Free dragon archives 04 - dance with a dragon by linda k hopkins Page A

hours to spend with Owain this afternoon,” Keira continued, “and then our plan is to start our return to Storbrook tomorrow.”
    “So soon?”
    Keira nodded. “I want to get the children home. We will travel through the night, since the days are already so hot. Not that it matters to Aaron,” she added, “but the horses suffer with the heat.”
    Anna took the gown Keira held out and pulled it over her head, before turning to the mirror to consider her reflection. Her eyes looked back blearily, and she dipped a linen in the basin of water placed on the table.
    “I’ll send a maid to do your packing,” Keira said. “Meet us in the hall.” Anna nodded as Keira left the room.
    It was early afternoon by the time they arrived back at Drake Manor. Owain and Margaret were waiting outside, but there was no sign of Will.
    “I called him as soon as we saw you coming, but the young whelp needs a lesson in obedience,” Owain said as Aaron and Favian landed on the ground beside him.
    Aaron raised his bony eyebrows but said nothing as Favian let out a frustrated growl. “Perhaps you would like to take him back to Storbrook with you?” he said to Aaron.
    Aaron laughed. “I’ll have a word with him before I leave.” He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “He’s not far away. I’ll go talk to him now,” and spreading his massive wings, he launched himself back into the air.
    The rest of the party entered the house, joining Owain and Margaret in the parlor, where they talked about the funeral and coronation. When Aaron returned sometime later, it was with a quiet Will, who trailed behind his Master, his eyes on the ground.
    Lydia clung to Anna before she went to bed that night, her arms wrapped around Anna’s neck. “See you again soon?” she said.
    Anna blinked away the tears before replying. “Soon, baby girl,” she whispered.
    “Lydia sad,” sniffed the girl.
    “I’m sad, too,” Anna said, “and I’ll miss you terribly. “But I’ll be thinking of you every day.”
    Lydia nodded. “Me too,” she said.
    That evening, after the others had retired, Keira sat with Anna in her chambers. “Are you sure you want to stay?” Keira asked.
    Anna nodded. “Yes. If I don’t, I will always wonder what might have happened.” She paused. “Tell Garrick I’m sorry,” she added softly.
    “I will,” Keira said.
     
    Anna was quickly absorbed into the routine of Drake Manor. Each day she helped Cathryn with the children’s lessons. Will complained that at the age of fifteen, he had no further use for learning, but a stern lecture from his father made him reconsider. A dragon he might be, but with a life expectancy of three to four hundred years, it would behoove him well to gain whatever knowledge he could. Will was quick to point out that he had plenty of time to gain all the learning he could ever need, but when his grandfather joined the conversation, the argument died on his lips. Of course, there was dragon training, too, and every afternoon Favian or Owain took Will out for a few hours.
    Lessons with Bronwyn were far easier. Already, at the age of thirteen, she knew about the four humors of the human body, and understood that as a dragon, she tended more towards yellow bile and blood. Of course, a dragon’s make-up was somewhat different from a human’s, since a dragon is almost exclusively fire, fueled by flesh; and once she started changing into her dragon form, her inner workings would bear little resemblance to those of a human.
    Bronwyn spent the afternoon hours with her grandmother, learning needlecraft and music, unless Margaret was called away to tend to one the tenants. Margaret was well-known in the area as a healer, and would be sent for whenever someone was injured or ill. It had been under her ministrations that Keira was nursed back to health after she was injured by a dragon. Sometimes Cathryn would accompany her as a helper, and it was on one such afternoon that Anna suggested to Bronwyn