Read Online Origin Exposed: Descended of Dragons, Book 2 by Jen Crane - Free Book Online

“This is something we can discuss in the future. When things are clearer. When you’ve had time to sort out your feelings about your mother and the other dragons.”
    I jerked my arm from Gresham as he tried to calm me. “I’m never going to help you capture them, Gresham. You can forget that right now. Could you promise me they’d get a fair trial? That the truth of their role in the Steward Massacre would come out and be seen objectively?”
    When he said nothing I knew he couldn’t. So this was their plan. For me to betray my own blood. My stomach roiled with disgust at the thought of assisting in the capture of my newfound family.
    I was so mad I could've breathed fire. And I really thought I might. I had to calm down. Or get out of there. Or both. My heart thundered at such a pace I decided calming down was the first priority.
    “Can I use your restroom?” I blurted in the general direction of Professor Lochlain.
    “Of course,” he said, startled at my biting tone. “Just through there.”
    I pushed open the creaky bathroom door and tripped on a wooden stool that sat just under the sink. I let out a string of curse words as my shoulder hit the hard wall.
    “I’m all right,” I announced to deter them from coming to check on me.
    I splashed cold water on my face and made an effort to slow my erratic breathing. My head throbbed in time to my racing heart, so I leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths to regain my composure. It was when my heart finally slowed, when the ringing stopped in my ears, that I caught parts of Gresham and Lochlain’s muted conversation.
    I couldn’t catch what Gresham had said, but Professor Lochlain was less discreet. “How did Gaspare react when you told him she’s his own niece?”
    My breath hitched on its way down my diaphragm and it was a struggle not to cough to better hear Gresham’s reply. It was faint.
    “He wants to meet her, of course, though I’m hesitant for obvious reasons.”
    “I imagine she wants to meet her father’s people, too,” Professor Lochlain said. “That could certainly help with the first portion of our plan—a unified front. Gaspare could make a show of teaching her the ways of an omni.”
    “I haven’t told her,” Gresham mumbled.
    Lochlain gasped. “You haven’t told her?”
    “Quiet,” Gresham rasped.
    It was too late. The ringing in my ears was back. Worse, darkness crept around the edges of my vision. I knew what came next: stars. I was on the verge of passing out. Damned if I would do it in Professor Lochlain’s squatty bathroom.

Chapter 10
    U nconsciousness crept toward me like a man with a burlap sack. Before it could overtake me, I raised the back of one foot, hoping the movement and the thought of my Sabre Hall room was enough to get me home. It was. I fell roughly onto my bed before everything went dark.

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    “ S tell ? Stella? Gods help me,” Timbra’s frantic words were far away. They echoed and bounced within my brain long before I was able to make sense of where I was, what had happened.
    I sat up with a jolt as adrenaline coursed through my veins at the recollection of the whispered revelations just before I passed out.
    I found Timbra’s gaze. “How long was I out?”
    Her face was flushed with concern. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” She lay her hands on my forehead and my cheeks, checking for a temperature, before I knocked them away.
    “How long was I unconscious? It’s important. I need to hurry.”
    “Ah, I don’t know. Maybe a minute at most? I heard you moan and the bed springs creak. I started to leave you to your business, but when it became eerily quiet, I knew something wasn’t right. You’re fairly loud…”
    “Okay, I get the point. Next time, I’m getting a suite mate who’s deaf.”
    “Oh!” she said, affronted. “Like who? You want to share a shower with a snake?”
    “Dammit. Let’s debate my new accommodations later. I need to know who can create a ward