My hand instinctively goes to my saber. “I don’t understand.”
The Sky King casts me a look that’s both pitying and condescending. “You’ve been erratic and unreliable, so we did what was necessary to keep you out of the way.”
“Erratic and unreliable?” The words drill into my flesh like Zemyan arrows. My pulse throbs wildly in my throat. “What are you talking about? I’m neither of those things!”
“You put your feelings for that monstrous sister of yours above your duty and the well-being of Ashkar,” the Sky King accuses.
“Inever—”
“You helped her sneak out of Ikh Zuree to complete an unsanctioned mission.” He raises a finger and counts off my crimes. “Then you lost track of her in Sagaan, allowing her to join forces with the Shoniin. When you finally recaptured her, you were unable to extract any useful information, and instead of killing her, you let her thwart Temujin’s execution and escape.Again.”
With every word, the walls press closer. At least half of the Kalima exchange small, lurid grins. “I didn’tlether get away!” I shout. “I ran toyou,my lord. To protect you and guide you to safety. As any good warrior would.”
“And by so doing, you ranawayfromher.”
I blink at him, my eyelashes crusting with frost. “You can’t possibly think I would defend Enebish after she tried to kill me!”
“Perhaps not consciously. But familial bonds run deep. Sometimes deeper, even, than love for one’s country … and king.”
“These accusations are absurd!” I cry. “Varren, tell him! You were with me every moment. You know I would never …”
Betray my king and country.I can’t bring myself to utter the horrible words.
I lean across the table, staring desperately into my second’s eyes. We’ve rarely left each other’s sides since we were fifteen, when neither of us could best the other in the sparring ring. He was strong but I was fast, and no matter how many times we fought, it ended in a draw. Until, one day, it didn’t. His eyes met mine and, with an unspoken nod of agreement, he let my fist crash against his temple.
I generally despise quitters, but this was different. Varren’s surrender was a message. A vow. He would defer to me. He would put my needs above his own. And it solidified his place at my side. He’s been as steady and immovable as the Ondor Mountains ever since. A quiet, towering presence. My rock.
“Varren,please,” I beg, hating the waver in my voice.
Our eyes lock, just as they did that day in the sparring ring, but instead of yielding, he straightens in his chair and his face twists into a scowl. It makes the dragon tattoo prowling down his cheek look like it’s baring its teeth.
“A more competent commander would have spirited me to safetyandcaptured the traitors,” the Sky King continues. “There’s no room for error during these tumultuous times. Certainly not if you wish to lead my most elite regiment.”
A cannonball of outrage slams into my chest. Blowing me to bits as my mind fits together the pieces of their treachery. “You planned this from the beginning.” I laugh bitterly as I point at each of them, coming to rest on the king. “I haven’t had yourtrustorconfidencesince the attack, have I? That’s why you allowed me to ride out on so many scouting missions—so you could sharpen the knife to stab in my back.”
“We had no choice,” the Sky King says, calm as ever. “We knew you wouldn’t go quietly, and now is hardly the time for infighting. You can tell people you chose to step down, if you wish,” he adds as if he’s doing me some great favor.
Anger howls through me. My hair grows heavy with frost and my cheeks crackle like ice. I let out a guttural scream because I have given this country everything.Everything!I can’t just tell people Istepped down.I refuse to be removed at all. Never, in the history of Ashkar, has a commander of the Kalima warriors relinquished their title for any reason other than death. I would be the only one. The embodiment of disgrace and failure. I wouldn’t be able to show my face anywhere in the empire. Not even at my parents’ estate.
Especially not there.
Memories rise before me—their smiling, tearstained faces on the day I was sworn in as Commander; their pride so tangible, I could reach out and clutch it to my armored chest.
I refuse to have that ripped away.
With a growl, I unsheathe my saber and hold it out in front of me. “If you wish to remove me, you’ll have to kill me.” Then I extend my left arm and push the frost and fury swirling in my core out through my fingertips, forming a glittering blade identical to the one in my right hand. I swing the twin sabers in front of me and stare my warriors down, daring them to attack.
More than half of the Kalima shoot to their feet, and that deliberate act of betrayal hurts so much, I nearly whimper in pain.
But I bite back my screams. Sever my emotions.
I don’t need these traitors.
And I don’twantthem.
I stomp my boot into the floor and a thick coating of ice sweeps beneath the table and chairs, slicker than the Amereti in winter. I lower my head and bare my teeth, but before I can charge into the room, an earth-shattering rumble shakes the walls of the treasury. The steel vault groans. Books and quills clatter from the shelves and slide across the ice.
“Earthquake!” Cirina yells, ducking beneath the table for cover. But this doesn’t feel like any earthquake I’ve experienced. The shudders come in waves. Almost like detonating cannons. Only harsher. Stronger.
