She frees me of my iron collar, my head and neck so heavy that I wince at the sudden ability to move. My wrists and my ankles are next, but my limbs are too weak. There’s a scuffle, soldiers bearing down on us. With a vicious snarl, Jyn transforms back before my very eyes, the normally vibrant green of her scales muted and fading. With a whip of her tail, she knocks the bucket of water and its stand aside, spilling it onto the cold stone floor of the atrium.
I attempt to move, but my body is too broken to cooperate.
Jyn fights. She fights like her life depends on it, and itdoes.I can only watch in stunned shock as my thread turns a deeper black, trailing farther down our connection. This is what it must feel like todie.
Facing wave after wave of soldiers, my dragon shows no signs of slowing. With one swipe of her claws, she slices a man in twain. With the gnash of her teeth, she rips heads from shoulders. With a flick of her tail, she sends a man flying into the mountain’s jagged rock face. She endures spears through her legs, arrows to her chest, swords to her face—and yet she fights on.
Her desperation awakens something inside of me. I can’t let this pass. She needs me.
If we are going to die, then let it be with a fight.
One foot before the other. It takes every ounce of my concentration to even take a step. My legs are indeed broken, the shattered pieces of my bones slicing from within. In a way, I’m grateful that the emperor’s torture has left me too numb to feel.
I stumble and fall, only to get back up again. I clamber over corpses and pick up someone’s bloodied sword. My vision is far too blurry to make sense of my surroundings. All I do is hack and slash at anything that comes barreling toward me.
I take my share of injuries—they slice the backs of my knees, run my shoulder through with the tip of a spear—but I keep fighting. Pain no longer frightens me. I need to get to my Fated One.
Now that I have accepted certain death, I am unstoppable.
The Imperial soldiers circle us. We’re outnumbered and trapped. Archers position themselves on the roof of the atrium, pelting us with arrows with their tips set ablaze. Between the slash of swords, the unforgiving snow, and the hail of fire, it’s frankly a miracle that Jyn and I have lasted this long.
“No, you fools!” the emperor bellows from the safety of the Winter Palace. He watches in fury from one of the many windowscarved into the mountainside. He must have been asleep and rushed from his bedchamber at the first news of the fight. “You musn’t kill the dragon!”
Jyn and I fight on, determined to thin out the crowd. The air reeks of death. Some of the soldiers heed their emperor’s orders and retreat, but the unlucky few who remain in our path are slaughtered without remorse. Before long, the chaos subsides. A horde of armed men is back in formation at a distance, still ready to tear us asunder if given the command.
The emperor leaves the safety of his palace and steps through its large moon door. He remains behind his sea of soldiers, sporting a slight grin. “Well,” the emperor says, clapping his hands slowly. “I’m impressed. And here I thought I’d broken you. Thank you for helping me draw out my dragon.”
I place myself between him and Jyn, snarling through bloodied teeth.
“She isnotyours,” I seethe. “You’ve already stolen our son’s immortality. Is it not enough for you to have murdered him?”
The emperor goes rigid, and he stares at us in silence for a few long seconds. He takes a deep breath before he says, “I have spent the last millennia regretting it. But my shamans believe that we may be able to bring him back.”
I frown. “Bring him back?”
“It would require sacrificing one dragon in exchange for another. But you know as well as I do that there’s nothing we would not do for our Fated Ones.”
A growl rises from my throat. “Youkilledyours. Our son. After taking him from under our protection for your own gain!”
For the first time, I see shame wash over his expression. “I will make amends by giving him life again. But I need enough dragon’s blood to summon his soul.”
I shake my head. “You’re a misguided fool.”
“What?”
“You devoured his heart and his soul along with it. So long as his spirit remains within you, there’s no bringing him back.”
“No… you’re lying.” The emperor shakes his head, confusion swirling on his face. He’s utterly unwilling to listen. “My shamans have assured me—”
“You can’t bring him back without sacrificing yourself. He remains trapped within you, and even then, he cannot come back to life. Once his soul is free, he can be reborn, but the man you knew is no more.”
His expression darkens. “There’s little dragon’s blood cannot accomplish. And I’m willing to test your limits.”
“You’re mad,” I say. “Absolutely mad.”
“Guards!Seize them!”
The soldiers advance, but not before Jyn throws her massive body in front of me. She takes every spear, every arrow, every sword, shielding me from those who wish us harm. Her roar is reduced to a whimper, the damage sustained too great for her to bear.
