Mykal
will live
, she retorted.
I
can Heal anything if I offer enough blood.
She refused to remember how Gregar had
died, her blood trickling down his throat, yet she'd been powerless to keep him
from Vulkar's Call.
Sal pressed against her back, his
incredible hair slipping over her shoulder, warm and rich with his scent.
:We won’t let you harm yourself to save
anyone, not one of us, and certainly not this Keldari.:
“Don’t discount me as a challenger, Your
Majesty, despite my mistake,” the
tal
pleaded. “I’ll come to your bed if that’s your wish. I’ll give you blood. I
have no such fears as your
munakuri
who don’t understand the gift.”
“No,” she retorted. “I don’t want your
blood. I want—”
Lady
help me, I want Mykal to live. I want to have more than one night with him. I
want him to see his son grow up and see that love can overcome even the
darkest, foulest Shadow.
“Let me Dance the Blades for you, then.”
“Very well,” she sighed. Her head
thumped with every beat of her heart, and her stomach pitched as though she
might be ill again. She didn’t bother climbing the dais to the High Throne, but
motioned Phillip over with the same camp chair she’d used outside the Shining
Walls. Carefully, she sat down and leaned back against Sal. Jorah and Lew took
the floor before her.
“I ask that you allow me to challenge
one of your guards.”
At the frosty look she shot him, the
tal
planted himself face down on the
tile before her chair. “Why should I allow my Blood to fight you?”
“Mykal
tal
’Mamba has already won your favor,” the tal said in a quick,
breathless voice. “
Tal’Tellan
has
already been defeated. If your guard defeats me, the Keldari will return
peacefully to our deserts.”
She didn’t need to ask her Blood if they
were willing; they were vibrating with eagerness, more than ready to tear into
every enemy who threatened her, especially the ones who caused her pain through
her newest bond.
“Choose your opponent.”
“By the length of his hair alone, I
choose the red-haired guard at your back. He’s surely been the most victorious
among your guard.”
Stiffening, she involuntarily clutched
Sal’s hand on her shoulder.
:Have
you so little faith in me,
na’lanna
?:
For all his purring and playful ways, she knew he could be as
lethal as a tiger when he chose.
:Do you
not trust me to defend your honor against this Keldari?:
:I
can’t bear to see you hurt. If I lost you…:
She couldn’t help the tear that slipped
down her cheek. The Keldari inhaled sharply and leaned closer, his eyes locked
on that tear. His hand stretched out, fingers trembling.
Sal bent his head to hers and in one
long swipe of his tongue, licked the tear from her cheek.
:I’ll make this Keldari eat his cloak for even daring to think he could
touch you.:
* * *
BY THE WEAKENING STRETCH DHARMAN Dharman
felt in the bond, her Keldari was nearly dead. She gripped that bond as
fiercely as she’d fought any
kae’don
of her life, but he feared this might be one she lost. He waited until Khul and
his warriors surrounded the tent, and then he slipped through the slit. Eyes
and ears straining in the darkness, he crouched,
rahke
in hand. No one shouted with alarm. In fact, he heard nothing
but the soft, faint pant of breath and the faintest groan of pain.
Slowly, his eyes adjusted until he made
out the form of a man dragging himself across the floor of the tent. He flung
out a hand, grasped a handful of leather, and laboriously pulled himself
another scant inch toward the entry.
Toward
na’lanna
Qwen
.
Dharman crawled forward. “Mykal, I’m
here to help you.”
“Get. Out.” He ground out. “She needs
you.”
Ignoring him, Dharman rolled him over
and praised Vulkar that there was no light to see the full extent of his
injuries. Even in the shadowed confines of the tent, he could see the misshapen
form of the man’s lower body. It looked like the man's dragon had taken a hunk
out of him. Why it hadn’t killed him…
Of course. She was keeping him alive.
Shaken, Dharman gripped the Keldari’s arm and hauled him up.
