Page 110 of The Death King

Khazmuda suddenly dropped from the sky, like Inferno had pounced on his back and forced him down. I couldn’t see the ground, couldn’t see anything because the world was too dark. Roars sounded, and then with a heavy hit, we were on the ground. Everything went still, and the talons opened. “Khazmuda, are you okay?” I crawled out, and the second I was free, he was on his feet, fighting Inferno on the ground. We were in a clearing, and the starlight glinted off both of their scales.

A stream of fire unleashed from one of the dragons and torched the surrounding trees. The fire set the world ablaze, turning it from dark to a lit stage. I could see their silhouettes as they fought each other, swiping with their massive claws and trying to bite each other’s necks.

This was not what I wanted.

I got to my feet, and that was when I felt it.

That heat. That anger. That rage.

He appeared, sword in his hand, coming at me as he spun the blade around his wrist.

I turned to run, knowing I was no match for him, not even with my vitalized dragon’s blood. But I was immediately stopped…by the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. It was a skeleton, but it didn’t belong to a human. It belonged to an animal…a bear or a mountain lion, I wasn’t sure. It swiped at me with his bony paw. “Fuck!” I fell backward on my ass then jumped back to my feet, trying to run in a different direction. This time, I ran into the skeleton of a man, holding its own arm as a weapon, swinging it at me. I cried out again and backed away.

The dragons released another stream of fire, and it caught the tops of more trees. Soon, the flames surrounded the entire clearing on all sides—and I could see it all.

See the army of dead that surrounded me.

We were locked in a circle, Talon and I, the dragons fighting their own battle a distance away.

I faced him, my heart about to burst in terror.

He stopped before me, his face devoid of emotion, and spun the sword. The flames danced in the reflection. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I looked around at the dead as they stumbled forward but never crossed an invisible boundary Talon had created. Their objective wasn’t to hurt me, but to block my escape. I had no other choice but to face the man who had taken everything from me.

“I want no more of this. Surrender.”

“And then what? I return to your castle as a prisoner?”

“Better than death, isn’t it?”

My life had been so miserable, I wondered if death would have been the smart choice from the start. “You let me go, but I wish you had killed me.”

He stilled when he heard my words. His eyes narrowed.

“I would have preferred death to all of this.” I felt the tears burn my eyes, remembering how I’d felt in that bathtub in the Arid Sands, how I wished I were brave like my father and just made it end. Made the suffering go away.

“I’m sorry.” Despite the viciousness in his eyes, his words seemed sincere. “I’m fucking sorry?—”

“Fuck you.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t make me hurt you. Fuck, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then let me go.”

He gripped the hilt of his sword but didn’t sheathe it. “You know I can’t do that.” He looked at me, sorrow in his eyes. “You’ve been planning this the entire time, and I didn’t see it.” He seemed to say it more to himself than to me, self-loathing in his voice.

“No. I changed my mind when you called my father a coward.”

His eyes narrowed. “He was a coward?—”

“He gave his life to protect those dragons. That makes him a hero.”

He stepped forward. “He abandoned you.”

“He had his lieutenant escort me through the secret passage, but then Khazmuda collapsed it and I had to turn back?—”

“He shouldn’t have left your side.”