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

come closer. I leaned in until I was practically touching the pendant with my nose. I studied the gemstone, but didn’t see anything. I looked at my father, who just shook his head at me and nodded back at the jewelry he was patiently holding over the flame. I looked again.

There — I could see something. At first I thought it was my reflection, but it couldn’t be. The image of myself in the amber was too clear for that. It was more like my likeness had been caught inside the amber. And I felt it pulling me in, crying out for me. My father willingly dropped the necklace into my outstretched hand. Once my fingers touched it, I felt much better. Complete.

“May I?” My father took the necklace from me and clasped it around my neck. He beamed. “Perfect. It suits you, daughter of dragons.”

Chapter Thirty-Three 

I SPENT THE NEXT DAY practicing my magic and shapeshifting skills, aided by my new soulstone, while Joichan rested in the back of the cave. With the stone, I was able to change forms faster and maintain my dragon self longer.

After several hours of intense spell casting, I sat down next to my father for a much-needed break.

“Even with my new soulstone, it’s much harder work than I thought,” I said.

“You’re doing well, considering other shifters have been practicing since they were children, and you’re trying to cram a lifetime of learning into just a few days,” Father said. I basked in the glow of his praise, something I had rarely gotten from my false father, Hendon.

Which reminded me...

“Father, something has been bothering me.”

“Yes, Jennica?”

“How did Hendon get a hold of your soulstone? And how was he able to use it against you?”

In dragon form, Joichan arched his back, stretching. “I was a fool, overly trusting. Hendon sought me out, claiming he hoped to learn from my dragon wisdom. I allowed him to stay with me for several days, in which he learned much about Annlyn and dragon magic — and my soulstone. Including how to create one, and how to tap into the magic of an existing one. Soulstones, while primarily used by shapeshifters, can aid other users of magic. It’s just that the secret of how to create one is very well protected by us shapeshifters. My only consolation is that he never learned I was able to change into a human too, as I didn't shift at all when he was staying with me.

“One night, he drugged me and stole my necklace while I slept. I woke up and my stone was gone, with no way of tracking him. I could only surmise that he must have cast or carried some kind of spell to disguise himself and obliterate his tracks. I spent several months hunting him down, finally locating him somewhere near Calia. So I settled down there to wait for him, hoping his greed would cause him to be foolish.”

“Greed? What do you mean?”

Joichan pointed at my amber pendant. “A soulstone is linked to only one person upon its creation. It gains its power through the constant usage and link it has with its person. A symbiotic loop, if you will. If someone else were to use it, they would eventually deplete its magic, since they are not ‘keyed in’ to the soulstone. My stone would have run out of power and then Hendon would either need to create his own or replenish mine.”

“But Hendon’s not a shapeshifter. How could he create a soulstone?”

“Ah, that’s the trick, isn’t it? As I recall, he’s from Rothshan. They’re about as magically dry as you can get — not only does that kingdom have no magical abilities, they pass down teachings about how evil it is, so they have generations of mental defenses built up against it. It would take a lot of magical power for someone like him. An immense amount of power. And it’s dangerous; it could backfire on him and cause him to go insane. Or even kill him. It’s incredibly risky, but if he could do it successfully then he would have a source of magical power to tap into. It would eventually run out though, since, again, he has no innate magic. He’d have to find a way to replenish it somehow.”

BY THE END OF THE DAY I had just about mastered conscious control of my changing, even if I wasn’t able to stay a dragon for more than half a day.

My father declared his pride in my progress, and with the next breath, announced that he was completely well and we would leave in the morning for Calia. I was glad to get going; I still couldn’t connect with Taryn. But I was also worried about what we’d face back home — and facing Hendon.

We didn’t prepare any provisions for the trip. Since we’d be flying to Calia in our dragon forms, we would hunt for food along the way. But my father didn’t think it would be necessary, as he said the trip would take just under a day. I hoped I would be able to keep up. I hadn’t had a chance to practice flying, since just changing into a dragon had been such an ordeal for me.

In the morning, before we left, I prepared an extremely large breakfast. Bemused, my father grabbed a single roll and sat down, eyeing me as I wolfed down my food.

“Flying on an overly full stomach can slow you down,” he cautioned. “Not to mention give you stomach cramps.”

I piled a second helping onto my plate. “I just don’t want to hinder our journey by having to stop.”

“Hunting on the go is not a problem. It’s quite easy, actually, and a skill you should learn.”

I shuddered. “No, thank you.”

My father laughed. “When you’re in dragon form, the instincts take over. You don’t even notice the raw meat.”

I tried not to gag. “I’d prefer not to have to hunt at all.”

“It’s inevitable. Dragons, even small