Free The Shadow Games: The Chronicles of Arianthem VI by Samantha Sabian

the number one priority of the Guild. And they will relentlessly seek to fulfill it until a dignitary falls. And there is a contract on your head as well, placed by me. I have to deflect suspicion, of course.”
    “Of course,” Raine said, thinking furiously. The Shadow Guild was ruthless; they would not stop. She did not care about the contract on her own head. But she could not be everywhere; she could not protect all of the heads of state, or even coordinate their security, if she was drawn away on this quest. And it fleetingly occurred to her that such a distraction could be this woman’s intent, although it hardly seemed logical Malron’a would provide so much information if that were the case.
    Raine was frustrated. It was only a matter of time before the assassins were able to take down a leader at an opportune moment. Although Raine had convinced those leaders that it was likely the dragons behind the contract, their subordinates and successor might not believe the same if that leader fell. The animosities between the peoples of Arianthem were ancient and deep and it would take very little to rekindle those long-standing hatreds. The dragons had hatched a treacherous plot.
    “Then make my contract the priority,” Raine said. “Make them all come after me.”
    Malron’a was stunned at the boldness and ingenuity of the creature in front of her. “And how am I going to justify that?”
    “I will give you all the justification you need in Hestr.”
    Chapter 9
    A nd so is your little toy gone?”
    Volva lie on a golden couch gazing out from a balcony so high the earth below dropped into an infinite abyss. Her keep was perched on the side of a mountain, accessible only to creatures capable of flight. Jörmung was becoming so fat a dragon it was a wonder his wings could lift him to this height. Although all dragons were remarkable shape-shifters, their natural form was largely fixed, and although Jörmung could hide his life of dissipation by shape-shifting into an alternate being, it was fully on display in dragon form.
    Which is probably why he spent the majority of his time in human form. He was handsome enough, young, but not so young as Volva, brown hair and brown eyes, smooth skin, tanned cheeks. But even so, he could not entirely hide the life of debauchery he led. Jörmung’s desires were depraved even by the loose moral standards of dragonkind. Where most sought sexual conquest through seduction, Jörmung preferred force, and the more unwilling his prey, the greater his enjoyment. This disease of character exhibited itself in the fine lines around his eyes that would appear despite his control over his malleable appearance, the grotesque network of veins that would rise on the surface of his nose like a drunkard’s curse. Even now, he was adjusting the belt on his cloak as he walked in and Volva correctly surmised he had just dragged one of her entourage into an alcove and raped him or her on the spot.
    “Drakar? Yes, Talan’s baby boy is gone.”
    Jörmung plopped himself down across from Volva and it was an action more associated with an overweight, middle-aged man than the youth he presented. Volva mentally compared him to the darkly handsome Drakar, and Jörmung suffered in the comparison. Drakar might be a fop, but he was an elegant and entertaining fop.
    “He is hardly a baby anymore,” Jörmung said, “but he will not reach the potential of either of his parents.”
    “No,” Volva agreed, “fortunately. And he favors his father far more than his mother. He has all of daddy’s weaknesses: a lack of focus, flighty, shallow to a fault, slave to his appetites. Although I do believe he gets his skill in bed from Talan.”
    “I have not had the pleasure,” Jörmung said sullenly.
    “No,” Volva said, leaning over to pat him on the cheek. “But you will before this is over.”
    The thought made Jörmung’s eyes glow in a decidedly unattractive manner, like the glint of a rat’s eyes as it