But then Asha’s focus slips to me.
To my claws.
The weapons she gave me that sliced through Graviter’s scales only moments ago.
She nods again, then takes a deep breath, her heart calming a little. “You’re right, Erik. Graviter needs your strength. The question is whether or not he’ll accept it.”
I’ve kept my focus on Asha for dangerously-long seconds, and I’m somewhat surprised that Graviter Rex has stayed where he is. More surprised to recognize that with every word Asha has spoken, the dragon’s heartbeats have become more regulated and less frenzied.
When I glance at him, I find him considering Asha with an expression that’s unreadable, although the fury in his eyes has abated and the fire around his mouth has receded. Not much, just a little. Enough to give me hope that he’s listening to her now, just as she tried to make him listen before he blasted us with his fire and knocked us to the ground.
“Thaden Kane has my family.” Asha clutches her stomach, rocking forward on the spot, her lips twisting. “He told me he would ‘take care of them’. And I trusted him! How could I have trusted him?”
In the last few stomach-churning minutes, I’ve wondered how he managed to deceive me.
I, too, sensed the Blacksmith magic within him, but like Asha, it was explained by the fact that he was changed by it, his appearance taking on the qualities of a dragon just as I’d become wolfish.
I never imagined that a Blacksmith would willingly put themselves through the extreme pain and torture I endured when I became the wolf. Or risk the high likelihood of death that comes with it.
Tears streak down Asha’s cheeks as she lifts her eyes, but this time to Graviter Rex. “What darkness gave him the power to engender such trust?”
Graviter’s eyes slowly widen. His response is a bare whisper in the air. “A darkness that is like a breeze, cooling your fears before it burgeons into a storm that tears apart what you love most.”
“Yes.” Asha pulls herself upright, swiping at her cheeks with one hand after the other, the medallions she’s holding sliding across her skin.
I know her expressions well enough to recognize when she’s made a decision that will endanger her own life for the sake of protecting someone she loves.
Hell, I’ve seen her stand up from her death bed because she wanted to protect Tamra and Gallium.
I see that look on her face now.
Whatever she’s decided, I won’t be able to change her mind—although until I hear what she has to say, I’m not sure if I’ll want to.
All I can do is stand aside and pray she’ll trust me to ask for help if she needs it.
She wipes her face clean of every emotion except pure, fucking determination as she steps slowly toward the chain that Graviter Rex threw off his neck.
He watches her warily, but I step between them, making it clear I will protect her.
She bends to scoop up the chain with her left hand, instantly transforming it into a band, which she continues to grip. Theends of it poke out of her fist next to the medallion that’s fused there.
Then she steps directly toward Graviter Rex, casting me a long glance as she passes me by.
I read a warning in that glance:Stay back. Stay safe. Be ready.
“Graviter Rex,” she says to the dragon, giving him her full attention. “You’ve lost your child and succumbed to grief, but my family is still alive. They’re in terrible danger and I will do anything to keep them safe.”
A hum sounds deep in the dragon king’s throat, but he doesn’t surge forward and the flames don’t increase around his mouth.
With slow, deliberate movements, Asha presses the dragon-imprinted medallion to her left hand, aligning it with the black band melded to her palm.
All three bands are now gripped in her palm.
She shakes with the power that must be thrumming through her.
Then she delivers a veiled threat. “Even without Erik’s claws, know this, Graviter Rex: Thaden Kane found a way to use his power to kill a dragon, which means I can find a way, too.”
Her heartbeat remains calm as she continues. “I don’t want to harm you. You aren’t my enemy. But if you stop me from protecting my family, then believe me… Not only will I kill you, but I will seek revenge against all dragons. I will tear your people apart until they’re nothing but blood and bones on thirsty ash.”
