How far can her power reach? How much more can she do?
“Are you a beast?” the dragon asks her.
“I can be,” she says.
He nods. Pauses. “Are you a killer?”
She doesn’t look away. “I have been.”
Again, the dragon nods. “Are you a sister?”
This time, she’s slower to answer. “I was.”
Her answer makes my forehead crease because I was sure she’d sayyes.
She continues quietly. “I was a sister for the first nine years of my siblings’ lives. After that, I was a stranger.”
Fuck.
Idid that to her.
I convinced myself it was the only way to keep them all alive, to separate them and ensure that the human community saw Tamra and Gallium as powerless. I told myself it would only be for a short time and that I’d soon find a way to make them safe and get them all to the mountains.
Soon. But that day didn’t come soon.
Over time, I justified my inaction and my failure, telling myself that Tamra and Gallium weren’t strong enough yet, reassuring myself with the knowledge that their power hadn’t yet returned. Convincing myself there wasn’t a safe way to free them.
But all the time, I knew the truth: Asha was my last connection with the family I lost.
She was my last reason for living.
I didn’t want to let her go.
It was fucking selfish.
I made her a stranger to her family. I tore them apart.
There is nothing I can ever do to atone for that.
The dragon king asks her, “If you have become a stranger to your brother and sister, why would you risk your life to save them?”
Immediately, she says, “Because I love them.”
Love is powerful.
But it doesn’t always drive us to goodness.ThisI know.
Graviter edges toward her. “I’m offering you the gift of my light magic, Asha Silverspun. I’ve breathed it from my soul into the air around you, but it’s up to you if you will accept the help it can give you. So I ask you: What would you do to keep your family safe?”
She holds his gaze. “Anything.”
“Then make your choice, Asha Silverspun.”
He steps back, and it seems he’s done talking.
Asha lowers her eyes from the dragon and across to me, and now I can see that there’s a battle raging within her mind.
I don’t know what choice she’s making, and my inability to help her draws growls of frustration to my lips.
