Page 46 of Empire of Death
Uncle Talon is still unresponsive. Aunt Calista hasn’t left his side.
The small reprieves I felt were when I was asleep…or when I was with Callum. The rest of my life was stress and despair.Let Hawk know we’re leaving as soon as we pack up.I got out of bed and threw everything together before I got dressed. I hoped Callum would come to me, would impart something comforting to me. But he couldn’t hear conversations in my head, so he didn’t know the information just relayed to me.
I met Hawk outside an hour later, and we approached our dragons.
“What do you think that asshole wants?” Hawk asked.
“I have no idea.”
“You don’t think it’s a trap?”
“I doubt he’d be that foolish,” I said. “And if he wants to be that foolish, I’d be happy to cut him in half with my sword.” I climbed up Zehemoth’s side until I made it into the saddle and strapped my legs down.
Hawk climbed up Movack then gripped the horn in front of him. “This is our last stop, and then we’ll be home. Finally.”
“Yeah, but don’t expect a vacation.”
“I just want my bed. I miss that thing.”
We launched into the air and then began the long journey to the southeast, cutting across the Great Sea and then the narrow channel where the sea was squeezed into a large river.
“It’s almost dark!” Hawk yelled from Movack as he flew beside me, the wind making his hair dance wildly. “We should camp for the night.”
“I just want this to be done. We’ve been away from home long enough.”
“Then we’ll be flying through the night or making camp in the dark. The dragons didn’t get to hunt in the winter storm, so they’ll need to eat.”
“True. Let’s make camp.”
We landed in an isolated clearing that seemed far away from civilization. The second we landed, the dragons left to hunt before it got too dark. Hawk and I set up camp in silence, both of us used to our duties at this point.
I got the fire going, and then we sat on logs and ate from our packs.
“What did Aunt Eldinar say to you?” Hawk asked as he sat across from me at the campfire.
I didn’t want to lie to my brother, but there was no way I could tell him the truth. That Aunt Eldinar discovered my secret, but she was kind enough not to out me to everyone. “Wanted to check in. Have a pep talk—ruler-to-ruler.” It was the best I could come up with on the spot and the only explanation as to why Hawk wasn’t included.
He continued to eat his dried meat, seemingly placated by that answer. He stared at the smoke rising from the top of the campfire, his eyes glazing over as he focused on nothing in particular.
I leaned against the log, knees pulled to my chest, the smell of the smoke making me think of campfires my father and I had sat in front of when I was little. We would go on all kinds of adventures when I was young. He taught me how to fish with nets and traps and taught me how to hunt with a bow and arrow. Raised me to be completely self-sufficient. I always marched to the beat of my own drum, never needed anyone for anything. But once I met Callum…I felt utterly dependent. Now I needed him for every ounce of happiness and peace, needed his strength in my muscles to defeat my enemies, needed his power to raise an army to fight in my name on a whim, needed his heat to keep my bed warm while I slept.
I didn’t recognize myself anymore.
“What could he possibly want that couldn’t have been stated a week ago?” Hawk asked as his eyes remained on the fire. “I fear this will be an ambush. While our dragons are mighty, we don’t have soldiers at our backs to guard our flanks. He sent a missive to invite us to his doorstep. Why not address his needs in the same letter?”
A tightness began in my chest, the sensation of another presence within my core. My eyes flicked to where he appeared near the fire, cast in the glow of the flames, tall and hard like a statue.
If Hawk could see him, he’d jerk away in terror.
“I agree with your general,” he said. “Assume it’s a trap.”
I wished I could respond, but all I could do was stare.
“Always assume it’s a trap.”
We sat together in front of the fire until the darkest part of the night arrived, and then we crawled into our bedrolls inside ourclosed tents. I lay there alone at the very edge of the bedroll because I expected him to appear beside me, big muscles under hot skin, with eyes that could caress my soul with just a stare.
But instead of his joining me, I was pulled away. In a twisted blur, I was yanked from one place and thrown into another. My body fell in free fall for a second before I was in another bed, the sound of the waves outside noticeable immediately.
