“Within a single day of you leaving, I had the horrifying realization that nothing truly bad happened here when you were around. I thought it was because the people in this city were good. They would never hurt each other. But it turns out… you were stopping it.”
She takes a shaky breath. “You would think, since I was Nero’s daughter, that I would be safe, but power changes people.”
She closes her eyes and falls silent.
I don’t break her silence. It is her right to speak or not to speak.
Her lips purse as she gently breathes out. “I made it to Genova’s home. We gathered together as many of the people we cared about as we could, and we barricaded ourselves in the southwestern quadrant.” Her eyes open, and now there is a steely glint in them. “Then we made a plan. And then we made my father and all his men pay.”
“Good,” I say.
She studies me for a long moment, another extended silence while the dragon remains quiet in the background.
“You found peace,” she says. “I’m glad for you.”
When she steps back, I quickly open my hands, releasing her.
She pulls out a fresh tunic and pants from her basket. “Clean clothes. You can’t go after Asha looking like that.”
Before I can take the clothing from Petra, she darts forward, wraps her arms around me, and presses her head to my heart. “I wish you were him.”
I’m frozen, my arms lifted from my sides as I try to process all the hurt in her voice, the lost life she could have had if my brother had lived instead of me.
I want to speak, but there are no words for this pain.
She releases me as quickly as she darted forward, pushing the clothing into my arms before she lifts her chin and looks me in the eye. “Goodbye, Vandawolf.”
She only takes a step before she pauses again. “Don’t let that dragon stop you. I don’t think he’s as coldhearted as he looks.”
Then she turns and hurries away.
The finality of her farewell isn’t lost on me.
Either she believes that she won’t survive long enough to see me again or that I won’t.
Or maybe there is a world where we both survive, and it’s the past that is finally put to rest.
I quickly pull off my torn clothing and dress in the fresh garments Petra brought me.
As forthat dragon, he chooses that moment to speak.
“It will take you weeks to find Asha Silverspun,” he says. “Even with the help of your bird.”
I’m not sure exactly where Blackbird could be right now, but I’m certain he would have flown clear of the dragons.
“Do you have a point, dragon?” I ask. “Or are you trying to provoke me?”
“I will make you a deal.”
I consider him warily. In the past,Iwas the one who made deals and always to my own ends. “What deal?”
“Convince the Einherjar to join our army, and I will tell you where to find Asha Silverspun.”
I narrow my eyes at the dragon. “But she’s with Thaden Kane. If you knew where to find him, you would have gone after him already.”
The dragon gives ahumph. “I would not.”
“Why not?”
