Read Online A Shade of Dragon by Bella Forrest - Free Book Online

Theon called to me. I turned, breathless, and peered up into his frown. “What is so exciting about the rodent?”
    “It was this movie that my dad took me to see right after he and my mom got divorced,” I explained, marching toward the box office to collect my tickets. “It was really important to me, you know? I was very stressed out over the whole thing, and this movie let me be a kid again for an hour and a half. It helped—a little—to heal the messed-up way I was starting to feel toward my dad, too. Could I have two tickets for Ratatouille, December twenty-sixth, preferably a matinee?” This I directed toward the young boy in the ticket booth.
    “That’ll be thirteen dollars,” he squeaked.
    I paid, collected my tickets, and turned to Theon. “It’s the perfect gift,” I assured him. Overwhelmed with gratitude, I flung myself into his arms and held tight for a moment. How was it possible that I felt his heart throbbing against mine, even through both of our sweaters and coats? I closed my eyes and cherished the moment, thenpulled away and glanced up at him. “You said you are from Iphras. What is that, exactly?”
    Theon smiled down at me. His palm came to the side of my face and stroked my cheek. His amber eyes flared an impossible gold, and I was hard-pressed to notice whether or not such a shade existed in nature. “Iphras is a major river, much like your Nile,” he explained, drawing his hand away and wrapping it around mine once again.
    We resumed our walk. Your Nile? He said that as if the Nile, which was native to Egypt, was more mine than his, even though I was clearly not of African descent. How could the Nile be mine, but not his?
    And if the Iphras was the equivalent of the Nile… why had I never even heard of it before?

Chapter 14: Nell
    I was still stewing on the matter of Iphras when we reached Goose Pond, void of all geese in late December. A small stand had been erected at the front gate, and from that stand you could rent your blades for a few dollars, sign their insurance waiver, and get out on the ice.
    Theon came to a stop alongside me, but I continued to mill forward, distracted. When I turned back to him, I found him six feet behind me, staring toward Goose Pond. It was mostly filled with happy children, bundled to the gills and shrieking with frostbitten glee. Yet Theon remained morose.
    “Hey,” I said, ambling back toward him. I frowned, and my worries fizzled away at the expression on his face. “Are you all right?”
    “Fine,” Theon replied coldly. “I just… hate the ice. And winter. Maybe I should not have come here.”
    “Why don’t you get out on the ice with me?” I prodded. “See how it can be fun.”
    Theon exhaled and stared at me hard, weighing my words. Finally, he nodded.
    “Take me onto the ice, then. Show me how it can be ‘fun.’”
    I hurried back to the rental stand and dished out a handful of ones in exchange for two pairs of rental skates. I led him through the enclosure and out to the pond, hemmed in with families resting on wrought-iron benches, watching the children play. We sat down on a bench and I popped off my high-heeled boots in favor of the ragged white skates I’d been given. Lacing them tightly up to my ankles, I glanced over at Theon and saw him holding the skates as if they were weapons—clutched in his hand, the blade facing out—and frowning. I laughed, snatching the skates from him and offering to show him how to use them.
    I knelt and took each of his feet—as massive as his hands—and slid them into his size-fifteen blades. The woman at the kiosk had informed us that they were the only pair of size-fifteen skates at the rental booth, and this was the first time anyone had rented them. “There we go,” I murmured to myself as I finished lacing them up.
    I stood and extended my hand to him. He took it, though I could tell he used none of his weight against me as he stood. If he had, I would have been quickly pulled onto