Dragons of Asgard 3 by Logan Jacobs (thriller novels to read txt) 📕

nightfall so we could make our way into the King’s palace and figure out what he was doing with all these dragons.

Unlike the dealers in the area, he didn’t need money, so there was no true reason he would need to be involved in the dragon trade. And if he wanted them as pets, he wouldn’t need so many all at once since it would be better to keep one or two and train them.

No, there was something else going on, and I intended to find out exactly what it was.

While I threw my weapon over and over again, I wracked my brain to try and figure out what the King was up to. He had such a large hand in the dragon trade, and part of me thought he was behind the whole thing in a simple attempt to make more coin. It wasn’t unheard of for the rich to become greedy and unable to think about anything but money.

Still, my gut told me that wasn’t it, but I wasn’t sure what else it could be.

It seemed like forever until the sun began its descent toward the horizon, but as soon as twilight began, I gathered the girls up so Preyna and Kas could cast their invisibility spell.

Once that was done, Blar made us a portal, and we stepped through into Alfheim.

It was time to see what the King was up to.

Chapter 12

We hadn’t been to the palace before, Blar had only seen it on the map, but his portal was surprisingly accurate. As soon as I stepped through, I realized we were in the courtyard of the palace, and I was incredibly relieved we’d applied our invisibility spell before we left Asgard.

“Good going, Blar,” I whispered to the little dragon.

“The entrance is right up there,” Asta said with a point to our left.

“Alright,” I said. “Once we’re inside, we split up.”

“Right,” Eira agreed. “Kas and Asta are with me.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Here, take this.”

I pulled the amulet Preyna had given me from my chest and handed it to Eira.

“If you find anything, simply hold the amulet and think of Rath,” Preyna explained.

“Got it,” the redhead said, and she cast me a surprisingly flirty wink. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

Though we were invisible, I’d made sure to split us up strategically. Preyna was new to missions like this, so she was with me, while Eira was with Kas and Asta because she was an incredible warrior while the other two were still learning. I had Blar, but the girls had Inger, Uffe, and Svass. This way, everyone was protected in case something went wrong.

I didn’t anticipate that happening, but it was always better to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

“We’ll try to find the dungeon,” Kas said.

Asta pursed her lips and looked down. I’d asked her earlier if she could get us down there, but she wasn’t sure how to get there, and she’d looked so upset by the question, I wasn’t going to push the issue. I couldn’t blame her for forgetting how to get to the place she’d been held captive.

On top of that, I doubted she’d been taken to the dungeon through the front doors, so it made sense she wouldn’t know how to get there.

“Try not to touch anything,” I reminded them.

“We’ll use the amulet if we find anything that needs your attention,” Kas assured me.

“Good.” I nodded and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

The girls followed me up the palace steps and around to the side of the building where we found a set of double doors that weren’t guarded.

We made our way inside, and we were careful to not make a sound as we closed the door behind us.

Once we were in the palace, I nodded to Eira, and she, Kas, and Asta slipped off down the hallway to the right while Preyna and I headed to the left.

The palace was made of beautiful white and golden marble, with floors to match. There were some golden rugs down the length of the hallways, along with numerous paintings of past Kings.

I noticed most of the past Kings had families, however, the current King did not. In lieu of a family portrait, there was another painting of him sitting near a huge fireplace with a portrait of himself hung on the mantle.

He had golden hair that hung down to his shoulders, with sunken in dark-green eyes and a long, dignified nose. Based off the fireplace, he was fairly tall, with long, lanky limbs, and he had the longest, most disgusting fingernails I’d ever seen.

“How conceited,” Preyna whispered as we stopped to look at the picture.

“You have to be conceited to think your life is above that of another living, sentient being,” I sneered.

I hadn’t liked this arsehole already, but this painting made it even worse. The elf King was not only completely self-obsessed, he was also a lunatic. No ruler in their right mind would put up a portrait of themselves standing next to another portrait of themselves.

Part of me couldn’t decide whether it was sad, or just plain stupid. Maybe there was something wrong with this guy. Perhaps he belonged in the part of the realm we’d been in a few days before, where those who were ostracized by society were sent.

Then again, even if he did belong there, nobody would have admitted it. That was the problem with royalty from what I’d seen over the years in the warband. Even when rulers were absolutely awful, it took an uprising to get them out of their position since they felt it was a given right to be there.

No matter how awful this man had been, his parents would have given him the throne regardless.

I shook my head at the ways of royalty and kept moving through