“The last time we were in this position, you threatened to chop me into pieces.” He didn’t know why the words slipped out. She didn’t look in the mood for joking.
“I should have followed through with that threat.”
“But you’ve had so much fun with my…parts.” He winced as the blade dug in sharper.
“What the fuck were you doing, Fox?”
“Stopping you from doing something worse.”
“What? Do you plan on kidnapping Chalia and hiding her away so I can’t confront Luna?”
“I hardly think I could kidnap a dragon,” he said. He chose not to mention how close he was to trying that exact plan.
“Then where were you going?” she said. Her hair was haloed around her face, lips twisted in a scowl. All he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss her. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to slit your throat unless you’re honest with me.”
“Threats, threats, oh captor of mine.”
“Please,” she said, her voice suddenly breaking. “Enough games. Just tell me what you were going to do.” Fox’s grin dropped, and he looked at her, eyes red-rimmed, face pale. She was wearing another dagger on her belt and a bow on her back. She’d been coming to take Chalia—coming to leave for her own death.
“I was going to talk to Harlow.”
“So, my plan is a suicide mission, but you can throw yourself at Harlow’s feet? And with Chalia as what? Bait?”
“I have a chance of actually talking Harlow down. If I can convince him that the dragons aren’t a threat—that the Dragonborn aren’t a threat. Chalia and I prove that the humans and dragons can have a relationship outside of some spell he thinks you have over them.”
“Are you seriously so naive that you think he’ll listen to you? Just because you wear that uniform? Or because he knew you as a child? You think Ian didn’t try that at some point? He was almost arrested for treason.”
“You don’t know Harlow like I do.”
“I think I know him plenty. Do you know how many sun cycles I spent writing his letters and transcribing his journals? He tracked the number of Dragonborn that were sent to the labor farms each blink against the number that died. He had me write out the names of every man, woman, or child arrested and killed. Every Dragonborn that died in prison of their wounds. He is drowning in the blood of the Dragonborn.”
“He’s a scared man who thinks the only way to save his people isthrough cruelty. What makes him any different from who I was two blinks ago? You showed me a different way. Why can’t I show him?”
She was looking at him the same way his mother used to look at him when he asked about faeries and dragons. And it made his eyes burn and his chest tighten.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
She nodded slowly, and he waited, breath held. “Fine. We go to Harlow. You can try to convince him that he shouldn’t go after the dragons. And if that doesn’t work, I slit him from throat to groin.”
He hated the visual, but he took the small concession. “Okay.”
She didn’t move, though the dagger had fallen from her hand and was lying in the snow next to them. “I still think you’re crazy.”
“I’m okay with that if it stops you from going off to kill yourself.”
“I wasn’t going to kill myself.”
He reached up, cupping her chin in his hand. The pad of his thumb ran across her cheek to her lips. “You were. And you were going to make me sit here and just let it happen.”
“I could have won.”
“You weren’t planning on coming back alive.” Even as he spoke the words, he saw her resolve crumble. She laid her hand on top of his, her fingers hot against his icy skin.
“I’ve always known I might die in all of this. I’m willing to give my life for my people.”
