Black Heart Read Online Free

been addressed.
    The creature seemed to take forever to eat. I hoped that it wouldn’t decide to nap there by the stream, because my bladder was starting to protest. After a very long while, the dragon finally lumbered to the stream and took a long drink.
    I heard it slurping and wondered whether the water would enchant the dragon as it had me. Apparently not, because a few moments later the dragon beat its heavy wings and soared into the starry night.
    I jumped down from the tree, using my wings to drift to the ground, and attended to my needs with great relief. Soon the baby would start pressing on my bladder all the time. I wondered how that would affect my ability to deal with the almost-daily threats to my life. I didn’t think any of my mortal enemies would stop trying to kill me just because I said, “Hang on. I’ve got to pee.”
    And mortal enemies I had aplenty. Titania, the High Queen of Faerie, ranked number one right now, but Focalor was still lurking around somewhere waiting for his chance to strike. Focalor had gone to the trouble of helping my father, Azazel, rebel against Lucifer. He’d kidnapped and tortured Gabriel once and tried to sell my bodyguard to Amarantha as a stud. And he’d tried to have me killed many times over. There was no way he was going to just forget about me, not when I was instrumental in making sure he did not get what he wanted.
    Amarantha had proved a tenacious foe despite the fact that I had already killed her once. And surely the vampires would be sending assassins my way soon in vengeance for the complete and utter destruction of their brethren at my hands—which had been caught on live television.
    Then there was the pending problem of Lucifer’s new progeny, conceived in death and currently growing inside Evangeline’s belly. Now that Alerian had risen, it seemed the millenniums-old power struggle between Lucifer, Puck, Alerian and their mysterious fourth brother was starting anew.
    You didn’t need to be a seer to know that Evangeline’s child was going to be a factor—or that Puck and Lucifer were going to do everything they could to drag Nathaniel and me into this mess.
    All of that didn’t even take the Retrievers into account, which were the reason why I was in the middle of a jungle on an alien world trying to avoid getting eaten by a dragon or drowned by malicious water sprites.
    When I ran down the list like that, it was hard not to feel depressed. And my group of friends had shrunk rapidly. No matter how magically powerful I became, it was still a lot nicer to know that I had my super team at my back. Now I didn’t have a team at all.
    Well, hanging around here won’t solve anything,
I thought. I was going back. I’d take my chances with the Retrievers and the Agency. Maybe Lucifer would even show up and throw his weight around for a change. That would be nice.
    I was hardly the helpless princess in a tower, but it would be refreshing if someone else rode to the rescue once in a while.
    I realized I was standing under a tree in the dark, woolgathering. It would be a fine thing if I was attacked because I was spacing out instead of getting on with my business.
    I flapped my wings, ascending high enough to be out of the reach of the grasping water creatures. I flew over the stream, landing on the far side, looking for the glint of metal in the darkness. I didn’t see it.
    Maybe I’d miscalculated. Maybe the sword was a little farther up- or downstream. I was leery of getting too close to the water. I didn’t know whether the sprites woke up only if you drank from the stream, or whether they lay in wait for anyone who approached. It didn’t seem smart to risk it, but my memory told me the sword was pretty close to the water. If I wanted it, I’d have to get closer.
    I crept cautiously toward the flowing water, and almost immediately felt an overwhelming urge to drink it again. I slid backward in the dirt, and the impulse passed. Interesting. The stream