Page 143 of Ashborne Forged

“He’s plenty strong. He’s just quiet. That’s what they’re all like. They aren’t wild like the others.”

I saw a flicker in my mind—dragons flying in a horde, scales glowing and gilded by rosy sunset. Calling for each other, turning heads and—

Kham reared back in his mind, and for a moment, he opened to me in a new way—a way that sent the frigid chill of unease spearing through me in a bolt of pure revulsion.

A hollow, aching heart. A mind that barely whispers, and knows nothing of itself. A soul darkened with despair. Sick, sick, sick… on the edge of death. Yet body, brimming with life—

I almost lost my feet. The world seemed to lurch. Nausea spiraled through my stomach and I clapped a hand to my mouth, praying, swallowing, barely able to breathe.

On the other side of the bushes, the footman gave a halting farewell, and a hissed warning not to leave without his Mistress, then jogged back across the clearing away from me, while the stranger cursed, but turned, his footsteps trudging in the opposite direction.

And the dragon’s heavy steps following him.

‘Kham, what was that?’

‘His mind… his broken, empty mind. Empty heart… oh, Creator. Help him!’ Kham sounded like he would weep. But even the memory of that dank, emotionless well turned my stomach again.

I turned, doing everything in my power to gag without sound, covering my mouth as my body heaved.

But either the dragon didn’t hear me, or it didn’t care enough. Because there was no sign of the man growing wary, or even turning to look behind him. Kham circled, high overhead, and the dragonfury didn’t seem to notice.

I was in the dirt on all fours, fingers clawed into the damp, cold earth, begging my body to stop trying to expel whatever that sensation had been.

But it couldn’t.

Because I knew it. I knew that feeling.

While my dragon wanted to weep, I wanted to flee. I wanted to turn, leap to my feet, run as fast as I was capable, and never, ever stop. Never return to my mother, or that house. Never set eyes on any of these people again.

Because I knew that feeling. I’d lived that feeling. And I was desperate never to be near it again.

‘Kham—’

‘I’m coming. Start moving. He won’t notice. He won’t care. What have they done? What have these evil people done to my brothers and sisters?’

But the only answer I could conjure was the same thing they did to everyone else. And I hated it. Loathed it. Everything around me was sick, and dark. Everything destructive and selfish and repulsive.

‘Yet, we are here to help,’ Kham reminded me. ‘It’s the same answer as it was seven years ago, Voski.’

‘But even you said he was broken and empty and—’

‘And so were you, once. Life is power. That dragon doesn’t need our pity. He needs our help.’

‘If we’re with her I’ll have to ride him tomorrow—’

‘You didn’t do this to him. Your mother did. These men did. And we will sit with him in the darkness—and any others we find. We’ll find a way to save them all.’

‘Kham…’ I balked. Truly balked. Not out of malice, or selfish intent. Out of genuine fear. ‘I don’t know if I can be near him, and feel that—’

‘You can, and you will,’ Kham growled. ‘We do not leave a broken soul to die alone. You of all would know that.’

47. Do Not Break

SOUNDTRACK: Burn it Down by Added Color

~ GRACE ~

It was two days’ carriage ride to the castle. I wondered again why we hadn’t taken the dragons, assuming they could have done the trip in a few hours. But I had no wish to speak to Breckon. Let alone fuel his sense of power over me. The man was a bug. Yet, it appeared he held more influence and knowledge than I’d realized. I turned the events over in my mind in the endless hours of the creaking, swaying carriage miles. I needed a plan.