Free The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland Page A

the palace unsupervised — most of my dragons will attack MudWings and unfamiliar SandWings on sight.”
    “Or whatever that is,” Shark muttered, sniffing at Sunny. Starflight shot him a glare, then looked away quickly as the SeaWing turned his gaze to him.
    “I guess this means no feast?” Clay said mournfully. He rested his snout on the stone with a sigh.
    “Food can certainly be arranged,” said the queen. “Lagoon, make sure our guests are well fed.” A plump turquoise dragon bowed and dove off the ledge. “See, darling, we’ll take good care of you all. Please tell that one to stop looking so fierce.” Coral flicked a claw at Glory, who was still facing off with a ner vous-looking SeaWing guard.
    Tsunami thought, uncomfortably, of Glory’s secret weapon. In the SkyWing palace, they’d discovered Glory could spit a deadly venom, which seemed to be a RainWing skill most dragons didn’t know about. It certainly hadn’t been in any of the scrolls, which rarely mentioned RainWings at all.
    But Tsunami hoped Glory would decide to keep her venom a secret for now. Melting one of the queen’s guards probably wasn’t the best way to introduce the dragonets of destiny to the SeaWings.
    “You don’t have to tie them up,” Tsunami said. “They’ll go with you.”
    “Speak for yourself,” Glory growled.
    “Calm down, Glory,” Tsunami said. She hoped her mother and the other dragons would see her as the leader of the dragonets. “You heard the queen. It’s for your own safety. You’ll be fine.”
    Please don’t argue with me in front of my mother,
Tsunami prayed.
    Glory glared at the SeaWing guard for a moment longer. “All right,” she snarled. “I’ll go with you. But I still say nobody touches me.”
    “Fair enough,” Queen Coral purred with another gesture and flash of her stripes. “Off you all go, then. Tsunami, darling, come sit with me and let’s talk.” She swept over to her throne, towing Anemone behind her. The tiny dragonet settled onto the small throne, flicking her pearly wings and watching Tsunami’s friends with big eyes.
    “It’ll be all right,” Tsunami said to Clay as the guards hefted him into the air. “I’ll come join you very soon.” He nodded, still looking rather anxious. Another guard tentatively tried to shoo Starflight off the edge. The NightWing backed away from him unhappily, then turned and flew after the guard who had Sunny.
    Tsunami watched her friends spiral down to the cave by the entrance — brown and gold, black and silver, all of them so out of place here. She saw them vanish into the dark hole, and then the guards emerged and planted themselves outside. It didn’t look like the way you’d treat guests.
    At least it’s better than the SkyWing palace,
she thought.
At least we’re not being forced to fight to the death. My mother is keeping us safe. She’s really being welcoming, in her own way.
She glanced up at her mother’s warm eyes.
Especially to me.
    Her mother reached out her talons to her, smiling. She was perfect — just what Tsunami had always imagined.
    Her friends would be all right, Tsunami was sure. They were in the SeaWing palace now. She was home with her family. This was her lifelong dream.
    There’s nothing to worry about,
she told herself.
Nothing at all.

“Here,” Queen Coral said, taking a strand of pearls off her own horns. “You’re so unadorned, my beautiful dragonet. I have to start making up for all the presents I missed giving you.” She leaned forward and draped the pearls around Tsunami’s neck. They were heavy and smooth, sliding coolly across Tsunami’s scales.
    My first trea sure.
    It was a strange thrill, having something of her very own. All dragons loved trea sure — it was the only thing they had in common with scavengers. But this was more than a shiny, beautiful thing. It belonged to Tsunami and nobody else. And it made her look even more like her mother.
    Tsunami stroked the pearls with her claw