Free The Twiceborn Queen (The Proving Book 2) by Marina Finlayson

from my mother the dragon queen. Or maybe that was a plus too? It was hard to tell. I found the whole people-trying-to-kill-me thing far too distracting.
    And of course there was Ben: the change in our relationship was definitely a plus.
    “The world’s a funny old place sometimes, isn’t it? I mean, look at that business with the dragons on New Year’s Eve. What do you reckon? Think there really are supernatural creatures hidden among us?”
    “Don’t know. It seems a little hard to believe, right?” My eyes flicked to the damaged cupboard door, still hanging by one hinge. The door that I’d slammed into the snarling werewolf’s face. “Like, if it is true, how come we’ve never had any hints till now?”
    That’s probably what I’d be thinking if I was still plain Kate. And Lord knows, if anyone should have suspected, I should have. For crying out loud, I’d been married to a dragon for five years—how could I have missed it completely? I mean, sure, it’s not the first explanation that springs to mind if your husband starts acting a little strange, but not even a hint? In five years?
    No one would think it possible. No one who wasn’t in the know, that is. To other shifters it seemed entirely reasonable. Dragons had powers of persuasion bordering on total mind control. In the right circumstances they could convince a human black was white. Leandra had managed to entrance me into cutting her open, extracting the channel stone that controlled her magic and swallowing it—all while she was dying of poisoning. And I hadn’t been able to remember doing any of it afterwards. Covering up any little indiscretions or diverting suspicion in a wife would have been child’s play for Jason in comparison.
    “I know, right? That’s what I think too, though Roy’s a believer. I always said he read too many of those stupid fantasy novels. Have you seen that new video?”
    “What new video?”
    “It came out this morning. YouTube crashed, they had so many hits. It shows you how they did it. Just search dragons and CGI.”
    “CGI?” Even though it was in my own interest to act convinced, I couldn’t help sounding incredulous. Who the hell would believe that? “That was done with computers ? Says who?”
    “Oh, they’re not saying it was done with computers. They had remote-controlled models. They used CGI on the video to make them look bigger and hide the engines.”
    I opened my mouth to argue. Surely anyone who’d been there wouldn’t buy that story. Those dragons were huge—way too big to be remote-controlled craft. And the way we’d moved, so organic, so clearly not robotic.
    Still, even though it was New Year’s Eve and thousands of people had seen it in person, there were still millions who hadn’t, who might possibly be persuaded by this new “truth”.
    “There’s more than one video on the Internet, though. Are they all supposedly doctored like this?”
    Tanya shrugged. “Most of them are a bit blurry, you know, or taken from too far away. It makes it look more convincing if there’s more than one, from different users. But there’s only that one that the news programs have been replaying where you can actually see much. Someone spent a lot of effort planning this.”
    Someone certainly had spent a lot of effort—but on this new cover-up, not on the original “stunt”. It had to be either the government or Elizabeth, and my money was on Elizabeth.
    “Makes you wonder why they bothered, doesn’t it?”
    “Probably some massive publicity stunt. Bet you someone comes forward in a few days and it’ll turn out to be part of an advertising campaign for a new beer or something.”
    “Probably.” I moved toward the door. She’d talk all day if I let her.
    Thankfully she got the hint. “Well, I’d better leave you to it. Call me, okay? Let me know how you go.”
    I promised I would and she finally left, though not before waving goodbye to both Garth and Steve. I went back into Lachie’s