced at her door. Her mother was asleep and her grandmother never came upstairs since her bedroom was downstairs.
    Within seconds, Amber was in