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

“What?”

They shared a worried look before another group of Beastkin caught up with her. They were mostly Bymerian men, all laughing and jostling each other.

One, Jabbar’s right hand-man if she remembered correctly, knelt before Sigrid. His dark eyes sparkled with merriment, and he shook his head. “You just made me a lot of money, Matriarch. Too many of our men were betting on Jabbar, but I think you bested him.”

Camilla sighed and interrupted before Sigrid could speak. “Take her to my room, please.”

“We’ll take the matriarch to her own quarters.”

“To my room.” Camilla’s tone left little room for argument.

The men lifted her to standing, threading her arms over her shoulders and helping her limp back toward the keep. She might have insisted that they let her walk on her own, if she hadn’t seen that Jabbar was getting similar help.

Blood streamed off his shoulder in a small river of movement. It hadn’t yet begun to close at all, and she’d be sad to see the flow of red become sluggish. Served him right for pushing her past all the boundaries she’d put up.

There was a reason why Sigrid locked things up tight within herself. Namely, because she knew things like this would happen. Her temper had to be buried beneath miles of ice or should would end up…

She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts out of her mind. It wouldn’t do to dwell on the things she’d done. Yes, they were far worse than she ever thought she’d do. She’d try to kill someone who was more than just an advisor, but a savior for most of the people here. What must they think of her? Attacking the man who had risked his life for years just to ensure the Bymerian Beastkin were alive?

The laughter in the keep was still boisterous and loud. Most shouted out words of encouragement, saying they’d wanted to see a fight between their two main leaders for a long time.

“Did you best him?” One of her sisters, a woman who changed into a falcon, asked. “I put money on you winning, and this fool thought I was wrong.”

Sigrid flicked her gaze to the Bymerian man beside her sister, the man she knew turned into an elephant when he wished. “I did,” she replied.

The man groaned. “Damn it. Now I owe her more than just a drink.”

“You owe me an evening of your time.”

The eyes they made at each other turned Sigrid’s stomach. She didn’t need children running around the keep, knowing full well they would only follow in the footsteps of their foolhardy parents.

She limped up the stairs into the tower where Camilla had claimed her room. It was a solitary place, but that wasn’t all that surprising for an owl. The tallest peak only had a small room at the top. A circular bedroom with nothing but a bed, a desk, and a fireplace to keep her warm.

Camilla pointed at the bed. “Put her there. I’ll take care of her for the evening.”

“We’ve a healer, owl,” the man holding Sigrid advised.

“And I’ve taken care of her before. Don’t question me, Najib.”

That’s right. His name was Najib, and he turned into a leopard. She’d seen him fight before, in the battles that almost tore Bymere apart. He was a fierce fighter, capable of downing multiple men in battle, but he’d also seemed to keep a cool head.

How had she forgotten that?

He eased her down on the edge of the bed, keeping a hand on her shoulder to make sure she remained steady. Instead of leaving, as she had expected from a man who had sworn Jabbar his allegiance, Najib surprised her and knelt in front of her.

He touched a thumb to her chin and tilted her head to the side. “You’ll have quite the bruise here from him.”

“It’s not the first bruise I’ve suffered.”

“But it is the first he’s given you.” Najib shook his head and dark shadows played in his eyes. “He’ll like it that he marked you. That’s just the way he is, has something to do with his beast.”

“He won’t do it again.” She knew it deep in her gut that the next time Jabbar pushed her too far, she would put the albino man in the ground. He had no right to question her, and he was the one who had put her in this position.

If he wanted someone to lead them, someone to use as a figurehead to guide them, then that meant he had to listen to her as well.

Najib sighed and stood. “If that was the way of things, then life would be a lot easier. Jabbar gets what he wants, Matriarch. Even you will be hard-pressed to stop him.”

“I nearly did today, didn’t I?”

“That was just testing your abilities. To kill him, you’d have to fight a lot better than that.” Najib leaned over and pulled out a small roll of cloth from the bedside table. He placed it on the blanket next to Sigrid, then strode to the doorway. “Take good care of her, Camilla.”

When she couldn’t hear his footsteps walking down the stairs anymore, Sigrid pressed a hand to her ribs and raised a brow at Camilla. “He knew where the bandages were?”

“A lucky guess.”

“How silly of me to even think he’d been here before,” Sigrid replied, wryly. “You’re allowed to have relations, you know.”

“Relationships are another story.” Camilla moved to stand in front of her and gestured with her hands. “Arms up. Let’s get these clothes off you and see what damage he did.”

“Not too much.”

“There’s blood leaking out of your sleeve. I think he did more to you than you know.”

Sigrid lifted her arms and let her friend do whatever she wanted. She wouldn’t be surprised if the pain simply wasn’t registering. She’d gotten good at that even as a young child. Pain didn’t make her brain spark the way others did. It simply was. The white hot edge could take control of her mind, or she could refuse