The Last Namsara (Iskari #1)(88)

“Asha.” Safire caught her hard. “No.”

Asha struggled against her cousin. “Let me go.”

“You need to be calm.” Safire held on. Safire had always been stronger. “You need to outthink them, not play right into their hands.”

Two dragons flew above them. Asha stopped struggling to watch them circle the lake. Kozu watched them too. When they landed, the First Dragon melted into the darkness.

Both of these dragons were young. Half the size of Kozu. The one on the left had earth-brown scales and black horns. The one on the right had pale horns—one of them, broken—and was charcoal gray in color. Their wings folded back like crumpled leaves as they waited for their riders to dismount.

“If I don’t go, Jarek will kill him.”

Four riders dismounted. Two stayed with the dragons. The other two—Dax and Jas—moved toward them.

“Jarek needs Torwin alive to lure you in,” Safire said, resting her head against Asha’s as Dax approached. “He expects you to come. He wants you angry and reckless. Don’t give him what he wants.”

Illuminated by the lamp in Jas’s hand, Dax looked like he’d aged ten years in a single night. His words echoed Safire’s.

“As soon as you set foot inside the city walls,” Dax told her, “he’ll have no reason to keep Torwin alive. The longer you stay away, the longer Torwin lives.”

Asha shook her head, remembering the sound of the shaxa on his back. She thought of the one god Torwin believed in.

Death, the Merciful.

“There are worse things than death,” she whispered.

Safire’s arms loosened around her. Asha looked to Shadow’s form.

If Torwin had left for Darmoor when he first wanted to, he’d be on a ship right now, sailing far away. He would be safe.

To stop the floodgate inside her from breaking, Asha curled her hands into vicious fists.

“If I had just been here!”

“If you’d been here, Jarek would have cut Torwin down before your eyes and taken you instead,” Dax said gently, carefully. “They were outnumbered. There’s nothing you could have done.”

“No. There’s nothing you could have done. I am the Iskari.” She glared at her brother, daring him to contradict her. He didn’t.

Instead, he took her shoulders in his hands. “We are going to get him out. I’ll think of something, Asha. Just don’t do anything rash. Promise me you won’t.”

Asha couldn’t promise that. She knew Dax was right—Jarek would expect her to come. He would set a trap for her. But if she didn’t go . . .

Asha scanned the darkness for Kozu. She could sense him in her mind, restless in the presence of enemies. If he wouldn’t come to her, she’d go to him.

Asha moved to step around her brother. He blocked her.

“Get out of my way.”

“If I get out of your way, you’ll fly to Firgaard and put everyone here at risk,” said Dax. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

All of New Haven moved out the next morning. They couldn’t stay—the commandant knew their exact location. So they packed the tents and readied the dragons. It should have been Asha who led the dragons and their riders down into the lower Rift, close to the entrance of her secret tunnel. But Dax forbade her from flying—in case she decided to fly straight to the palace. So Asha chose the best rider and put her in the lead.

Once they reassembled in the lower Rift, Dax called a meeting. They gathered in a makeshift tent where he and Jas outlined the plan. Dax would go in alone, as a decoy. While he entered through the north gate, Jas and Safire and a handful of other Haveners would make their way through the tunnel below the temple. While Dax negotiated with the dragon king, Jas and Saf would take over the gate and hold it open long enough for the army waiting just beyond the wall. Essie was still the signal to advance. Jas would bring the hawk. The moment the gate opened, he would send her skyward.

Asha would not be setting foot anywhere near the city. She had too much at stake, and no one trusted her to stick with the plan.

“I know it seems unfair,” Dax said after everyone but he, Asha, and Safire had left the tent. Asha sat in the dirt, with her lower back against a wooden tent post and her forehead pressed into her drawn-up knees. Safire sat next to her, sharpening her knives. Dax sank down between them. “But I need you to wait here with the army until it’s safe.”

Without looking at her brother, Asha said, “You mean, until you’ve killed the king.”

Silence descended. When Asha looked up into her brother’s warm eyes, she found them shining with tears.

“I have to, Asha.”

Safire paused her sharpening.

“No,” said Asha. “What you need to do is stay alive, so you can be a better king than he is.”

Dax shook his head. “So long as our father draws breath, no one will consider me king.”

“Think of Roa, then. You’ll leave a scrublander to hold the throne alone? Firgaard will devour her.”

“Trust me,” he said, his jaw tight. “Roa can take care of herself.”

“What about what I want?” Safire demanded. “What about what Asha wants?”

Dax wiped his eyes with the hem of his sleeve.

“I want you to live,” said Safire, a little angrily.