Another CLOAK OF DRAGONFIRE excerpt

It’s Friday! Let’s have another spoiler-free excerpt from CLOAK OF DRAGONFIRE.

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“Then to avoid the conflict,” I said, “you’ll leave Earth and go hunt bison on some uninhabited world?”

Tarthrunivor’s dark eyes slid to me. The dragons all had a weight and intensity to their gaze while in human form, but I could almost feel the attention of Tarthrunivor’s eyes. “Hardly. But as I am sure you have realized, we dragons bring immense value to the economy of Earth. Look around you. Between the dragons, we control a significant portion of your world’s economic output. Tarlia requires money – armies and weapons do not pay for themselves. I simply wish for our contribution to her realm to be…properly appreciated, shall we say.”

“I assume you have some ideas about how that appreciation could be expressed?” I said.

Tarthrunivor smiled. It was not a sight to put one’s mind at ease. “Marshal, I had assumed you were a neophyte at diplomacy, but I see you have grasped the essentials with gratifying speed.”

-JM