Healing this
might very well take every drop of blood in her body.
“Asad,” Mykal gasped, sagging against
him. “He’ll chain her. He has the ring I wore as Stephan.”
:Beware
the Keldari who arrives shortly.:
Dharman listened to
her bond, searching through her mind and feeling the other Blood about her.
Rage exploded in him.
:Where is Sal?:
:He
was challenged by the other tal.:
Lightheaded from how much blood she’d
already sacrificed, she tried to remain calm and sure, but Dharman felt her
concern eating away through the bond. She didn’t like any of her Blood fighting,
let alone Sal. The only worse option would have been if Dharman had been
challenged, which he thought ludicrous. If one of her Blood fell in
hand-to-hand combat, then he did not deserve to be her Blood at all, let alone
her First.
She didn’t even care that her two
nearest Blood were separated from her, leaving her defenses seriously weakened.
He dragged the Keldari out of the tent,
heedless of his injuries. “If she dies because I was out here saving your
dragon hide, you’ll wish your
rav
had
dunked your whole body in acid.”
Mykal wheezed out a laugh and stumbled
along as fast as he could. Khul took his other arm, and Dharman gave him a
grateful nod. The rest of the warriors circled them, ignoring the stares and
shouts as they raced back toward Shanhasson.
The ground rumbled beneath his feet. A
roar tore through the night that sent him pounding harder, his heart outrunning
his feet. “Was that a dragon?”
Mykal stumbled, dragging them all to a
halt. Chest heaving, he stared up at the Shining Walls, his face pale and lined
with pain. “
Iyeh
.”
Tail snapping with agitation, the White
Dragon paced in Shannari’s bond. The remaining seven Blood all placed their
bodies between hers and the new threat. Sal ceased the challenge with the
Keldari, his hair a red blur as he dodged a swipe of foot-long talons.
The black beast curled in between the
massive columns of the High Court, his neck snaking along the white marble. He
roared again and plaster crumbled from the soaring ceiling, sending the
outlanders screaming for cover. His tail crashed into a pillar. Cracking, the
thick support shifted off its base. If they didn’t end this quickly, the dragon
would destroy her entire Palace.
Great Vulkar, how does one fight a
dragon as large as a mountain?
Mykal jerked his arms free. “Tell her…”
“You’ll tell her yourself,” Dharman
retorted. “She’ll skin me alive if I let you die.”
“I won’t die.” A faint smile curved his
lips a moment, but his eyes were grim, dark pools of sorrow. “I’ll distract the
dragon and keep him from brightheart, but you must get that ring off his talon
and destroy it. Don’t let it anywhere near her.”
“On my honor, nothing will ever chain
her for Shadow. How will you fight the dragon?”
Mykal sank heavily to his knees, his
face twisting at the pain. “As a dragon, of course. Go. There’s nothing you can
do for me now but kill me once Asad’s dragon is dead.”
“Surely—”
“Kill me,” he repeated firmly. “I don’t
wish to live the rest of my life as a Black Dragon whom she must constantly
guard against. I’d rather be dead and remember my one night of heaven in her
arms.”
Dharman hesitated, torn between his need
to be at her side and regret at leaving this wounded man whom
na’lanna Qwen
loved behind to die.
Mykal’s back arched, his hands scrambled against the ground, bones cracking and
bulging oddly beneath the skin.
“Go!”
The dragon burst out of the Keldari,
growing and spreading like a black plague. He threw his head back and bellowed
an answer to the other Black. Fumes filled the night sky, making the Sha'Kae
al'Dan cough and cover their noses and mouths with their arms. With a mighty
flap of wings that sent the warriors tumbling to the ground, the big dragon
leaped into the air.
“Great Vulkar.” Khul struggled to his
feet. “Does Shannari know he can do that?”
“Aye,” Dharman replied wryly. The danger
had attracted her from the very beginning. “Let’s hurry or we’ll miss the
kae’don
entirely.”
