Read Online Dragon Mine (A Hidden Novella) by Jaime Rush - Free Book Online

on the steering wheel, frustration engulfing him.
    “If only we could find my father.” She shook her head, her mussed brown hair flowing over her shoulders. “He did a terribly irresponsible thing, but I can’t imagine him just running off and leaving that thing to roam. I hope Nana’s right about him consulting with someone to find a way to undo what he’s done.”
    Kirin dug out his phone. “I’m going to try Lyra. I’d like to know what she found.” He dialed her number, but it went to voice mail. “Call me,” he said after the beep. “We may have figured out where Pop is.” He disconnected. “That should get her to call right back.”
    *  *  *
    Goron clapped as the two Crescents escaped the tulpa’s clutches. “Bravo, bravo! I do so love a good entertainment, even if I have lost the wager.” He looked at the Deuce god sitting in the recliner next to him. “It looks as though I owe you an hour of my Dragon power.”
    Sedash pushed to his feet. “You’re reluctant to part with even an hour, and yet, you disdain Dragons.”
    Goron lifted his chin. “Self-important beasts, always going on about how societies have feared or worshipped them from the beginning of time, forgetting that we are the source of all magick.”
    “And yet you covet their essence. How interesting.”
    “It’s not interesting at all. Don’t we all want what we cannot have? That is how we came to be in this situation. Wanting physicality and all that came with it.”
    “Yes, and look how that ended.”
    Goron snorted. “It is a diversion, nothing more. I found more delight in tearing his essence from him.”
    “You made it painful, I’m sure?”
    “Of course. Now I’m glad I did.” Goron fisted his hands. “How did they escape, especially with the Crescent having no Dragon?”
    Sedash said, “Could you not feel his love for the woman? It was that emotion that drove him beyond his human abilities. And weakened the tulpa.”
    “Silly emotions.” He glanced through the veil where they could watch the lower plane of existence. “You wish to wager again as to who wins when they return?”
    “It’s hardly fair, old man. They succeeded in escaping without his Dragon. Tomorrow he will have it back.”
    “Call me a fool.”
    The god laughed, a deep, booming sound that probably sounded like thunder over Miami. “All right, fool, I will take your wager. If you lose, you spend one day at a Mundane childcare center.” Their presence always made the babies act up.
    Goron cringed. The last time he’d lost such a wager, the crying children had given him a headache for a month. “I hate children.”
    Sedash grinned. “I know.”
    “And you will spend the evening at a Mundane nightclub, until closing.”
    Sedash grimaced. “Even after the lights come on?”
    “Especially then.”
    Goron hid his smile. The moment the two Crescents had escaped, he’d felt cheated. He had an idea how to up the odds in his favor. “We have a wager.”

Chapter 7
    E lle and Kirin trudged up the stairs to the second floor and their bedrooms. She could see that he was trying to hide how painful each step was. “I could ask Nana to heal us, but then I’d have to admit we went to the factory.”
    “Nothing a hot shower and a few hours of sleep can’t fix.”
    She remembered hot showers with Kirin. She didn’t want to, but she did.
    He checked her over. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
    “No, I’m just sore. Bruised.” Aching inside.
    She paused at her bedroom door. “Esmerelda will be here in the morning to fix breakfast and clean. If you’re awake, come down and eat.”
    They’d grabbed dinner at a Pollo Tropical, eating Cuban chicken, black beans, and rice in the car rather than subjecting others to their scraped-up, dirty selves. Neither of them was hungry, but Kirin insisted they eat anyway. Now she was glad they had.
    Except she felt hungry for something else. For Kirin’s arms around her as she floated