What follows is a long stream of draconic cursing and a rain of sparks that subsequently sets off every car alarm within a two-block radius. “And as the Lightning Rod is currently without a proper focus, the House of Bremenschmeid humbly requests to offer our liege our latest, finest creation.” I grin now, tapping the staff that’s clipped again to my belt. “To present their masterworks for use by the Sorcerer Kings.” “The Stonekin were created as personal smiths to the Keth.” Anger flushes her face. “And my people were created by the Ra’keth for…what purpose?”Īs a dragon, and allegedly an expert on all things Keth, she’d have the answer, and considering her face scrunched up like she ate a bad pickle, she knows what I’m talking about. “As you’ve pointed out so repeatedly, I’m a Dwarf.” I return the same smile she gave me in the club. She snorts sparks, which splash against the car’s hood. “Besides, Dragon, I must be taken to see the Lightning Rod immediately. The only thing I have to offer is something I won’t give her, because the staff is for James and… Dave is either on the outs with his family or isn’t wealthy enough to matter, so I can hardly ask him to take me to wherever the hell she was talking about in the Palace.

She’s right, at least about not owing me anything. “I’ll believe that when he tells me personally.” Despite what that recurring nightmare says. And do not presume your…dalliance with His Majesty engenders any consideration. “Or what? I owe you nothing and you have nothing to give me. James’s decree that there can be only one Ra’keth at a time.

Breaking Ties by Vaughn R. Demont