Please, let her be waiting. Don’t let her run,I prayed. I could sense her quite close. She hadn’t left. But I could feel her anger and hurt and restlessness, too.
“It’s up to him, now,” Tato said softly, shaking his head. Kgosi rumbled, and I drew Tato away, towards the stables, leaving Kgosi with the sick dragon.
“Kgosi thinks we’ll know tomorrow, one way or the other,” I said quietly, looking at the now-dark sky.
Tato nodded, his gaze focused in the distance. “You can’t imagine what Ciar’s going through. Nila tells me that they feel everything we feel. So, imagine, he’s not only had to decide his rider deserved death, he’s felt every moment of the execution that he undertook himself. I…God, help us,”Tato whispered at the end, shivering. Nila groaned and turned her head to brush him with her snout as we continued to walk.
I urged him to take his dragon and do whatever was needed for both of them to rest. Tato thanked me and mounted immediately, I watched them fly off together, my heart aching.
Healers were extremely empathetic, and sometimes over-burdened by the weight of their abilities. Part of the supernatural healing gift, I’d learned, was the dragon and his bonded rider taking on a portion of the pain and struggle of those they healed. It was why healing couldn’t always be guaranteed: It wasn’t only the wounded who needed strength to endure it, but those whose power was offered to help them, as well.
I’d learned to encourage healing pairs to take time alone, resting, after they’d helped others. Especially in cases like this.
The unmistakablewhomph-whomph-whomphof dragon wings battered the air over our heads. I looked up to watch the silhouette of three massive dragon bodies cross over the moon on their way to land behind me. Kgosi must have called others in the herd to come stand vigil with their herdmate. My dragon had warned me that I wouldn’t see him, and he wouldn’t fly, until they knew if Ciar would live the night.
I swallowed. I didn’t want the dragon to die. But knowing he’d judged his own rider meant that the man had either done something so despicable that the dragon deemed it unforgiveable—or the man had betrayed the dragon to his deepest core.
Knowing what this man had done just months ago to Bren, I was certain he’d deserved the execution. But the dragon? He didn’t deserve the pain and loss he now suffered. Not if his heart was still good.
I’d heard about the curse, as the dragons termed it. The gravity with which they took judgment. But I’d never seen it with my own eyes.
That dragon had only made the attack days ago, yet he was already wasting away. Even if he chose to live, he’d likely never be the same. It was as if, upon his death, his rider had ripped something essential from the dragon. I put a hand to my chest, feeling the pang there where Kgosi waspresentin me. His pain, his worry, his authority and desire to protect… it was all there. A part of me. And me a part of him, or so he said.
If we were torn apart violently, it appeared we didn’t get those pieces back.
My dragon made me more vital. Stronger. Made my body heal more quickly. He shared the sheer life that burned inside of his massive body with me.
What did I share with him?
Nothing of as much value as that,I thought—once again humbled as I was presented with yet another example of how the dragons lowered themselves to bond us.
‘I don’t know why you do it,’I sent to Kgosi.‘But I am very, very glad that you do.’
‘I love you, too, Donavyn,’Kgosi returned, his tone weary, but sincere.
I almost smiled. But the weight of this day, the chill of fear, overwhelmed even the warming nature of my dragon’s devotion. I sighed heavily as I tromped up the slope of the launch hollow towards the stables. But, now alone, I picked up the pace of my strides, hurrying to reach Bren.
I felt sick. I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to tell her who the dragon belonged to until we were alone, and I could hold her. Instead, she’d been forced to hear that out in the open, when I couldn’t even touch her.
Thank God for Akhane, who had explained, Kgosi assured me.
But thoughts of the now-dead rider only raised the specter ofeverythingbefore us.
This was irrefutable evidence that problems existed in the squad we’d sent to Draeventhall. Evidence that didn’t touch Bren at all.
The men were a Shadowfang mission squad, picked for their skills in subterfuge and the ability to ingratiate themselves to a wide variety of people. Knowing there were rumors afoot in Draeventhall, we’d sent them in, investigating the inconsistency among the reports. But it was before I’d realized there must be a mole. All we’d known was that the whispering of war, and proof of a plot had been uncovered.
Those men had beentrusted.Above others. Trusted with information hidden even from nobles and Furyknights.
Yet, a dragon had judged one of themunforgivable.
A flare of rage braided through a tidal wave of self-doubt in my chest, leaving my heart battered between the two.
How had I gotten itsowrong?
And how would I fix this?
As I traversed the launch hollow, and then the sparse grass and rocky dirt at the stables, I formed a plan.
