“Defy him, Lira!” Reyker stalked back and forth, sword at the ready. A sword that would turn to dust as soon as it struck Draki. “I won’t let him hurt us anymore, I promise you.”
“He means—”
Say it to him, Lira. Look at him. Make him believe it, or I will make him suffer.
Draki filled my head with images of all he would do.
“I don’t love you, Reyker.” I spoke through stiff jaws that fought against every word. “I never did. I tricked you. My heart has always belonged to the Dragon. He is the one I love. You are just a weak, foolish little lordling, a puppet controlled by a better man. How could I love someone with a soul as tainted as yours?”
Reyker’s steps faltered.
Doubting me, as I had doubted him. Barely. Briefly. But enough to cut deep.
Enough to make the Dragon smile. “Whatever you think passed between you is over, brother. Lira will rule at my side. She will share my bed this night, and every night after. She will bear me magiska daughters and sons, jarls and queens and future emperors. Everything she is, every part of her, is mine.”
Reyker’s breaths rattled through him, his pupils widening into black holes. His battle-madness—Sjaf’s gift—was a beast inside him, threatening to rip free.
“Now, my loyal Sword of the Dragon, you will channel that rage and do as I command. Ride to the Fjordlands. End the pathetic scourge of the Fjull Uprorsmund. Bring me the head of their leader, Solvei Snorrisdottir.”
“If I don’t?”
Draki’s grip on me tightened. When he spoke inside my mind this time, I knew Reyker heard him too. Then I will take what I need from this consort, dispose of her, and find myself another.
Because if Draki could not have me, no one would.
Reyker laughed, turning to the crowd. “Behold, your fearless sovereign who uses his consort as a shield because he is too cowardly to face his kin.” He pointed his sword at Draki’s chest. “What’s the matter, brother? Are you frightened that I’ve finally uncovered the secret to making you bleed?”
The Dragon flinched.
It was barely perceptible, but it was there—Draki, who feared nothing, was worried Reyker would figure out how to kill him. And that meant there was a way.
I wasn’t the only one who saw it. Murmurs traveled through the ranks of Draki’s guests.
“Fear is a mortal weakness, and I am no mortal.” Draki let go of me and drew his sword. “Shall we take this fight to the Blood Ring?”
“I prefer to fight in the open, where men and gods can bear witness.”
Reyker lunged, and Draki met him, their swords ringing like bells as they clashed. People scrambled out of the way of the chaos of blades, the brothers swinging and stabbing and parrying with unearthly speed.
It quickly became clear who was the better swordsman. They were both fast, but Reyker was more agile, his strikes precise and graceful, his body flowing like a stream in contrast to Draki’s brutal, godlike strength. Reyker swung again, a blow that could have sliced Draki’s face in half if he were mortal, but Reyker stopped the blade just before it met flesh.
Reyker grinned.
Draki kicked him, and Reyker flew backward, landing in the wrecked pile of wood that had been the balcony.
My gifts thrummed to life. I lifted the balcony’s nails from where they lay scattered on the ground, sent a cloud of broken stairs flying on a gust of wind, aiming them all at Draki. Metal and wood slammed into him, exploding into splinters and dust.
Draki’s gaze scraped over me. He spread his arms wide and addressed his guests. “Now my consort will show you more of what she can do, and prove the Dragon’s might.” He jerked his head at me. “Again.”
That was nothing, little warrior. You disappoint me.
I didn’t care that I was helping his performance, that he’d stoked my rage on purpose to incite my war gift. The power in my blood bubbled up, demanding release. I whispered to the earth under Dragon’s Lair, and the ground shook. Cracks formed in the dirt, opening wide enough to swallow the tables of decadent food and expensive casks of wine, and pockets of guests who weren’t fast enough to escape the spreading fissures. A hole opened beneath Draki, but he didn’t fall. He seemed to hover an instant, and then he was standing on solid ground a few paces away without so much as shifting a muscle.
More, I had to use more. There had to be a way to hurt him.
I looked up to the clouds speckling the sky above the fortress. Reaching out, I sent one into a spin, drawing down a narrow column from the cloud’s center. Dropping it on Draki’s head. The swirling funnel sucked up broken stairs and dishes and dirt, spiraling around the Dragon. He stuck a single finger into the whirlwind and it recoiled, dissipating.
A strangled howl leaked from my lips. More, I could do more.
Reyker called my name.
“Put my brother in chains,” Draki said to his Dragonmen.
Unless you can stop them.
Clenching my fists, I beckoned the horses. All of them. There hadn’t been room in the stables for those the guests had ridden here, so most were tied up around the buildings. They reared and shrieked, jerking free from their ropes, and stampeded toward Draki and his men. Like he was a boulder in a river, the horses parted around Draki in two waves crashing to either side, straight into the crowd.
Screams shattered the air. The stomp of hooves, the crunch of bones.
“Lira! Stop!” Reyker’s voice floated to me from far away. He ran toward me, but Dragonmen surrounded him, and he was forced to fight.
Draki locked eyes with me.
Are we flirting or feuding? Do you want to fight me, or do you want to fuck me? I doubt you even know. But soon, we will have plenty of time for both.
I tasted blood in the air, the reek of death. My senses were inflamed, spanning out across the distance in search of a weapon.
There—water. Not the sea, which was too far below. But up, high above, was moisture I could wield. It was heavy. It resisted.
If you can knock me down, I might let you have one last night with my brother before I send him off to kill my enemies. Maybe I will send him after your brother. Do you think he would ever forgive himself? Could you still love him if he put a blade through Garreth’s back?
I pulled hard, commanding the water to come to me. My blood was boiling in my veins. I felt trickles of it drip from my nose, my ears, my mouth. Tears of blood streaked down my cheeks. I threw my head back and screamed.
The water came.
CHAPTER 44
LIRA
It started with a creak. Followed by a rumble. Then a roar.