Page 33 of Kingdom of Ashes & Bone
“Zephyr can’t lead. He—”
I stopped myself at the ashen look on the bastard prince’s face. He was bat-shit crazy, but he meant well. He was trying to help in his own fucked up way. I should tell Zariah and Zion he was just as infected as the other Nobles and would eventually turn. What did it matter though? As long as I watched him, we could ensure he didn’t hurt anyone. Shouldn’t Zephyr be allowed to live his life as much as he could before the inevitable end, just like he allowed the other doomed Nobles?
If it came down to it, a dragon would be more than enough to deal with one rogue demon.
I cleared my throat. “I mean … the mud quarter people don’t know you. But obviously that will change,” I ended lamely. “What about the demons and the Nobles? Who will … help them?”
Help being an odd word to use for what Zephyr did, but still a good question.
Zephyr shifted his weight restlessly, eyes shifting to Zion. “I don’t know how much they told you about what the queen did. When the dragon—er, Zariah, put himself between the refugees and her, she went straight for the tunnels and doused them in dragonfire. I don’t—I assume … That is, they all have to be dead, don’t they?”
A pit of dread opened in my stomach. “What … What about the new Nobles who turn? Where will they go?”
Zephyr wouldn’t look at me. Zion had turned away, and even Zariah’s dragon head stared off in the distance.
“But … I thought that was your mission,” I protested to Zephyr. “How can you,of all people, write off the turning Nobles?”
There was no way he could miss the sharpness of my voice, but Zephyr grit his teeth and said nothing. It was a silent change. Would I call his bluff?
I finally looked away. I couldn’t condemn Zephyr, and if the queen had already decimated the demons in the pit, there wasn’t anything that could be done now, could there?
Zephyr clapped his hands together, enthusiastic now that he knew I wasn’t going to spill his secret. “Well, the animals should be about skinned. What say the dragon help get the fire going?”
I’m interested in other fires.…Zariah grumbled, but as my eyes narrowed at him, he blew a puff of hot air out of his snout and trotted behind Zephyr deeper into the camp.
Pig,I thought back, directing it at his large dragon behind. He paused in shock, head whipping around to stare at me before turning back to shuffle after Zephyr like an overly large dog.
Zion squeezed my shoulder. “You probably just turned him on more.”
I gestured helplessly. “Breathing turns him on.”
The smell of barbeque filled the air.
ChapterTen
With Zariah’s help (in dragon form, of course), we all built a blazing bonfire in the center of the little camp. This led to a strange, festive air that didn’t sit right with the smoldering ruins of the mud quarter back in the city.
But I also knew people from the mud quarter had never had a reason to celebrate before. Or hot meat. Or a giant, golden symbol of protection and redemption that was a literal light in the darkness that was our existence.
Then again, I would have been thrilled to get out of the mud quarter. I hadn’t been attached to anyone other than my mother, my few friends already gone and taken to the Seat. Looking back wasn’t a mud quarter trait; looking back didn’t do you any good.
So in a way, I understood the happy, nearly crazed atmosphere. With their lighter hair, the surviving women and children from the Seat stuck out like sore thumbs, but they sat side by side with refugees from the mud quarter. The children ate the meat with wide, astonished eyes, one child crying in happiness when Zion offered him seconds.
It was too much. The suffering here compared to life on the Seat was so jarring that I wanted to scream at the injustice.
“Here. Don’t think I forgot about you.”
Zion handed me a giant drumstick. I grasped the greasy meat in my fingers, frowning at it.
“Where did Zariah get this? The land around here …”
The tips of Zion’s ears blushed red. “It’s … Well, there are kingdoms far from here that aren’t so far for a dragon. And their farms are large, with huge herds of prey—I mean, animals. Trust me, they won’t miss these.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about stealing meat from others, but you couldn’t argue that the people here didn’t need it. I hoped that in time, the sickly, gaunt look of most of the children and women would fade. It hadn’t escaped me that almost no men had made it out of the mud quarter; not that there had been many there to begin with. Whether it was by chance or design, I didn’t want to know. These women, at least, deserved a space to feel safe without having to look over their shoulders constantly. I made a mental note to speak to Zephyr about it later. He’d have to keep a sharp eye on the men, who were used to taking whatever they wanted.
“Sit and eat. Everyone else has. It’s your turn.” Zion guided me down in front of the fire, next to Zephyr and Shava. Zephyr gave me a small grin but Shava ignored me. It hurt, but I couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to.
I ate slowly, reveling in the companionable silence as we all kept to ourselves. The crackling of the fire was soothing, as well as the muted voices of the refugees in the background, happy and excited and feeling safe for the first time in their lives.
