I stared at him in disbelief. Souls. It truly was the Devourer of souls. And the creature wanted Zara. I thought again of her clinging to me, naked and vulnerable. “Why First Daughter Zara? Why her power?”
Altair shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment, he seemed like he would refuse to answer me. Finally, he said, “Souls with magic are more powerful and thus give him more strength. First Daughter Zara’s wind magic is superior to any other earth magic we’ve encountered.”
My whole body went rigid as I fought off the rising need to take immediate action against the enemy Altair allowed in our midst. I unclenched my teeth and tried to reason with my cousin. “From the very beginning, Ozul has posed a threat to us all. You are tempting fate by keeping such a monster locked up. It’s onlya matter of time before it escapes. Tell me how to remove it from the palace, and I will respond with force.”
“I cannot give that order. I will need Ozul’s magic to expand this empire.”
“The entire continent of Zephyrus is under your rule now. Four nations: the Semalians of the coast, the Nazcas of the Black Forest, the Angorans of the mountains, and now, the Children of Earth. What more is there?”
A glint appeared in Altair’s eyes. “The world beyond Zephyrus.”
I’d hoped his talk of conquest was bluster, but the glint in his eyes told me he meant every word. “We just ended a war, and you seek another? Besides, conquering other countries takes a tremendous amount of resources, which have been depleted by the last war. We’d have to travel by ship. The number of infantries it would take would be enormous.”
“I need only bring Ozul to their shores,” he said darkly.
My knuckles turned white from clenching my fists so hard. Not just because we had all thought the war was over and we could finally have peace, but because the thought of unleashing that creature on an unsuspecting country chilled my blood.
“You risk not only your future empress’s life with this creature,” I said firmly, “but also the peace treaty that finally freed us all from this never-ending war. Did you consider, too, that if that creature has no care for the woman you are supposed to marry, that it may not care for you, either? What’s to keep it from killing us all?” I demanded.
“I told you before that the future empress is not in danger, and that Ozul wasn’t responsible for the attack. That’s all you need to know.”
“Altair,” I began, but he held up his hand.
“You’re dismissed, Commander.”
My fingers twitched at my sides as I struggled against the desire to slam my hand on his desk, tomakehim listen. He wasn’t telling me the truth, and I had the sense that he was playing with things beyond his control.
I looked at my cousin’s face, so gaunt and shadowed now, and I thought of the way he was as a child, fat cheeked and bright-eyed. His eyes had lost their brightness over time, the result of constant abuse and belittling by his father. But ever since his father’s death and the discovery of Ozul, Altair had looked haunted, slowly wasting away with the desperate need to prove he was a better emperor than his dead father.
As I left Altair’s rooms, I reached out to Neo mentally, who had quietly eavesdropped on our conversation.Did you catch all of that?
Yes,Neo said with a somber tone.Just when we thought the war was finally over.
I don’t think these are truly Altair’s goals. I think they are Ozul’s and Lord Heron’s. He is being manipulated into giving up this time of peace.
It’s dangerous to abide by a demon’s goals,Neo said.Ozul doesn’t care about Altair or this empire—only itself.
And we’ll be caught in the middle,I said, clenching my teeth at the thought of flying to distant lands to conquer them.
If he will not listen to you, then perhaps he’ll listen to his future mate,Neo said thoughtfully.
I bristled at the thought of that.Altair already admitted that Ozul desires Zara’s power. I don’t want her anywhere near that creature.
You care for her,Neo said, searching through my mind.You wish she were your mate,he added, surprise in his tone.
I couldn’t deny any of it, because he could see my true thoughts and feelings before I blocked him out.It doesn’t matter how I feel for her. She is promised to the emperor.
An emperor who is rapidly losing his way—and is taking us all with him.
I will do all I can to protect her,I promised myself and Neo. But already I could feel the distance between Altair and me growing like a chasm.
I wished I could save Altair from himself.
Days went byafter the attack, and I made sure to have Zara guarded at all times by either myself or trusted Eagle Riders. The Devourer had always felt like a threat, but now it seemed somehow like we were running out of time. In only two weeks, she and Altair would be married, and by law, she would be completely under his power. What would he and the Devourer do then? Use her? Sacrifice her? A dangerous thought took root in my mind. If either of them hurt her, if she so much as looked at me with a silent plea for help, I would not hesitate to betray blood. Something had to be done before it came to that—before it was too late. I needed to seek out the old tomes in the library that held our oldest stories. The oral traditions the scribes had recorded centuries before. Maybe there was something about how to destroy the creature.
At the same time, though, I wanted to stay as close to Zara as possible. I figured getting her out of the gods-forsaken palace for a time and away from what lurked in the shadows was a good way to do that. Baz and Zamir, both stationed outside her room, saluted me, and I returned their greeting with a nod before knocking quietly on the First Daughter’s door. After a few moments, she answered, dressed in a turquoise-studded bodice thatrevealed a slim section of her abdomen, and that same split skirt over leggings that she always wore. She was barefoot, with her hair still damp and hanging in waves down her back. My mouth went dry, and against my will, I remembered what her body had looked like when she was gleaming wet and naked—all fascinating curves and long legs.
“Commander Talon,” she said, bruising on her arms darkening against the bronze of her skin. A flicker of shame lit inside me that I had been remembering her naked when she’d nearly been killed.
