Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (free novels to read TXT) 📗

ones who allowed hatred to rule their decisions and to make them afraid. Those are the people who you can blame, but never yourself.”

“You don’t get to say what I feel guilty about.”

“I do.” He spat the words at her, wings striking the air and flames spurting from his nostrils. “I get to have a say in what you blame yourself for, because I am your mate.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“Neither did I.”

Nadir tucked his wings close to his sides, and they shot toward the battlefield. Three armies fought there, each in a different corner of a wide open field.

The Earthen folk wore their silver armor which reflected the dull light of flames all around them. They lifted thin rapiers and lances, striking fast and true at those who tried to overwhelm them. Helms with plumes of blue feathers marked those who had come from Greenmire Castle. Those who protected the king.

Bymerian soldiers swarmed the battlefield from the east. The crimson-dyed leather of their armor was an insult to the sultan who hadn’t ordered them to attack anyone at all. Scimitars were a blur as they whirled toward their enemies and slashed through whatever flesh they could find.

The Beastkin congregated in the southern part of the field. Some had already changed into their animals. Others waited in the shadows for the right opportunity to strike. Sigrid watched as a familiar leopard launched himself at an Earthen soldier and tore through his throat.

Why were they fighting? Did any of them even know the reason for their hatred of each other? She had a feeling the answer was no.

“Fly to the center of the battlefield,” she said.

“That’s a death wish, Sigrid. Three armies against two dragons could easily take us down.”

“Your army won’t attack you. The Earthen folk won’t attack me. That’s one army we have to deal with, and I don’t think the Beastkin are interested in killing their leader who came back from the dead.”

He growled, the sound low and deep. “You’re putting a lot of trust in your people.”

“We have to trust them eventually. We are their leaders, aren’t we? Haven’t we spent the last year gaining their trust just in case something like this happened?”

He huffed out another breath, but descended.

The soldiers hadn’t noticed them. She didn’t know how no one had looked up, but could only guess that the Beastkin weren’t attacking from the air yet. They were allowing the Earthen armies and the Bymerian ones to destroy each other, then were going to pick off the last lingering soldiers.

It was a smart plan, but one she didn’t agree with. Killing everyone in the empire would get them nowhere. And there would be many casualties from every side. What was Jabbar’s plan here?

Nadir landed hard. The ground shook beneath him and reverberated with a deep grumble at his weight. Every soldier in the field, the thousands of men and women who were defending or attacking, paused to start at the giant red dragon.

He opened his mouth and hissed at the nearest soldiers. Even the Bymerians stumbled back in fear.

Wings spread wide, he lowered himself enough that Sigrid could slip from his back. She hit the ground in a crouch, staring at the armies surrounding them. Would they attack? There was always the chance she was wrong.

Whispers erupted, carried on the wind as people began to recognize them.

“Is that the sultan?” One of the Bymerians nearby asked. “I thought he’d returned to the Red Palace?”

“Sigrid?” A man shoved others aside, tearing off his helmet and revealing white hair and a trimmed beard.

Even her own people began to whisper then. “The matriarch? Back from the dead?”

Gods, she wished she’d chosen something other than the clothing from the ancients. She had dirt smudged all over her body, likely blood smears from where Nadir had killed his advisors, and gods know what else from flying through the air. Her hair was sticking to her cheeks and she was certain she looked exhausted.

Because she was. She was so tired of fighting and all the anger these people insisted on harboring inside them.

Standing straight and tall, she stared into the eyes of those around her. The leopard who had just killed a man changed back into the Beastkin she recognized. His dark eyes swept up and down her form, then he said, “It’s not possible.”

“I have returned,” she replied. “And now we will all stop this war.”

Hallmar stepped forward, his hands shaking where he clutched the helm to his chest. “My daughter, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. And looking so much like your mother.”

His daughter? Of course. Why hadn’t she realized it so many years ago? She even looked like him. That white head had once been an icy blonde, and he’d always treated her like something so much more than just a Beastkin woman he’d had trapped in his castle.

She wanted to ask him a thousand things, and not enough time for a single thing to be asked. Sigrid tried to pour as much emotion into her eyes as she could.

Now was not the time to find out the man she’d always considered to be her surrogate father was actually her father. Why had he chosen now? Had the words merely burst from his chest because he couldn’t contain them anymore?

The distraction was, unfortunately, the only thing necessary for Jabbar’s people to reorganize themselves.

She heard the whistle through the air as if she’d stepped back in time. Her husband stood in front of her, but not the one she’d actually married. Instead, it was a kind-faced man with worry in his gaze, because he thought the wedding might be too much for her.

The air rustled with the sound of violence and anger. It stroked through the feathers of the arrow like fingers who knew how to kill, touching the fletching and whispering dark promises along the shaft.

It struck her right above the place where Camilla had planted her arrow. It felt like years ago when that had happened, and