Dragon Kiss Read Free Page B

might ease the ache in his chest.
    The castle wasn’t hard to find once he left the forest where the witches lived. Scanning the horizon, he soon saw green pennants snapping in the wind atop the tall, slender towers of a castle. With the sun at his back, he sped toward the castle and landed in the courtyard. A stable boy was nearly dragged off his feet when the horse he was walking saw Audun. Screaming, the horse fought to get away, but the boy held on and got the animal under control long enough to get it out of sight of the dragon.
    Audun was wondering if he should leave when an older woman with gray-streaked auburn hair swooped out of the sky on a magic carpet and landed in the courtyard beside him. “May I help you?” she asked.
    “I wanted to see Millie,” said Audun. “I’m a friend of hers.”
    The woman’s lips widened in a warm smile. “I’m her great-aunt Grassina. Wait just a minute and I’ll see if she’s here.”
    A flicker of hope lit up Audun’s eyes. “Do you mean she’s home?”
    “A little bird told me that she got back a few hours ago,” Grassina said over her shoulder as she headed for the door. “She might be resting, though. I’ll just go up and—”
    The door flew open and Millie came racing out, shrieking, “Audun!” Dashing across the cobblestones, she threw her arms around the dragon’s neck and clung to him.
    Audun smiled, curved his neck around her, and said, “I told you that you couldn’t keep me away.” Millie turned her head and he saw that her lovely green eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were streaked with tears.
    Two other women appeared in the doorway, neither of whom was smiling. The older woman had golden hair like Millie’s, but it was sprinkled with white. She was beautiful, despite the cross expression she was wearing. “It’s that dragon, the one she was telling us about. He shouldn’t be here, not after all the horrid things Millie said.”
    “I didn’t say anything horrid, Grandmother,” Millie cried, before turning back to Audun. “I just told them how much I care about you,” she said, looking into his eyes.
    “No human should love a dragon,” said her grandmother. “It isn’t right.”
    “That isn’t fair, Mother,” said the other woman. “Eadric loves me whether I’m a human or a dragon, just as I love him no matter what I am. I simply don’t understand how Millie could feel so strongly about Audun after such a short time. Unless it’s her dragon side . . . Flame Snorter swears she fell in love with Grumble Belly the first time she saw him.”
    This woman looked remarkably like Millie and it occurred to Audun that this had to be Millie’s mother, who was not only a princess, but also a witch and a Dragon Friend. Audun squinted his eyes and could see a rosy glow around her, the fabled sign of a true friend to dragons.
    “I’m honored to meet you, Dragon Friend,” he said, bowing his head. “I’ve come to court your daughter.”
    Millie’s grandmother’s hand flew to her forehead and she swayed as if she’d been struck. “This is worse than I thought,” she said in a strained voice. “We can’t let this happen. We’ll be the laughingstock of all the kingdoms. Or worse yet, the object of their hatred. If we let dragons marry into the family all the neighboring kingdoms will consider us unsuitable to rule. We’ll have armies marching on us from every direction.”
    Millie’s mother sighed. “I wouldn’t go that far, Mother. No one has complained about my dragon side. However, Millie, we can’t let you marry a dragon just because you’re attracted to him. I’m sure you think you love him,” she said, holding up her hand when Millie started to speak, “but you hardly know him. You can’t truly love someone you don’t really know.”
    “That’s not true, Mother. Audun and I have been through so much together! I know him enough to know that I do love him!”
    At Millie’s words, Audun felt a warmth growing