Sorcha's Heart Read Free Page A

appearance,’ then I’d have to say no. Dragon color cannot be changed, and dragon physique cannot run to fat. Our magical fires burn too brightly. If we do not control those fires, they consume our flesh.”
    His red-eyed gaze scrutinized Sorcha and the intensity of his study heightened her awareness of a growing ball of agony in her enormous mid-section. Pain flared and smoldered in an insistent pulse.
    “ Come,” Caedyrn said. “Your transformation cost you dearly. You must eat.”
    He spread his vast wings, and with a single downward stroke, leapt to the sky. He didn’t turn to see if she followed, but his voice rang through her mind. “Don’t think about it, little one,” he sang, “just follow me.”
    Sorcha stared after him, terror constricting her airways at the thought of being abandoned. Alone. Trapped in an alien body. What should she do? What could she do? She couldn’t return to court, the king’s knights would kill her on sight. She wouldn’t be allowed to live long enough to explain, and if she somehow survived, she might roast someone when she tried to ask for her mother. Gods and goddesses! What if she flamed her mother? She had no other option. She had to stay with Caedyrn, at least until she learned to control this new body.
    She focused on his lazily circling form, imagined herself catching hold of his triangular tail- tip, and threw herself into the sky. Unaccustomed muscles screamed as her wings yanked at the air currents. She gasped, closed her eyes in terror, and then forced them open to check her position. She flew! The muscle strain eased as she ceased to worry about what her wings were doing and focused on following Caedyrn.
    Wind whipped past her face, and nictitating membranes rose, shielding the precious moisture of her eyes. She flew, high and fast. Soul-searing awe threatened to explode her heart. She flew! Elation swept through her system in a wave of exuberant delight.
    A childish giggle rose from her human side, and she remembered a long-ago day when Elspeth had taken her to the cliffs near the sea to study the raptors that made their nests there.
    “ See how efficient they are?” Elspeth had said. “They use an economy of movement to reach the air currents and then they ride those streams, watching for prey.”
    As they’d observed the mighty birds, one had dived suddenly and disappeared from sight around the side of the hill.
    Elspeth had nodded. “His prey won’t have a chance. He’s been resting in the arms of the wind, conserving his energy. You must learn the same restraint in your use of magic. Don’t waste energy fighting your spells. Let the flow of power support you; rest in the assurance that it is in your blood, that it will be there when you need it.”
    With this memory to support her, Sorcha stretched her wingtips, caressed the heavens and raced to catch Caedyrn. “We had no idea, Mother,” she whispered. “Flight is so much more than we could have possibly imagined.” She laughed aloud, unconcerned about triggering a jet of flame here among the clouds. “But it is very much like magic!”
    At that thought, a shadow marred her joy. She’d lost her magic — something had blocked her from her reservoir. The innate ability had defined her existence for so long that its loss eclipsed her recent transformation and first flight. Melancholy stole over her heart and her wing strokes slowed. She lost the steady rhythm and began to fall.
    “ No!” she screamed, and fought to pull herself back to an uplifting air current. Caedyrn turned to check on her, but she warned him off. “I can do this,” she cried. The unaccustomed muscles in her back ached, and each stroke felt as if it would tear her wings from her body. She concentrated on forcing them to keep beating despite growing pain.
    Caedyrn’s voice intruded on her intense effort. “Stop thinking like a wizard. You humans worry too much. You think you control the world, when it would function just as