Free Kindle the Flame (Heart of a Dragon Book 1) by Tamara Shoemaker

tell, can you?”
    “The one the other day didn't make it. It was the same Dragon, too.”
    Kinna's heart beat fast. Two Dimn in as many days? How many more have faced this Dragon?
    “Aye. I heard the King's men might put down the beast now. We got us a Mirage, but if it can't be trained, then there's no point, you know?”
    NO! Kinna's mind shouted the word.
    For some reason she couldn't explain, even to herself, in the moment when she'd captured the beast's gaze, she had connected with the animal on a deeper level. One look from the Dragon, and her heartstrings had tugged as they never had for a Pixie, not in all the time she had spent with Hazel or any of the others.
    Was it possible to feel so inexorably drawn to a different creature even if she hadn't been born into their Clan?
    Connection or no, her heart bled at the thought of this Dragon's death. She felt the breath wrangled from her body, and the tears gathered in her eyes. She couldn't let it happen. She wouldn't.
    She would have to find the Dragon's den and set it free.
    A sharp command from a third party sent the Dragondimn boys into hasty flight.
    “Apologies, Tannic. We're going.”
    “'Ere boys, if you see the daft boy, Ayden, tell 'im I've 'ad enough o' him leavin' that Nine Tail's den unmucked. 'E's done it again today, and if 'e does it once more, 'e'll be out on 'is ear; you tell 'im that if I dinna see 'im first.”
    “Aye, Tannic. We'll tell him.” One of the boys laughed a harsh wheeze. “And with pleasure.”
    Footsteps swung into the corridor, heading in Kinna's direction, and she pushed into the tight corner between a support column and the stone wall, flattening herself as best she could.
    The boys didn't even glance her way as they passed.
    Kinna released a pent-up breath as they disappeared into the darkness. She peered around the column. The corridor was empty in both directions.
    She slipped around the column, hurrying on silent feet down the hallway, unsure where she was going, but following the muffled grunts of Dragons.
    Massive doors on her left indicated Dragon dens. She wondered which one would open to the right Dragon. Perhaps she should release all of them.
    You don't even know how you're going to release one. How do you think you're going to get all of them? She eyed the rope entanglements, wondering if she possessed enough muscle power to even crack the doors to peer under the openings for mirrored scales. She didn't doubt that there was only one Mirage in the entire arena. It had been many years since anyone had found such a beast. Nine-Tails and Poison-Quills comprised the majority that the Clan possessed. Embers were also rare, but she had watched the training of three Embers over the last six months.
    Kinna kept going, second-guessing herself more with each step. Perhaps she'd come too far. Perhaps she hadn't gone far enough. And if she were caught... She shuddered.
    A slit of quavering light from a doorway—a normal-sized doorway—caught her attention. This was not a Dragon door. But—
    Kinna checked behind her, gliding to the door, lining her eye to the crack between wall and wood. She sucked in her breath. There was the blond boy, his long frame spread on his cot, his feet hanging over the end. His gloved hands pillowed his head; his gaze raked the ceiling with a blackness that Kinna could read from across the small room.
    An idea formed. It was lunacy, yes. It probably wouldn't work. It would most likely result in her arrest. But Kinna couldn't leave the idea of the Dragon's freedom alone.
    She pushed open the door and boldly entered the room, shutting the wood panel behind her. The boy leaped to his feet.
    “Ayden?” she asked, lifting her chin. Please be Ayden .
    “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
    Kinna pulled together the details she'd overheard in the corridor. Ayden would be out of a job if he didn't muck out that den; surely he wouldn't want to lose his job. She would use it as leverage.
    “I know