Read Online The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland - Free Book Online Page B

we have feasts,” Riptide said. “Especially when Queen Blister is —”
    A commotion from below interrupted him. Tsunami sprang to the edge and gazed down at the lake.
    A huge blue SeaWing, exactly the color of Tsunami’s scales, burst out of the tunnel. Vines of pearls were woven around her horns and neck and wings, and a twisted white horn with a wicked-looking point was attached to the end of her tail. She had odd black stains on her claws, but she was the most beautiful sight Tsunami had ever seen.
    All over the palace, dragons were folding down into low bows.
    This had to be her mother — queen of the SeaWings. Tsunami reached to grab Riptide’s forearm, feeling dizzy with joy.
    But as Queen Coral shot out of the water, Tsunami saw that she wore a thin, webbed harness with a long cord . . . which led to a harness on another dragon, flying close behind her.
    The second dragon was much smaller — a dragonet only about a year old, perhaps. She flapped her wings frantically, trying to keep up. With a jolt of shock, Tsunami spotted the royal pattern of stripes on the underside of her wings.
    “Who is that?” she hissed at Riptide. He was backing away to the edge of the floor, the farthest spot from the throne.
    “That’s Anemone,” he said, blinking in surprise. “Your sister.”

An enemy.
    Anemone.
    An enemy.
    It took Tsunami a few moments to realize what Riptide had actually said. Her skin prickled, hearing
an enemy, an enemy
, until it sank in that he’d been saying a name.
    Anemone.
Tsunami’s sister. Another heir to the throne.
    So much for being special. So much for her guaranteed future kingdom.
    “Uh-oh,” Glory said, echoing her thoughts. “Looks like you’ve got some competition. Maybe you’re not destined to be queen after all.”
    Tsunami whirled toward Starflight, her gills flaring. “You said I was the only one,” she cried. “You said none of the others survived.”
    “That’s what I read,” he protested. He spread his black claws. “Blame the Talons, not me. Our scrolls were often old and outdated.
The Royal Lineage of the SeaWings, from the Scorching to the Present
must have been written before this one was hatched.” He nodded at the little dragon flapping behind the queen.
    Anemone was a pale, pale blue, almost white like an IceWing, with hints of pink along her wings and ears and horns. She looked a little bit like the dolphins they’d seen earlier, and Tsunami wondered grumpily if that was really why Queen Coral had forbidden SeaWings to eat them — in case one of them ate Anemone by mistake. Anemone’s eyes were large and blue, and tiny strands of pearls were woven around her neck and tail as if to match her mother’s.
    That could have been me,
Tsunami thought.
I could have been the one with matching pearls and a matching throne and a mother who loved me, if the Talons hadn’t stolen me from my home.
    She didn’t have a chance to notice anything else, because suddenly Queen Coral was landing and running toward her.
    “My baby!” Coral cried. Enormous blue wings whooshed around Tsunami, enveloping her in a hug that smelled of sea air and starfish. Pearls pressed into Tsunami’s face as Coral cuddled her close. Her wet scales were warm and her talons were gentle as she stroked Tsunami’s head and back and wings.
    “I knew you’d come back to me,” she said. “I knew you were out there, trying to find your way back. I never stopped searching for you.”
    It was exactly what Tsunami had always wanted to hear.
    Actually it was word-for-word what the queen said in
The Missing Princess
, but Tsunami shoved that thought aside.
    She leaned into her mother, feeling elation flood her from horns to claws.
Someone
does
want me. I have a place in the world.
    “Mo
ther
,” whined a tiny voice from behind them. “
Ow.
That was too fast. I think I hurt my claws.”
    Queen Coral let go of Tsunami, whirled around, and tugged Anemone closer with the harness cord. The little