Dragon Flight (23 page)

Authors: Jessica Day George

Tags: #Ages 10 and up

BOOK: Dragon Flight

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I hesitated. “I don’t think I deserve to be a duchess just because I’ve managed to survive two wars,” I finally said. Then I straightened my spine. “Your father will kill us both! He hates me, my common birth aside!” It was hard for me to keep my voice to a whisper, but I did my best, ignoring Mistress Hargady’s glares.

“He does suspect that you started the wars on purpose,” Luka said, amused. “But that doesn’t matter. I’m a second son; I have more room to manoeuvre than Miles.”

“Manoeuvre?”

“You know what I mean: to fall in love.” A thrill ran through me at his words. He loved me!

Luka pulled me closer. “Say yes.”

I was still tingling all over. “I shall have to think about it,” I said with mock dignity as I extracted myself from his arms. People were starting to stare. “I
do
have a shop to run.”

“I am accounted a fair bookkeeper,” Luka said.

“And I have promised to visit the Far Isles next spring to see Shardas and Velika’s new home and bring them more seeds and perhaps animals.”

“The Far Isles would be a fine destination for a bridal tour.”

I tapped my lips, feigning deep thought. All the while my heart continued to pound and the roaring in my ears was preventing me from hearing the patriarch’s final words.

“I’ll have to see if you look as impressive as Tobin, shirtless and with weapons hanging all over you,” I said, but my shaking voice ruined the lightness of my words.

“And I shall have to sample your bread. We all know that sewing a gown is not a problem for you.” He cleared
his throat, and I was pleased that he looked nervous, too. “Is that a yes?”

“As long as you understand that we’ll have to get married out of doors, whether here or in Feravel,” I said, squeezing his hands in mine. “After all, the head of my family
is
a dragon.”

Acknowledgements

For the record, I never meant to write this book.

After I wrote
Dragonskin Slippers
, I thought I was done. It’s funny, because I’m a huge dragon fan. I collect ’em, read any book with a dragon on the cover, but have never had an idea for a dragon book until
Slippers
came along. I wrote it thinking, “This is it, this is my dragon book, my little tribute. The ending is sort of sad, but with a glimmer of hope, and now I’ll move on.” But my dear editor kept saying things like, “And if you write a follow-up …” And I would tell her no, there were no plans for that. Then
Slippers
came out, and people (other than my family) read it. Readers wanted to know what happened to Shardas and Creel and Luka, and request after request for a sequel smacked into my e-mail in-box. But I still had no ideas, until one day, while working on something completely different and instant messaging my husband (I am a multitasking queen), he started to bug me about it.

“You know you’ll write one.”

“Never!”

“Yes, you will.”

“No way! It’s not like I have any good ideas for one, like Creel and Shardas going to rescue an entire army of collared dragons who … Wow! Hey! I need to write that down!”

So here it is, the sequel I never saw coming and that was largely made possible by the usual suspects: my husband, who really puts up with an awful lot; our genius child, whose fondness for Pixar movies and taking almost alarmingly long naps is what provides me with writing time (I dedicated this book to him because I thought, if I were a boy, I would totally want to have a book about dragons fighting to the death dedicated to me!); my dear supportive family who have loudly and proudly promoted my books; friends like Amy Finnegan who read the rough draft and actually liked it; my agent who read the slightly-less-rough draft and also liked it. Thanks, guys, you make it all worthwhile.

Pronunciation Guide

Alle
(Al-
lay
): apprentice dressmaker; friend and employee of Creel

Amacarin
(Am-uh-
car
-in): a blue-grey male dragon

Amalia
(Ah-
mah
-lee-uh): spoiled Roulaini princess; was once betrothed to Crown Prince Miles

Anranria
or
Ria
(An-ran-
ree
-uh or
Ree
-uh): a red female dragon, originally from Luriel

Arjas
(
Ah
-ree-ahs): grand vizier of Citatie

Baul
(Bawl): a cousin of King Nason

Carlieff
(
Cahr
-leef): Creel’s hometown

Caxel
(
Caks
-ehl): king of Feravel

Citatie; Citatian
(Sih-
tah
-tee; Sih-
tah
-tee-an): a desert country to the south of Feravel; one from Citatie

Creel
or
Creelisel
(Creel or
Cree
-lee-sehl): a dressmaker

Darrym
(Dehr-
eem
): a green and brown male dragon

Derda
(
Dur
-duh): a popular dressmaker, now retired

Dranvel
(
Drahn
-vel): a county in eastern Feravel

Feniul
(
Fen
-yool): a green male dragon; cousin of Shardas

Feravel
(
Fair
-uh-vel): Creel’s country

Gala
(Gah-lah): a bronze female dragon with young hatchlings

Hagen
(Hah-gehn): Creel’s younger brother; a museum curator and farmer

Isla
(
Iz
-luh): Countess of Dranvel and fiancée of Prince Miles

Krashath
(Kra-
shath
): a white male dragon; Shardas’s brother

Lanon
(
Lah
-non): younger brother of Baul; Citatian

Larkin
(
Lahrk
-in): a former apprentice of Derda

Luka
(
Loo
-kah): the younger son of King Caxel

Luriel
(
Luh
-ree-el): a country to the southeast of Citatie

Marisel
(
Mehr
-ee-sel): Creel’s mother’s name

Marta
or
Marita
(
Mahr
-tuh or
Mahr
-ee-tah): Creel’s business partner and closest friend

Mellelie
(Meh-
leh
-lee): a narrow strait between Roulain and Citatie

Milun
(My-luhn): ancestor of King Caxel who created the dragonskin slippers; also Luka’s older brother, called Miles

Moralien; Moralienin
(Mohr-ah-
lee
-ehn; Mohr-ah-lee-
ehn
-in): a northern island nation; one from Moralien

Mordrel
(Mohr-
drehl
): the estate and title of a kindly duke and duchess

Nason
(
Neh
-sun): king of Citatie

Niva
(
Nih
-vuh): a green female dragon with saffron yellow wings

Pelletie
(Pehl-
uh
-tee): the capital of Citatie

Rolian
(
Roh
-lee-an): young king of Roulain

Roulain; Roulaini
(Roo-
layn
; Roo-
layn
-ee): a country to the south and east of Feravel; one from Roulain

Sarryck
(
Sair
-ik): an earl and military advisor to King Caxel

Shardas
(
Shahr
-dus): king of the dragons

Skarpin
(
Skahr
-pihn): Tobin’s older brother

Theoradus
(Thee-oh-
rah
-dus): a brown male dragon; deceased

Tobin
(
Toh
-bin): former bodyguard of Luka; betrothed to Marta; Moralienin

Ulfrid
(
Uhl
-freed): Tobin’s sister; an innkeeper in the King’s Seat

Velika
(
Vel
-ih-kuh): the queen of the dragons

Also by Jessica Day George

Dragonskin Slippers
Dragon Spear

Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney

This electronic edition published in February 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain in August 2008 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 2478 8

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www.jessicadaygeorge.com

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