Free The Dragon's War by Samantha Sabian Page B

the adjacent terrace caught her eye as Skye came out and struck a similar pose. Skye’s survey of her surroundings settled on Raine, and Raine motioned her over.
    “You’re up early,” Raine commented as the attendant brought out a second cup of tea.
    “Thank you,” Skye said to the lovely server, who nodded graciously and wordlessly disappeared. “So are you.”
    Raine had dreamed of disturbing things, which had awakened her, but she did not share this with Skye. She had a feeling the young woman might have had her own disturbing dreams, and turned her head sideways to look at her.
    “Something on your mind?”
    Skye did not answer at first, then spoke quietly. “Ingrid is still out there.”
    “I know.”
    It was Skye’s turn to look sideways at Raine, wondering if Raine had sensed what she herself felt. Raine confirmed this.
    “Idonea said the sorceress was casting a spell of binding upon you when she arrived. She was able to block it, but I wonder if the smallest part did not get through.”
    Skye nodded in agreement. “I think that it did. I feel a faint connection to her, nothing as powerful as my connection to you, but something.”
    “I feel it as well,” Raine said.
    Skye grew even more troubled. She had not thought about it from that angle. Years ago, Raine had created a bond between them to save Skye’s life and keep her from passing into the Underworld. If Skye was connected to the sorceress, that meant Raine was, too.
    Raine read her expression and shook her head. “The bond I created with you was physical; the one between you and Ingrid is magical. It cannot affect me. I’m more concerned that she can find you.”
    “She found me easily enough before,” Skye said. “And it’s not as if she doesn’t know where I am. I’m not powerful enough to defeat her, not yet. So I’m going to have to find another way to deal with her.”
    “It’s not as if you’ll have to deal with her alone.”
    “I don’t want to keep endangering everyone around me because of her.”
    “What is it she wants from you?” Raine asked.
    Skye was thoughtful. “At first, I think she just wanted revenge on my great-grandfather. Now I feel that something has shifted. I know she enjoys having sex with me,” she added wryly.
    Raine hid a smile. The young Tavinter spoke almost matter-of-factly, tossing out a phrase that she would have choked on a few years back. She was becoming more like the Ha’kan every day.
    “And I think she drinks my blood,” Skye said.
    “That’s how she stays young.”
    “’Tis an odd beauty regimen,” Skye remarked. “But it works.”
    Raine remained silent. If Skye sensed a shift in the sorceress, Raine sensed an interesting shift in Skye as well. The hazel-eyed beauty turned to her.
    “You’ve known Ingrid for a long time, and had many run-ins with her. Is she evil?”
    “Not exactly. She has the potential to do incredibly evil things because she is ruthless in getting what she wants. She is vain, narcissistic, and craves power. That said, she is not unnecessarily cruel, but coldly efficient. Except when it comes to getting back at Isleif. Then she is evil.”
    “Did she kill my father?”
    “No,” Raine said, shaking her head, “that was the Garmlain.”
    Skye appeared relieved, and was silent for a moment. “What happened between her and Isleif?”
    Raine sighed. “Ingrid was very much in love with Isleif, but I don’t know that he was in love with her. He had secretly pined for Tova, your great-grandmother, for years. When Tova’s husband died, Isleif ‘comforted’ your great-grandmother, and your grandfather, Isolde’s father, was the result of that affair.”
    “Did Tova and Isleif stay together?”
    “No,” Raine said. “Their affair was brief. Ingrid never knew it, but Tova broke Isleif’s heart as surely as he broke hers. When Tova realized she was with child, she was not certain if Isleif or her husband was the father, and to her it didn’t matter. She