Page 52 of Kingdom of Ashes & Bone
My jaw dropped. Just one?! How was I possibly supposed to choose? This was important information about my princes! He couldn’t hold it ransom like that! It wasn’t fair, it—
I clamped down on my frustration, trying to control myself as he watched me carefully, one giant ridge above his left eye raised at me.
“Fine.” I sighed. “What’s your name?”
His fangs flashed at me, which I supposed was the dragon way of smiling.
Sabrathan.
I nodded. “Thank you, Sabrathan. For everything.”
Sabrathan grumbled, turning to shuffle off to his next crowd of people.Once my use here is done, my mate and I will leave. We will not say goodbye.
Abrupt, but that was his choice.
Wind swept through the air, scattering the piles of ashes and bones that lay scattered everywhere in the ground. They were as numerous as the dusty desert sand. I squinted mine eyes shut to keep the grit out.
“OK,” I whispered.
By the time I opened my eyes, he was gone.
ChapterFifteen
Iwas at the edge of what remained of the mud quarter, which was nothing but ashes. The only reason I knew it used to be my home was because it was the only quarter completely obliterated, thanks to the queen’s dragon form.
Sabrathan couldn’t take her away fast enough.
With both of my princes busy and my mother sleeping, now was the perfect time to try and find Shava. I couldn’t explain why I felt she was here near the mud quarter, where it all began, but it felt right.
I wandered through the ash-covered streets. Small, dirty little mounds were the only evidence of where our huddled homes had been. The alleyways were charred and black. I looked away from the piles of bones and obvious lumps that littered the ground here and there. I walked until I came upon a vicious slant in the ground.
The mine tunnels.
I only made it a few feet toward the tunnel before I stopped. My hands shot to my face and some sort of gasping noise left me.
Shava.
I’d found Shava.
Her body was twisted and broken as if her attacker had caught her unawares, then had simply dropped her and let her lay after she was dead. With limbs splayed and her head pointed up toward the sky, I forced myself to bear witness to everything.
Including the two holes in her head where her eyes had been.
Including the ruin of her mouth, which pooled with dried, black blood.
Including the hole in her chest, open to her heart and exposing the white of her ribs. Well, where her heart had been.
Someone had taken it.
Unable to stand it any longer, I backed away and threw up. Or tried to. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten, so all I managed to do was retch up bile.
What had happened? Who would commit such an atrocity? It was one thing to kill someone, but to … butcher them? What was the point?
I couldn’t leave her like that. I couldn’t leave Ell. I’d bury Shava first, then my father.
Then I’d find my boys and demand a hug.
I glanced around the ruined quarter hopelessly, hoping to find a tool of some kind to use. I’d use my bare hands if I had to, but it would take much, much longer to lay Shava to rest that way.
