Page 52 of The Dragon King
“Even your husband cannot know.” He was the worst person to know.
“I never make a promise I can’t keep, but I’ve never made a promise to withhold knowledge without understanding the significance of that knowledge or its repercussions.” She stared at her hands for a long moment as she seriously considered the situation before her, comprehending the gravity. The silence lasted minutes, not seconds, her intellect at work. Then she lifted her gaze and met my stare. “It’s unwise to make this promise, but I will make it, nonetheless. I suspect you carry this burden alone, and if I don’t carry it with you, no one will.”
Her words elicited emotion from me that I didn’t expect, and my eyes immediately flicked away to recover from the unexpected blow. Her prejudice against me had made me question her faculties, but now there was no doubt she was one of the most intelligent people I’d ever met. “Thank you.”
“I’m ready to listen, Death King.”
I didn’t know where to start. Didn’t want to admit the decision I’d made had been reckless and foolhardy. “You know my father was the King of the Southern Isles. That he was usurped by my uncle. Not really my uncle…because the blood has been diluted over the generations. He used the dark elves who reside inthat land to control the dragons we’d lived with peacefully for generations…and took everything from me.” My eyes dropped to the table as I spoke. “He burned each member of my family alive.”
I didn’t know her reaction because my eyes were down, but I suspected her expression hadn’t changed at all. Not because she was heartless, but because she was a monarch who had to face cruelty with a hard face.
“I loved every member of my family. My father. My mother. My sister. My brother…” All of their deaths still hurt me. “But what hurt most of all…” I’d had decades to accept the loss, but no amount of time would make this one better. The guilt wouldn’t allow me to let it go. “They burned my wife…and she was pregnant with my daughter.” I kept my eyes on the table and focused on the texture of the wood to stave off the tears. “I tried to send her away on a ship…but he knew.”
“I’m sorry, Death King.”
“Call me Talon.”
There was a long pause. “Then call me Eldi.”
I lifted my head to look at her.
“It’s what my parents used to call me. How my husband and other close friends address me in private.”
“I—I feel honored.” More honored than I’d ever been.
“Continue your tale, Talon.”
I held her gaze for a moment before I looked down at the table again. “Khazmuda saved me, and over those decades, I spent my time trying to forget what happened. I tried to take my life, butKhazmuda fused with me to spare me. I sailed the seas in the hope everything would just go away, but it never did. No matter how fast I sailed our galleon, I couldn’t outrun my misery.”
She listened with patience and didn’t try to rush me.
“When you’re a pirate, you meet a lot of people in a lot of places. My captain told me a tale of Bahamut, God of the Underworld. He told me where to find him, so I sailed there.”
The tension rose like a fire that was growing in intensity. She said nothing, but the air around her had changed.
I lifted my chin to look at her once more. “I asked him to make me powerful enough to defeat my enemies, to avenge my wife and child…and the rest of my kin. He gave me the ability to command the dead, told me free dragons still existed in the world, and gave me the tools I needed to reach this moment. But it came at a heavy price.”
“Talon…” Her hard confidence disappeared as the sadness flooded her eyes. Disappointment was in her voice, the kind that was heavier than a rain cloud in a storm. “When is this debt owed?”
“Once the battle is finished—whether I win or lose.”
She brought her hands underneath her chin and dipped her head slightly, her mind lost in thought.
“When I disappeared, it was because Bahamut took me. He’s angry that I defended the Great Tree and the God of Caelum when my purpose is to serve him. I made no apologies because I feel no remorse. The dark elves were foul creatures, and they deserved death.”
“They would have been good allies for your war.”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “I’d rather win it the hard way than the easy way.”
“What else did he say to you?”
“I tried to end the agreement and spare my soul, but he won’t let me go.” An invisible power had bound me to him. I couldn’t undo what had been done. And no living creature could undo it. As mighty as Khazmuda was, even he was powerless against a god. “I said I would forfeit the powers he gave me, but he said it was too late.”
“The God of Caelum has shared little of him, but she’s mentioned his unspeakable cruelty.”
A cruelty I would endure for eternity.
“I wish you hadn’t made that deal, Talon.”