energy — but his limbs were frozen into hunched obedience. Sweat dripped down his face as he struggled against the weight of power. Against me. Why did he struggle? It was his place to obey. With just a thought, I forced him lower and lower, until his face was pressed into the dirt.
His eyes were still locked on mine, a silent scream in them. I could make him do whatever I wanted.
A clear thought forced its way through the blinding power: I was doing what Ido had once done to me. Cold shame doused my anger. What was I thinking? Ryko was my friend. I sucked in a desperate breath and focused inward, groping for the link. Whatever it was, I had to find it. Break it. I had given him my word.
It was deep within me — a single golden thread of his
“Ryko, I can’t stop it!”
A figure rose from the ground. Straight for me. The impact knocked me sideways before the pain exploded through my jaw. I staggered and fell heavily to my bruised knees. The agony in my face and legs doubled me over as the link with Ryko snapped. I gasped into the sudden release. Through a blur of tears, I saw Dela standing over me, her hand still raised.
“Dela! No!” Yuso dragged her back a few steps. Nearby, Ryko was crumpled on the ground, gulping for air.
Kygo squatted beside me. “Lady Eona, are you all right?” His hand was on my back, the gentle weight steadying me.
My nod sent pain into my head. Cradling my jaw, I tentatively moved it from side to side. A man’s strength had been behind Dela’s blow.
“Lady Eona, forgive me.” Dela shook off Yuso’s hold and crouched before me.
I spat, tasting the copper warmth of blood. My tongue found the soft ragged sting of bitten cheek. “Did you have to hit me so hard?”
Dela bowed her head. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
I nodded again and winced. “At least you stopped it.”
“Was it the other dragons?” Kygo asked. “Did they come through the link you have with Ryko?” He saw my surprise. “I overheard you discuss it last night. Ryko was not over-quiet.”
“I don’t know what it was, Your Majesty.” Hoping to avoid more questions, I motioned to Ryko. The islander was still hunched over, breathing heavily. “Ryko, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop it.”
“Are you all right?” Dela asked him, crossing the short distance on her knees.
“Stay back.”
I could not tell if the harsh words were aimed at Dela or me. Perhaps they were aimed at both of us. Dela stopped just short of him, stranded between her own need and his bristling rage. Ryko was a proud man, and he had just been felled by a woman and saved by a Contraire. He would not forgive either of us quickly.
Vida cautiously moved toward him. Ryko allowed the girl to help him straighten. His tight smile of gratitude pushed Dela up onto her feet and across the clearing, away from them.
Kygo stood and offered me his hand. “If you are able, we will move on. The sooner we free Lord Ido, the sooner you will get some control over these dragons.”
I nodded and clasped his hand. Yet some horrified part of me knew that it was not the dragons, or even Kinra, who had forced Ryko into the dirt.
It was me.
Once again, we set up a schedule of short rides and long walks. This time, however, we were heading back to the palace, Solly’s well-honed forest skills keeping us at a safe distance from any road or track. The one exception was a bridge over a swollen river. We could not risk fording the rushing waters, so we chanced a slippery peasant crossing made of rough planks and rope. With the thundering deluge only an arm’s length below, it took all of my nerve to edge over the slimy, mosscovered boards. The horses were not keen, either: each animal had to be coaxed across by a mix of Solly’s croons and Ryko’s iron grip.
As we moved downstream, heavy monsoon clouds tracked our progress. The thick gray expanse above us was like a smothering blanket of heat, but occasionally there was a current of cooler air that chilled sweat and promised rain and relief. The impending downpour added urgency to our search for the resistance group who, according to Vida, was entrenched in the area. They would give us a safe place to wait out the rains and mudslides, she said; more importantly, they would have news of Sethon’s army.
Ryko was quick to volunteer for scout duties and spent most of the morning ahead of us, looping around at intervals to report to Yuso. Only once did Dela try to talk to him; his cold courtesy plunged her into grim silence.
As before, I rode behind Kygo, and on the long, slogging walks he taught me the wisdom of Xsu-Ree. His father had insisted he memorize the Twelve Songs of Warfare, and as we pushed our way through the undergrowth, he recited them to me in the low tone of secrets, his voice audible only if we walked side by side, our heads close together. Each song was a series of wisdoms about an element of warfare. I did not wholly understand any of them, but a few caught my imagination: the Song of Espionage with its five types of spies, and the Song of Flames that told of five ways to attack by fire. Within the rhythms of Kygo’s deep voice, I heard the treacherous tread of double agents and the screams of men burning alive. With such skill, he could have been a Grand Poet.
“Do you recall the five fundamentals in the first song?” he asked at the end of his recitation.
It was near noon and we were walking parallel to the river, the water hidden by a thick stand of pine trees. For the time being, the steep mountainside had eased into a gentler slope, the scrubby woodland overrun by long- tailed pheasants. Bell crickets sang in the heat in a pulsing drone, and sprang out of the damp grass as we passed. A sign of good fortune, some would say. Kygo opened the collar of his tunic, a concession to the stifling humidity. I caught myself staring at the strong column of his throat, the smooth skin at the base marred by the rough, scabbed stitches that circled the gold setting of the pearl. I did not know if it was Kinra or the memory of the gem’s caress that drew my eyes. Those boundaries had become blurred.
A few lengths ahead of us, Tiron was leading Ju-Long, the battle-trained horse unmoved by the birds that bolted out of the undergrowth in front of him. A good way behind, Solly, Yuso, and Vida were leading the other horses in a straggling line. Dela walked by herself, her attention shifting between the path we were forging through the bushes and grass, and the red folio open in her hands.
I searched my memory for the five fundamentals, determined not to disappoint my teacher. “They are
“You learn faster than I do,” he said, smiling.
“But you understand them.” I shrugged against the damp cling of my borrowed gown. Sweat had gathered around the low neckline, but I did not want to wipe it away while he watched.
“You will understand, too.”
Although his firm belief bolstered me, I was not so sure a few days would be enough to grasp even the rudiments of Xsu-Ree’s wisdom. There was so much I did not know. All I had was the cunning of a salt slave and the reflexes of a liar.
He held back a branch as we pushed through a patch of spiny brushwood. “What is the Way of War?” he asked.
“The Way of War is the Way of Deception.” I glanced sideways at him, the little demon of mischief coming back to prod me. “I understand that one. From experience.”
He stopped, his smile deepening. “Indeed you do,
We stood, grinning at each other, cocooned in the hot thicket. Then something changed, as if the air contracted between us. He stepped closer. “You are not a lord now.”
I had to tilt back my head to meet his eyes. “No, I am—”
The rest of my words were lost in his intent gaze and the brush of his hand against my cheek.
For a moment, I smelled the green snap of tree gum on his fingers and the faint scent of smoky leather and horse. His skin was damp with sweat, the stark contours of his shaved head lost in a day’s dark growth. From
