Her father eased up on the blade, smiling a slow smile. If he was uncertain before, he was uncertain no longer. He did indeed have what she wanted.
Asha’s heart beat out a frantic rhythm as she stared at the blood staining the collar of Torwin’s shirt. The same shirt she’d kissed him in.
This was not going as planned.
Think, Asha.
In the back of her mind, a shadow moved.
Restless. Worried.
No, she thought. Her father knew they had dragons. Which meant he would be prepared for them.
Asha couldn’t let Kozu come here. They would kill him.
So she did the only thing she could think of. Pinning her hopes on Roa, she stalled for time.
“You tried to poison Dax with dragon bone. You tried to kill your own son.” She looked from her brother to her father. “Why?”
Their father smiled a cruel smile.
“You figured that out, did you? You always were the smarter one. You and I both know, my dear, your brother could never be king. I’ve always thought his affection for our enemies was a threat to the throne. And look: tonight he’s proved me right.”
He narrowed his eyes on Dax. “I’d hoped the ring would kill him out there. It would have been the perfect reason to start a war with the scrublanders . . . and finally subdue them.”
“You would kill your own heir . . . to start a war?” asked Dax, sensing what Asha was doing. Helping her stall.
“A dead heir is more useful than a traitorous one.”
Anger blazed through Asha at those words. “Is the same true of a dead wife?”
For half a heartbeat, a strange emotion flickered across her father’s face. Surprise, maybe. Or remorse. Whatever it was, he recovered quickly, his hand tightening on the hilt of his daughter’s slayer.
“Your mother disobeyed the law, Asha. She undermined my rule. I needed to make an example of her.”
“She was my mother.”
“She was corrupting you.”
Asha’s fingers itched for her axe.
The dragon king looked over her shoulder at something behind her.
“Ah,” said a voice that sent an icy chill down Asha’s spine. “I see you’ve found my wife.”
Asha spun to find Jarek standing in the archway. He wore a very fine kaftan the color of midnight. But while its threads glinted and gleamed in the moonlight, Jarek’s ravenous gaze turned what might have been a beautiful sight into a terrifying one.
Beyond him, a sound rang out: marching footsteps and clanging metal, getting louder and closer. Soldats who’d been nonexistent just moments ago were now bleeding out of the darkness behind him, pouring through doorways and into the courtyard.
The edge of her vision flared orange. Startled, Asha looked to the rooftops, where hundreds of soldats wielding freshly lit torches stared down at her.
“It’s time to fulfill your end of our bargain, my dear. It’s too late to cancel the binding, of course. But I’m willing to let Jarek’s slave live if you call the First Dragon and end this.”
The moment her father said the words, Asha felt it again: a dark presence, there in her mind. Kozu knew exactly where she was and the danger she was in. He’d known the moment she stepped into it.
And he was getting closer.
No, thought Asha, thinking of the soldats on the rooftops, all of them armed with bows and arrows. One archer against a dragon was nothing. But dozens? Asha’s hunting slaves had helped her take down plenty of dragons using only arrows.
“What’s it going to be?” Her father pressed the blade a little harder into Torwin’s throat, forcing the skral’s chin up. “The dragon or the slave?”
Asha didn’t take her eyes off Torwin.
“He’s coming,” she whispered. Hating that, after everything, her father still had the power to make her do what he wanted.
The dragon king narrowed his eyes at his daughter. “Don’t think you can fool me, Asha.”
“He knows where I am. He knew the moment I stepped into this courtyard.” She stared the dragon king down. “Because I’m his rider.”
Her father’s face darkened.
The black steel of her slayer shimmered as the dragon king motioned to Jarek. All around the walls, archers took up their positions. Halberds and spearheads glittered at the ready.
“If you want this slave alive, you’ll strike Kozu down the moment he arrives,” said the dragon king. “If you don’t, I’ll cut his throat open in front of you.”
Asha knew better than to believe a liar. If she did as he said, Torwin would die anyway. Her father would have what he wanted. There’d be no reason to keep him alive. And if she chose Kozu and let Torwin die, the soldats would kill Kozu before he could escape.
She was going to lose them both.
“May Death send his worst,” Torwin said softly, interrupting her thoughts. Asha’s gaze snapped to him. He kept his eyes on her, like she was the one steady point in a world spinning out of control.
“Cold to freeze the love in my heart . . .”
“Silence,” hissed the king.
“Fire to burn my memories to ash . . .”
The dragon king pressed the blade harder, trying to choke off Torwin’s voice. But if he pressed too hard, he would kill him. And he couldn’t kill him—not before Kozu arrived.
“Wind to force me through the gates . . .”
They were Willa’s words he spoke. Binding vows. And they were something else too.
Death is a release, he’d told her once.
“Time to wear my loyalty away . . .”
“No.” Asha moved toward him.
“Stay back,” her father warned.
Asha halted. Her gaze locked with Torwin’s. “Don’t you dare.”
Torwin’s gaze never left her face. His eyes were silver sad. “I’ll wait for you, Asha, at Death’s gate.”
Asha thought of Death calling Willa’s name.
Her hands fisted. “Death is not your god.”
A shadow passed overhead, making the stars wink out. The soldats shifted uneasily as her father looked to the sky. There was a sound like a rushing of sighs and Asha felt a familiar wind on her face.
A blazing fire shot across the sky, lighting up half her father’s archers on the rooftops. They screamed and thrashed their arms, burning brightly before falling to their deaths.
Kozu landed next to his rider. The ground shook with his weight. His black scales glittered in the torchlight, and his yellow eye narrowed on the dragon king while his body curled protectively around Asha.
“Now!” Jarek commanded.
Arrows rained down.
“No!” Asha screamed.
Kozu roared as arrowheads sank into his flesh and tore through his wings.
“Strike,” said the dragon king.
Kozu hissed and thrashed. Arrow shafts stuck out of his hide. He didn’t know who to attack first. Were the archers the bigger threat, or the king?
“Strike now!”
Asha looked from Torwin to Kozu and back, frozen.
More arrows flew. Kozu roared with pain and rage. Blood dripped from his wings and ran down his flanks.
The First Dragon made up his mind. He rounded on Asha’s father, leaving Asha undefended.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Jarek draw his saber. She felt him move toward her.