He dismounted, drawing his sword, and nodded once. “So be it.”
A sword was pressed into Thalion’s hand. He staggered, barely able to raise it, yet he came on with a roar torn from his ruined throat.
Laurent did not falter. He moved with the surety of long practice, parrying once, striking twice, and on the third exchange, his blade slid clean through Thalion’s heart.
The Calveron king dropped to his knees, sword slipping from his grasp. With a final breath, he crumpled lifeless, his blood painting the stones. Alora stared at his blank eyes, shaken by the stark reality of death.
The cheers of Argyle’s men rose around her, but the sound rang hollow in her ears.
All quieted as the dragon landed on the path outside the gates, with a gust of wind so strong it rattled the windows of the keep.
Unease passed over their armed forces, some reaching for the hilt of their swords. Laurent motioned for them to stand down. Caelum joined her side as she and her father climbed the stairs to the ramparts, bringing them at eye level with the God of Shadows.
The dragon’s crimson gaze locked on her instantly. Smoke and embers billowed through the air between them. Her hair waved around her shoulders, her lips parted in awe as she gazed up at him. By the Seven, he was terrifying up close. He appeared so much larger out in the open, twice as large as the keep.
The dragon’s voice curled through her mind.It is done.
“Our deal is complete, oh great Shadow God. You have our thanks.”
The dragon made a sound that startled the soldiers, making them draw their swords. But Rune was only laughing.
He canted its head, tail coiling lazily as his claws tapped into the dirt.You forget, songbird, there was another part of our agreement.
Alora raised her chin. “I did not forget. I came to you for aid, not for a husband. I have decided to stay in Argyle where I belong.”
Oh?
On the balcony above them, the soldiers pushed forward large shapes on wheeled contraptions, covered with tarps.
What is this?
Alora smiled. Confusion shone in his glowing eyes. She figured out how he spied on her with the shadows, so this was a secret done during the brightest part of the day in a room that banished all darkness. He had no idea what she had planned.
“I gave you your freedom,” Alora continued, voice quiet but resolute. “And you granted me mine. Our bargain is fulfilled.”
The soldiers yanked off the tarps. A golden flare burst against the uncovered bronze plates,mirrors, polished to a gleam. Lady Solara stepped forward as her invisibility spell dropped, her palms raised, hair gleaming like spun flames. Sunlight rippled between her fingers, flooding the courtyard.
The dragon bared his teeth in a savage growl, his scales hissing where it touched him.
Caelum shouted a command, and all across the battlements, mirrors were unveiled.
Rune’s voice was low, a growl that shook her bones.You dare?I could smother your entire kingdom in perpetual darkness for the slight—or better yet, in ash.
“You could,” Alora admitted. “You could destroy my home and steal me away by force, but then you would once again incur the wrath of the Heavens.” She drew out a page she’d torn out of a book in the library with faded scripture. “It took some time to uncover the ancient scriptures left behind by the divine before you. It says here,the godsmayonly claim a bride if shechooseshim, correct?”
His eyes flamed, claws digging into stone. Smoke curled around his jaws, seeping through his nostrils. The stifling heat of his flame pressed against her.
She lifted her chin. “And I have not chosen you.”
Lady Solara cast the beam of sunlight into the sky. It split like a burst of fallen stars over the kingdom, striking the mirrorsin high arches and turrets, awakened where they had been strategically placed all throughout Argyle.
The hundreds of mirrors her father had once confiscated.
Now their light reflected from glass to glass, racing across the land until the sky itself was lit. The brightest flare of all was at the highest spire of the castle.
Beacons that shone like suns.
The shadows were driven back, snuffing like smoke. Demons shrieked with pain and fury, fleeing into the night or sinking into the earth.
