The Last Namsara (Iskari #1)(92)

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.

In his panic, the dragon king turned, keeping the slave between him and the fire-breathing monster, using the slave as a shield.

Asha’s gaze fixed on her father’s back. In one single heartbeat, the past, present, and future wove together like a tapestry.

Her mother ice-cold in her bed.

Her brother failing to win his people’s loyalty.

The boy she loved, walking through the gate of the dead. Alone.

This king had to die.

Her fingers wrapped around the handle of her hunting axe. Lifting it from her belt, Asha drew the axe back. She knew the punishment for regicide. She knew the moment her axe left her hand that her life was forfeit.

And still, she threw it.

“No!” Dax screamed.

Asha’s axe sailed toward the dragon king, whistling through the air before carving easily through flesh and bone. A sickening silence descended.

Jarek stopped mere steps from Asha. His shining saber fell to his side as he stared at his king.

Dark red blood seeped across the dragon king’s golden robe. Asha’s slayer clattered to the stones as he staggered, releasing the skral, and turned to face his daughter. The tip of her axe stuck through the front of his chest, where it sliced through his heart.

Her father touched his crest, blotted with his own blood. He gulped and gulped. Blood spread and spread.

“Asha . . . ?”

His voice echoed against the walls of the court, but not as loudly as it echoed inside her own rib cage, catching there to haunt her heart.

The dragon king fell to the ground at her feet, his body contorted, blood pooling all around him. Just like every dragon Asha had ever killed. His sightless eyes stared up at her. Asha stared back, unable to look away.

Darkness enveloped her then. Torwin pressed her face into his chest, blocking out the sight of her father’s corpse. He cupped her head, holding her tight as she shook, her hands bunching the fabric of his shirt.