She told me she couldn’t lose me. She would stop me. Fight me. Rage at me for even considering it.
“She will consider it a betrayal.”
Did she sense what was going to happen?When she told me tonight not to betray her. And I told her that I never would.
“Destiny defies all,” I whisper.
I look at my father’s statue and remember his long-ago words.
“It’s your destiny to keep this woman alive.”
I raise my eyes to the dragon. “Tell me what to do.”
Chapter 55
The honeyed scent of crimson coal wafts through the air.
Its glow extends across the waist-high anvil and the items resting on top of the metal surface: tongs, a regular hammer, a chisel, and the dragon’s gold.
Before I step into the forge, Graviter casts his warm breath across it, clearing the snow and then drying the structure.
He rests down on the snowy ground directly opposite me while the Celestial Star continues to float at his side, the star’s light somewhat subdued now as she waits for Graviter to perform the first task.
He holds one of the onyx spears within his grip.
I told him it was unbreakable, but he wasn’t daunted.
“Do it,” I say.
Graviter raises the onyx spear to his sharp teeth.
His fire flows from his mouth, its heat scorching, and with it comes his light magic, his own sapphire-blue energy combining with the flames.
He bites down on the spear, straining against its resilient structure, which finally cracks and snaps in half. Now it’s the perfect length for the handle of the hammer I will make Asha.
It will not be a small hammer or a delicate one.
It will be a war hammer to protect her through all the battles ahead of her.
Huffing, as if breaking the spear did indeed take more effort than he thought it would, Graviter hands me both halves.
I choose the half with the sharp end.
It will take the strongest power to shatter this handle, and I’m determined that by the time I’m done with it, it will be as strong a conduit to Asha’s power as the dragon’s gold.
“Asha will have a hammer like no other,” I say.
The dragon king bows his head to me. “You have a strong spirit, Wolf, and you will fight well.”
I incline my head at the warrior’s blessing.
Then I reach for the light within my heart and let it loose.
It bursts around me, rushing through the air and pushing back at the flames that rise around the dragon’s mouth.
Taking the tongs, I cast aside any remaining doubts and pick up the gold, thrusting it into the fire and submerging it within the flames.
I know that the moment I start beating the gold, the noise will wake Asha, but I won’t stop, no matter what happens.
