Page 70 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
I watched Taveth's jaw clench at Antonius's words, his arms tightening protectively around Livia. Even from where I sat on one of the stone benches, I could see the way shadows seemed to flicker beneath his skin in response to his anger. The sight made my stomach twist with familiar dread.
"How many prisoners?" Tarshi asked quietly. He was seated on the ground near his brother, close enough to help if the darkness became too much to bear alone. The strain of sharing Taveth's burden was written in the lines around his eyes, the way he held himself as if every muscle ached.
"Hundreds," Septimus answered grimly. He stood with his back against another tree, his protective instincts keeping himpositioned where he could watch all the approaches to our makeshift council. "From what our scouts reported, they've been gathering Talfen from across the conquered territories. Men, women, children—it doesn't matter."
“Not hundreds, thousands,” said Jalend grimly.
“How do you know that?” asked Livia.
“I saw them, before we left for the battle,” Jalend answered her, his face deepening in colour. Lying to her was really tearing him apart. He’d been very quiet the last few weeks, and I knew it was eating at him, at lying to her and fear of what she would do when she found out.
Livia frowned and looked like she was going to ask more, so I jumped in, cutting her off.
"It's more than just a demonstration," I said quickly. "He's trying to break their people's spirit before the invasion. Make them believe they have no hope. Incapacitate them with grief."
Taveth's voice was quiet when he spoke, but I could hear the darkness threading through it even in the garden's peaceful setting. "He wants us to know that we're nothing more than animals to be slaughtered for sport."
I watched his hands tighten around Livia's waist, saw the way shadows flickered at his fingertips despite her calming presence. The rage was always there now, just beneath the surface, waiting for any excuse to break free.
"The revelation about the cure changes everything, though," Septimus said from where he sat with Tarshi. "If there's really a way to break the shadow magic..."
"Then we lose our only advantage against the Empire," Taveth finished grimly. "Many dragons are already enslaved, many of those still free have been killed in the battles raging across the borders. Without shadow magic, we're just another conquered people waiting to be destroyed.”
The silence that followed his words was heavy with implications none of us wanted to acknowledge. I found myself studying the faces around our small circle, seeing the same realization dawn on each of them. We were discussing the potential extinction of everything that made the Talfen people capable of resisting the Empire.
"There has to be another way," Livia said, her voice carrying a determination that would have been admirable if it weren't so naive. "Some solution that doesn't require choosing between Taveth's life and our people's freedom."
I wanted to share her optimism, truly I did. But I'd seen too much of war, too much of what the Empire did to conquered people. It had perfected the art of cultural destruction long before they'd discovered dragon shifters or shadow magic. They knew exactly how to break a people's will to resist.
"The invasion is already underway," I pointed out, hating the harshness in my own voice. "Even if we found a way to preserve both Taveth and the shadow magic, we're running out of time. The Emperor isn't waiting for us to solve our internal problems."
Taveth's laugh was bitter, edged with something that made my skin crawl. "Internal problems. Is that what we're calling it now?" The shadows around him darkened perceptibly. "The slow dissolution of my sanity is just an inconvenience to be managed?"
"That's not what I meant…" I started, but he cut me off.
"It's exactly what you meant." His pale eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made every instinct scream danger. "You think I don't know what I've become? You think I don't feel every moment of sanity slipping away?"
I forced myself to meet his gaze, even as the shadows writhing beneath his skin made my stomach clench with dread. "I think you're in pain, and I think we're all trying to help you through it."
"Help me?" The darkness in his voice was unmistakable now, that alien quality that meant the thing wearing Taveth's face wasn't entirely him anymore. "You want to help me, Marcus? Then stop pretending this is some problem we can solve with careful planning and good intentions."
Livia shifted against him, her hand moving to cover his where it rested against her stomach. I watched the gesture. She was trying to anchor him, to pull him back from whatever edge he was sliding toward. But I could see the tension in her shoulders, feel the fear she was trying so hard to hide.
"The cure isn't theoretical anymore," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could manage. "Aytara showed us the source. We know what needs to be done."
"Do we?" Taveth's smile was cold, predatory. "Because from where I'm sitting, it sounds like you're all debating whether my life is worth the cost of saving our people."
"That's not… we’re just trying to find solutions, Taveth.”
"Are you?" The question came out like a challenge, shadows writhing around him more violently now. "Because from where I sit, it seems like you're all just waiting for me to either die or become so dangerous that you have no choice but to kill me."
The accuracy of his observation hit me like a physical blow. Because wasn't that exactly what I'd been thinking? Wasn't I already calculating how many of us it would take to subdue him if he turned completely? How we might protect Livia if the darkness consumed him entirely?
"The ritual Aytara described," I said carefully, not wanting to push too hard but needing to voice what we were all thinking. "If Taveth could actually complete it, if he could draw all the shadow magic into himself and destroy it..." I trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
“I could free those imprisoned by the Empire, and free those trapped by their own minds,” Taveth said. “We might not haveany more shadow mages, but the Empire would no longer have their dragons either. We might still have a chance.”
Septimus leaned forward, unable to keep the frustration from his voice. "And if you attempt the ritual and fail, you become like your father. Chained in the depths, completely mad, a danger to everyone."
