Thomas gasped. “There you are,” he whispered.
I frowned. “There who is?”
Thomas nodded. “This was the very first dragon I bonded to.” He glanced over to the king. “This is why you accused me?”
“There was an energy signature that suggested your responsibility,” the king said. “I didn’t want to believe it, which is why I gave you the opportunity to prove yourself.”
“It’s Donathar. There are others involved. One of the instructors at the Academy. I’m sure you came across Manuel in the hallway. He’s injured and needs help—”
“He’s already had the help he needs,” the Sharath said.
Manuel appeared out of the darkness and stepped into the hall. The king turned to him.
I was fading.
If Donathar took control of this power, I didn’t know what would happen.
Could he overwhelm Thomas? The king?
Probably.
I strained.
I had to hold it.
Only a little longer . . .
“Well?” the king asked Manuel.
Manuel glanced from me to Donathar, and finally to the dragon. “He speaks the truth.”
The king frowned. “Which one?”
“Ashan. Donathar attacked me.”
With that, Donathar suddenly surged, and he again tried to wrest control of the dragon cycle from me.
I resisted.
Power from the cycle filled me, but I couldn’t fully control it.
I created a looping band of flame, sending it sweeping toward him.
He pulled through the cycle, trying to steal power from me.
With more time, he might succeed, but a thought had occurred to me. I wasn’t strong enough to withstand him, but I didn’t have to be.
I pushed him back.
I had enough strength for that.
He stumbled, landing near the dragon.
All I’d wanted was to knock him over and give me time. Nothing more than that.
Instead, the dragon did something unexpected.
He lifted his head, more movement than I’d seen from him in the time he’d been here, and he snapped up Donathar in his massive jaws, ripping him in half with one sharp movement and a spray of blood across the ground.
Donathar cried out but was quickly silenced.
The power in the cycle flashed—then it poured into me as control over the cycle came free of Donathar’s influence.
The dragon belched out a hint of flame, settling his head back to the ground.
It all happened so fast that I had no idea how to react.
The king just grunted. “Well. That settles that.” He nodded to me. “Deal with this, all of you.” He nodded to Thomas, then to the Sharath, and finally paused on Manuel, leaning in and whispering something to him before leaving. I sank to the ground, exhaustion striking me, and drifted off without meaning to.
24
When I woke, I was resting near the massive black-scaled dragon, still in the lower chamber beneath the palace. I was still tired, and everything within me seemed to throb. Power continued to stream off of me, leaving me fading. Whatever was happening meant that energy drew off of me in a way I couldn’t completely control.
I sat up, looking over to see the dragon watching me. The power cycling through me and through the vases continued, and it was more than what I could command.
“You will have to work with me.”
I looked over to see a familiar face. It took me a moment to process what I was seeing. “Natalie?”
She scooted closer, collecting the four vases and nodding. “You’re going to have to work with me.”
“I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
I looked toward the tunnel. “I mean, what are you doing here? In the palace?”
She smiled slightly. The light in the room was dim, only a few lanterns casting a flickering glow, and even that seemed to shift and shimmer every so often. “I told you my family moved around.”
“You did.”
“It was because of my father’s posts.”
“Your father . . .” I frowned, thinking about something I had overheard the Sharath say about moving around in his service to the kingdom. It fit with what Natalie had described. “He’s the Sharath.”
She nodded slowly. “He is.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There wasn’t any reason to tell you before.”
“Were you sent to watch me?”
She chuckled. “Not you. I was sent to watch Thomas. My father doesn’t care for him that much. Then when the dragons started disappearing, I was to keep an eye on them.”
“He’s not the one responsible.”
“I know. My father knows that now, too.” She looked up at me, holding her gaze for a moment. “I’m going to need you to help me.”
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I need you to help me with this so we can release the dragons’ energy from here.” She pulled one of the vases in front of her before moving so that they could all be situated in front of her. I sat up, crossing my legs and watching her. “If we don’t release the energy, the dragons will suffer. Eventually . . .”
“Eventually, they’re going to fade,” I said.
She nodded. “Unfortunately, I think they would. Do you think you can help?”
“What do you need from me?”
“What I need is for you to focus on what you can feel from the dragons, and I need you to work with me to help release the power in each of these vases. It’s not going to be easy.”
“How is it that you’re the one doing this?” I looked toward the distant stairs. Where was Thomas? Manuel? The Sharath?
“They thought it might be easier for the two of us to do this, given our friendship. Besides, it seems as if the Academy has some accounting to do with those who might have infiltrated it. You told Thomas there was an instructor working with the Vard.”
I nodded. “He was.”
“Considering that, and what you encountered on your way to the city, I think the king wants tighter control over the Academy. It means Thomas will need to have a firmer hand in its running.”
“There were some students, as well.”
“I’m sure there were,” she said.
There was something about what I had seen from Brandel and Cara that wasn’t quite right.
