Heir of Amber and Fire by Rachanee Lumayno (read aloud books .TXT) 📕

had mine. Most people would never give up such a treasure. Why did you?”

I took a deep breath, fearful and hopeful all at once. What would he say when I told him?

“I had to,” I said. “It was yours. And you’re my father.”

Chapter Thirty

FOR A VERY LONG MOMENT we just stared at each other. In the depths of his mesmerizing golden eyes, I could see my image, dimly. It felt like not only was he seeing me, but he was seeing in me and through me.

“How...?” Joichan’s voice trailed off.

“Queen Melandria of Calia is my mother,” I said.

“Melandria.” The dragon seemed to grow bigger and brighter. “How I’ve missed her. She’s never far from my thoughts, even after all these years.”

“Twenty, at least.” I chuckled. The dragon joined in, a snort of smoke curling from his nostrils.

“Forgive me...”

“Jennica. My name is Jennica.”

“Your friend called you by a different name.”

“Yes. I couldn’t give my companions my real name. It’s not safe for me to use right now.”

Joichan nodded gravely in understanding. “Forgive me, Jennica. I find this all quite hard to believe.”

“I know. It was a shock to me too.” Remembering something, I gasped. “Wait. Let me show you something.”

I hurried to my pack, rummaging around until my hand closed on a packet of paper buried at the bottom. Returning to Joichan, I held out my mother’s letter to him. “Here. My mother — Queen Melandria — wrote this.”

Joichan gingerly took the papers from my outstretched hand. Belatedly, I thought perhaps maybe I should have waited until he was back in human form. But no, the dragon before me was avidly reading the pages, holding them with a single delicate claw.

When he finished, Joichan turned his great amber eyes on me. There was a watery sheen to them, and I realized that the great dragon was about to cry.

“My daughter,” he breathed. “I am truly sorry. Had I known you existed, I would have returned to Calia a long time ago to find you.”

“Mother made sure to hide the truth from everyone,” I reassured him. “She was worried what the king — her husband Hendon, not her late father — would do if he found out I wasn’t his child. Although we think he suspects it anyway.”

Joichan’s countenance darkened at the mention of Hendon. “So, that thief is now the ruler of Calia. And married to Melandria.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“I should have gone back, even without my soulstone. Hendon was able to use my magic against me, but I would have figured out something. Or died in the attempt. But it would have been better than leaving Melandria alone with that man.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept silent. His anger spent, Joichan fell silent in his own brown study. His tail twitched, keeping time with his thoughts, and kicked up some dust in the cave. I sneezed. Joichan blinked, remembering that I was there with him.

“No use in regretting the past,” he said. “You’re here now, that’s what matters. Speaking of which...”

The creature in front of me shimmered, and the air in the cave grew thick and opaque. I looked around blindly, but no amount of blinking or straining would let me see anything.

When the air cleared, there was a man standing in front of me.

He was tall, at least a foot taller than me. He looked like fire in human form, from his golden brown skin to his dark honey hair, which changed from light brown to red to gold, depending on how the light from the cave walls caught it. He was dressed in a homespun shirt and trousers, and I idly wondered how he included the clothes in his transformation, since the dragon hadn’t been wearing anything.

The man held his arms open, and I stepped into my father’s embrace.

Even though I had only known Joichan for a few hours at most, hugging him felt like the most natural thing in the world. Hendon was not a warm person, and he had certainly never treated me like a father would his daughter. But something about Joichan spoke to my heart. The missing pieces I had always felt, if not outright acknowledged, suddenly fell into place.

Joichan held me out at arm’s length. In turn, I was able to get a good look at the human side of my father. There were streaks of gray at his temples, something I hadn’t noticed from a distance. He smiled, crinkles reaching his eyes as they flashed gold, then back to a more human brown. The moonstone pendant hung from his neck, half hidden under the collar of his shirt.

“You look just like her,” he said.

“Mostly,” I said. “Apparently I have your eyes.”

His smile grew broader. “Yes, I can see that.”

He walked over to a cupboard in the human-sized area of the cave and pulled down two porcelain cups. “Tea?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Have a seat.” Joichan gestured toward a small table, and I sat down, watching him putter around. He snapped his fingers, and steam suddenly spouted from the teapot on his counter. He added some leaves to each of the cups, poured boiling water into them, and brought everything over on a silver tray. The crisp smell of mint wafted toward me. Joichan gave me a cup of tea, then took the other and settled back in his seat.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” he said. “Tell me about yourself, your mother, your life in Calia.”

“Wow, where should I start?” I quipped. “Let’s see... well, after you left, Mother married Sir Hendon. Grandfather passed away when I was very young; I don’t remember much about him, but I think he took a lot of the kingdom’s happiness with him when he died.”

“Does Hendon treat you and Melandria well? Does he at least rule the kingdom well?”

“He’s done decently by Calia, I guess. I haven’t heard of any major grumblings against him, just the usual ‘taxes are too high’ or ‘things could be better’ kind of thing.