She bared her teeth at me, transforming into a savage thing in an instant, but she also nodded. I let go and stepped back, stretching both of my wings as wide as they could go, straining past the ache. I would hide her for as long as possible.
Tara paused when she saw that. “Thank you, Eliel.”
“You're welcome. Now, take the first step. Get your vengeance.” I lifted my chin, my fury adding to hers. I knew how important it was to destroy the source of your trauma. She couldn't kill them all, but the rest would be punished by the King. I hoped that would be enough for her.
Tara lifted the dagger and dashed for the smirking Okon. His eyes went wide, his expression flickering to disbelief when he spotted the weapon in her hand. He opened his mouth, but he didn't have the time to cry out. Without any hesitation, Tara slashed his throat. It was silent for a heartbeat, and then she screamed, rage taking her voice to vicious heights. The other Okon men jerked back, floundering from their bound ankles. The sound of rattling chains added to her fury. Without their wings free to stabilize themselves, many stumbled and knocked into each other, shouting for help.
“What the fuck?!” the Dragon King roared.
But it was too late. The grinning Okon was down, Tara straddling him. With a feral face and a two-handed grip, she brought the King's dagger down over and over again. The motions shoved me into the past, and I saw myself as if I had been an observer. Bara was on the floor, bleeding onto a priceless rug as I stabbed him. My blade kept rising and falling, all the fear, helplessness, and pain pouring through me and out of the weapon.
This wasn't my vengeance. It was Tara's. But I would stand with her in it—a witness to her justice. I would lend my rage to hers. I lifted the tips of my wings in the motion of righteousness, a supplication to the sky, and I opened my mouth to scream with my sister. Tears flowed down my cheeks, hot on my skin.
The Dragon King went silent. Everyone did. They watched, frozen in place, as everyone had been the night I killed Bara. Within themselves, they knew this was justice, and it was ours. They wouldn't touch it. They couldn't. All they could do was bear witness along with the Gods.
“You filthy bastard!” Tara screamed. “I am not yours!” She continued to stab the dead man. “I damn you to your gods! May they have no mercy upon you!” With a final stab, she shuddered and stumbled to her feet. Her pale hair was stained with blood, and it covered her arms, bathing her bruises in victory. It dripped down the dagger she still held, pooling on the packed earth of the road.
I lowered my wings and strode over to her, feeling a wicked pleasure in the way the other Okons cringed. Stopping a foot from Tara, I said, “Well done.”
Tara turned to me, the dagger falling from her hand at last. “I killed him.”
“Yes, you did. And the King will see to the rest of them.”
She crumpled, and I swept forward to catch her. “Step one is over, Tara. Now you can heal. Leave the filth here with his rotting corpse. It is not yours.”
She met my gaze and nodded. “Thank you, Eliel.”
Suddenly, a cheering rose. It wasn't a normal sound of pleasure but one full of fury and vengeance. It was the sound of a brutal victory. It held blood in it.
Tara and I turned to see the freed people gathered around us, their faces full of satisfaction. They clapped and called out their pride to Tara while we gaped at them.
I had the support of Katai and his crew when I killed Bara, but none of them understood what I'd gone through. Not truly. This outpouring of support and vicious delight from people who had been chained beside her was intoxicating. I swayed with Tara as they came forward to surround us, fists shooting into the air in triumph that even the King couldn't give them. One of their own—the weakest who had been hurt the worst—had taken vengeance for them all, and there was a profound justice in that.
Tara didn't even flinch as the group patted her back and offered their feral approval for her violence. Outside the circle, I saw the Dragon King staring at me. He was easy to see, as tall as he was, and so was his anger. I hoped he'd understand, but it looked as if I would pay the price for Tara's vengeance.
So be it.
Chapter Seventeen
Tara didn't ride in our carriage. She took one look at the Dragon King's furious face and said she'd ride in the wagon with the others. I didn't blame her. The choice of giving her his dagger had been mine. She had merely accepted my offer.
And I didn't regret it.
I climbed into the carriage, settled myself on the edge of the bench, and waited for the King. He came in like a storm, his size magnified by his anger. Cloak flapping around him like wings, he sat across from me and glared. I held his stare as he pounded the ceiling. The carriage moved, going forward and then circling around. I had a glimpse of the wagons, now driven by Dragon knights, before we settled into the lead.
The Dragon King's hand shot out and closed the curtains, to the left and then to the right. The darkness wasn't complete, but I wished it were. Shadows enhanced his savage expression, and fear finally shot through me. I had grown too dependent on his kindness. He had made me so. Lured me into seeing only that side of him. And he'd done such a good job that I hadn't once considered he might hurt me. Yell, yes. But not physically hurt me.
Now, I began to doubt his kindness.
“Don't you dare look at me like that!” King Raventar roared.
I cringed back against the wall.
He grabbed my tunic and pulled me forward. “No, Eliel. You don't get to cringe in terror now. I proved myself to you. I will not hurt you. But that doesn't mean you can walk over my crown, and I will stand back and smile!”
Relief shot through me even as his words struck home. “Raven, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would . . .”
“Undermine my authority?” The King sneered and pushed me away. “No, you didn't think. You didn't ask. Youstolemy dagger and gave that woman justice that wasn't hers to take!”
