MARTYRS AND BRUTES
I woke to an empty bed.
My hand reached across the furs before I was fully conscious, searching for warmth that wasn’t there. His scent still clung to the pillows, but Kairos was nowhere in the room.
Disappointment tugged at my chest before I smothered it. He was a king. Of course he couldn’t stay, and maybe that was for the best. I wasn’t ready to face him after falling asleep in his arms.
A dark-haired male sat in a chair by the hearth, helping himself to the food from a tray. Crumbs dotted his scaled armor.
I scowled at Uther. “Is that my breakfast?”
“Yeah. That bubbly servant of yours came in an hour ago. Couldn’t help myself.” He licked crumbs from his fingers. “You’ve been out cold for a day and a half. Kai was starting to lose his mind.”
“Did he send you?”
“No, love. I wanted to check on you.”
I pushed myself upright, wincing. Uther’s eyes flicked to my hand when it pressed against my abdomen.
“How are you feeling?”
I sighed. “Better.”
He nodded at the window. “Have you been outside yet?”
I shook my head.
He stood and ripped the curtains aside. “Look.”
A wall of red-gold lightning flickered across a bruised sky. The forest writhed, trees bending under winds that carried a faint metallic scent.
“Oh gods.”
Uther grinned. “Not yours. Mine. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I stared at the unnatural sky. “Is this because of the seal?”
“Probably.” He leaned closer to the window, palms braced on the sill. “My people used to worship dragons.”
I glanced at him. “They did?”
“We were among the few who bent the knee willingly.” He traced a finger along the glass, following the path of a lightning vein. “When the other realms banded together to seal them away, my ancestors called it blasphemy.”
“And now?”
He was quiet for a moment. “Now I’m old enough to understand why the sealing happened, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what we lost. This storm feels like a homecoming. Like something in my blood remembers.”
A chill ran down my spine. “Does anything frighten you?”
“I’ve seen it all, love. War, famine, plagues…a million times over. Nothing scares me.”
“I wish I felt that way,” I whispered. “I wish I could…pretend I’m not completely overwhelmed.”
The deal spreading through my body like poison. Rheya trapped with Vaeris. Villages burning. Dragons screaming at me in dreams. That storm outside, my fault. The tsunamis, also my fault.
“It feels like the world is ending.”
“It might be, but you’re not facing it alone. You’ve got me and Kairos, and about seven thousand warriors.”