They raced back to the Palace, slipping
in through the secret entrances that she'd provided to him. Through her bond,
he knew the
tal
and Sal had both
engaged Asad’s dragon. The Blood learned how to fight a dragon quickly and
managed to duck beneath the swiping claws to slash at the vulnerable
underbelly.
However, a
rahke
was nothing but an annoyance to such a beast, unless they managed
to plant a blade in his eye. Even then, Dharman doubted it would be a mortal
wound. For once, he wished that she’d continued to carry a sword.
A crash above confirmed that Mykal had
landed on the roof. The sound of his claws raking against stone sent shards of
ice screeching down Dharman’s spine. He barged into the High Court and her eyes
immediately locked onto him. Her hand had bled down her lap and dripped on the
floor, and she was pale, her face shiny with sweat. If she were truly pregnant,
she shouldn’t be losing such blood.
Shadows flickered behind her. Relieved
that Gregar had her back, Dharman turned to assist Sal with the dragon.
Her bond lurched with a sudden surge of
fear that sent the hair crawling on his scalp and his heart pounding like stampeding
na’kindren
. Dharman whirled.
Na’lanna
Qwen
had vanished.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
FOUR
IT
WAS A NIGHTMARE, THE SAME DREAM THAT HAD TORMENTED HER FOR YEARS. Shadows came
to life and dragged her away from all she loved. The arm about her throat was
so tight she couldn’t breathe. Darkness spread in her mind, her limbs numb with
cold.
:Gregar.:
But she knew it wasn’t him. She didn’t
smell his rich caffe scent; he didn’t stroke her cheek with his
rahke
. This attacker had to be a Death
Rider, but who?
Gregar growled in her mind, his bond a
frigid midnight blade.
:I was not the
only Shadowed Blood.:
“Varne?” She didn’t know she’d said it
out loud until the man at her back sucked in his breath. “Varne, is that you?
What’s wrong?”
He slung her to the ground so hard her
head recoiled on the tile. He dropped on top of her, his weight trapping her
beneath him. Shadows waivered enough to reveal his perpetually grim face. “How
did you know it was me?”
“What in the Three Hells are you doing?
Get off me at once.”
He raised his
rahke
and stared at it. Water cascaded within her, so cold and
crisp she shivered. She could shove him aside with that crushing wave, but
something in his gaze made her pause.
For years, this man had dedicated his
life to Rhaekhar. No matter how much she disliked him, Varne deserved a chance
to explain himself. She would regret sending him to join Rhaekhar without first
trying to help him. In the back of her mind, she couldn't forget that Shadows
had flickered about her when she'd nearly killed him last time.
His hand trembled. His eyes swam with
emotion. “I failed.”
“Varne,” she whispered gently, drawing
his gaze back to hers. “What is it? What happened?”
“I tried to climb Vulkar’s Mountain.”
“You wanted to be a Death Rider?”
He nodded, a single jerk of his head.
Trying to understand him, she said,
“Your
rahke
isn’t ivory.”
His mouth curled in a sneer and his left
hand wrapped around her throat. “That won’t stop me.”
Struggling to breathe, she tried to
distract him. “If you need help…”
“Do you remember what you told me at
Rhaekhar’s pyre?”
She blinked, trying to remember, but
she’d blocked most of the events from her memory. That wretched day had
shredded her heart and plunged her into an Endless Night of Sorrow.
“You asked me what I was, nearest Blood
of my dead Khul.”
She swallowed hard, fighting the
constriction in her throat, and slid her right hand down toward the black
rahke
on her hip.
Dharman's bond burned red-hot with fury.
:Na’lanna!:
He was close, but she didn’t dare look
for him and accidentally draw Varne’s attention. Surely he knew her Blood would
never let him drag her away and do…whatever he meant to do. She couldn’t tell
where they were, merely alone, deeper in some dark back room off the High
Court.
:It’s Varne.: