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I saw his eyes change, and he turned to meet my father’s gaze, stepping toward him though the guards unsheathed their swords at Sarkin’s approach. He didn’t even flinch.
“We are the Karag—riders of the mighty Elthika,” he growled, a low rumble that mirrored his dragon’s. “The gods of the sky. The death from above. You would do well to remember that before you speak to me. You might be king but only because of your bloodline. Where is the honor in that? Where is the sacrifice in that? The kings of Karag…we earn our thrones.”
The Karag.
“You have a choice to make, king,” Sarkin said, mocking distaste dripping from his tongue. “Give me the heartstone…”
A murmuring went through the clearing, the members of my father’s council loosening their tongues in their shock.
“Or give me your daughter.”
The world spun, the starlight brightening above as my vision blurred.
Da
“No,” came the word, growled from my brother’s lips. “Absolutely not.”
And yet…my father’s eyes had widened when he’d heard the Karag’s offer. As if he couldn’t believe his good fortune. Here was his opportunity to offload the daughter who had only ever brought shame and embarrassment, whose birth had nearly torn apart his legacy. And he could keep the heartstone?
His shock might’ve been mistaken for the shock of a loving father. Maybe that was what Sarkin would see. Maybe he would even revel in it.
My father knew that.
“No,” he said quickly, mirroring Da
“Then perhaps I will take both,” came Sarkin’s simple reply.
A chorus of muted gasps and murmurings went through the clearing, and I stood there, unable to feel my feet planted firmly to the earth. Strangely, I thought of Queen Kara’s book in my room, the one that Sora had let me borrow from the archives, and I wondered how she could reclaim it if I was gone.
“Do you know why the Elthika are feared?” Sarkin asked. “Because of their strength? Because of their might? No. It’s because of their ethrall.”
My brow furrowed. Ethrall?
“It has toppled kingdoms and created civilizations. Would you like to see it, Dothikkar? Would you like to be reminded of what it can do?”
“Reminded?” my father rasped.
“Your people have seen it before. The last was two centuries ago. It wiped out an entire race on your planet…I wonder what it would do to your glittering city?”
“Impossible,” Da
Horror rooted me into place.
I saw Sarkin’s lips curl into a devastating grin. “You will learn to fear us. And only then can we come to understand one another, Dakkari.”
It happened quickly.
Sarkin’s eyes cut to mine, studying me again.
“Zari, ethrall,” he commanded.
Behind Sarkin’s line of riders, Zaridan reared back, the scales on her chest glittering as she inhaled deeply, the gust of wind she sucked in whipping my hair around my face. I didn’t understand…until I watched a silent roar, her jaws wide, razor black fangs exposed.
The red mist that streamed out of her crashed into the clearing like violent waves against a sea cliff.
“Klara!” I heard Da
We hadn’t known what power these Karag possessed…and now we did.
The Elthika could create the red fog that had nearly destroyed our entire race two hundred years ago. The red fog my own ancestors had fought to defeat…and it had nearly killed them in the process.
All I saw was bloodred around me. I’d often wondered what it felt like, what it had been like. It was just as horrifying as I’d imagined.
Da
Then behind me, his voice came.
“Are you afraid, aralye?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good,” he said, stepping in front of me. I could make out his face in the mist, the only face I could see, and suddenly he felt like an unyielding pillar as chaos erupted around us. “Since your father will not answer, I will give you the same choice I gave him.”
“Please stop this,” I pleaded, thinking about Da
“The heartstone or you. Make your choice.”
“Me,” I cried out immediately. “I will go with you! Stop this!”
Sarkin called out, “Faryn.”
Another gust came. I blinked and before my eyes, the red fog disappeared in an instant. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the loose swords hanging from the guards’ grip, I saw my father slowly rising from the ground and Da
“Klara,” Da
“I’ll go with you,” I repeated, forcing my gaze away from my brother’s eyes.
“With one condition,” came Sarkin’s voice, oddly detached, as his arm clamped down on my forearm, pulling me forward. I had hardly caught my breath as he said, “Zaridan must approve of you first.”
My feet stumbled underneath me as we broke through the line of riders at the edge of the clearing, who parted for us. And then Sarkin pushed me forward and I skittered to a halt before his dragon.
My breath whooshed from my lungs as her low rumble of a growl met my ears. I slowly craned my neck back to meet her eyes, and time seemed to stop. Her power was awe inspiring…and I knew, with utmost certainty, that she could kill me in an instant. In the gleam of her black scales, I could almost make out my reflection.
“If she doesn’t kill you where you stand, you will live,” came Sarkin’s voice, soft as silk though it nipped at my spine like the edge of a blade. A chorus of low laughs came from his riders.
Zaridan slowly lowered her head until our eyes were nearly level. I could smell her—earthy like the wildlands after a storm. Of underground rivers in deep caverns and of damp, black soil. Her horned head was five times as large as my entire body, and when she exhaled a warm huff, my hair blew back from my face, exposing my scar.
“And if you live, Klara of Rath Serok and Rath Drokka,” Sarkin continued, his voice sharpening, “then I will make you my wife.”