I stumble back a step, shaking my head at how simple he makes it sound.
How can I possibly know Thaden’s heart?
I know Erik’s heart. I know my own heart. I know that I’m terrified right now because I can’t see Erik anywhere. He hasn’t jumped to the ground. There’s still a swarm of creatures in thesky—I’m certain they will descend on us soon—but I can’t see Erik among them.
I don’t know where Blackbird is, either.
Now Thaden Kane, the man I’m certain is my enemy, is standing right in front of me, and he’s asking me to come with him as if I wouldn’t fear and distrust him.
I take another step back from them both. “Where’s Gallium?”
Tamra takes a deep breath. “He’s in trouble, Asha. But no worse than the danger we’re in if we don’t move quickly.”
Her focus shifts to the sky—but not in the direction of the boiling clouds and the monsters spilling from them.
She looks northwest, her face rapidly paling and her voice suddenly a whisper. “The dragons are coming.”
Without my power, I can’t yet see what she can see, but in the next moment, dots appear in the distant sky.
Many dots. Rapidly growing larger.
I’ve only met two dragons: the dragon king, Graviter Rex, and a forest dragon named Torva Viridia, but judging by the number of creatures flying toward us, I’m about to meet at least ten more.
Tamra’s focus flashes up to Thaden. “They’ll kill you. We need to leave. Now.”
Despite Tamra’s urgency, Thaden’s studying me quietly, remaining at a non-confrontational distance where I could easily get to my hammer before he could stop me.
Even now that I know who he is, thepulltoward him is as strong as it always was.
Power attracts power.
More specifically,Blacksmith’spower attracts itself.
What I can’t reconcile are all the different accounts of him…
His own presentation of himself as a human when I first met him. Graviter Rex’s hatred of him over the death of his son.Milena Ironmeld’s account of how she fought him on the clifftop and her admission that she’d once lied to him.
And Torva Viridia, who said that before all of this happened, Thaden Kane had beenpeaceful.
Then there’s Torva’s puzzling account of the fight she’d witnessed between Thaden and Milena in which he had claimed that Graviter’s son had given him no choice. He’d told Milena he would find me and free me from the Vandawolf. He’d said thatIwould listen to him, even if nobody else would.
And finally, there is the Valkyrie, General Glass, who asked me to protect him.
As Thaden watchesmewatchhim, a resigned expression settles onto his features.
“Tamra,” he says softly. “It took a lot for you to trust me. It will take more for Asha to believe that I’m not her enemy. Maybe, if I’d been honest with her from the start, things would be different.” He shakes his head. “She won’t come with us now.”
“I’m not giving up!” Tamra cries so earnestly that it tugs at my heart and makes me doubt my own judgment.
She spins to me, reaching out for me. “Asha, we need you.Ineed you. Gallium needs you. I know I pushed you away. I hurt you. Badly.” Her eyes brim with tears. “I was trying to protect you, but I got it wrong! Please, will you come with us?”
She swallows hard as she stretches out her hand to me. “Please, sister, will you take up your hammer and come with us? Will you stand beside me? Will you trustme?”
It’s the fact that she asked me to pick up my hammer that freezes me to the spot. Neither of them has tried to stop me from retrieving it. Quite the opposite.
I take a beat too long to answer her.
In the distance, the dragons cross the mountains, only minutes away from us now.
