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

country better. Keep the armies here, and leave the Beastkin to their own devices.”

She wished she could. She wanted to leave all those creatures and let them figure out their lives on their own. It wasn’t a bad future for them. They wanted freedom, and if she stayed with them, then she would only try to put them in a cage again.

Was this the right path? Sigrid had always thought she’d feel it in her gut if she was making the right choice. But every option right now felt as though it were going to make her sick. She wanted everyone to be happy and safe.

Perhaps that was too much to ask.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway. Sigrid turned, thinking it was Nadir, only to be disappointed when she saw Raheem striding toward them with his wife.

His wife. She hadn’t thought she’d ever see the day when that man glowed with happiness. He’d dedicated his life to her, to Sigrid, but now that would all change. Now he had the woman of his dreams back, and she was the fierce, feral woman Sigrid had always assumed she would be.

Raheem stopped in front of them, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at everyone. “You have to return. Sigrid is right.”

“Why’s that?” Camilla asked, mirroring his stance.

“The army didn’t really return. The advisors left to see what the army had accomplished and then returned here with a small group of men to deal with Sigrid if she attacked again. This wasn’t the entire army. In fact, it’s only a small portion. The rest are continuing to march on Greenmire Castle.”

So that was the gut feeling Sigrid had felt. It was the sick feeling that something bad was going to happen.

She scratched the back of her neck, tugging on her hair. “Then we return.”

“There’s more bad news I’m afraid,” Raheem continued. “The Beastkin heard tales of the battle and joined in.”

Sigrid groaned, “Why would they do that?”

“Rumors are their leader is more bloodthirsty than the boy king.” He leveled Camilla and herself with a knowing look. “Jabbar seems to be leading them once more.”

“And he’s attacking… who?” Sigrid asked.

“Everyone.”

Of course he was. The man had gone mad with power. She could only assume what her kingdom was facing. They had to return. She had to try and stop this war, and it didn’t matter how difficult that ended up being. Everyone needed her.

Raheem met her gaze. “Sultana, there’s so much more to this story than just one woman trying to save the world. We need an army to fight a three-way war that isn’t going to end any time soon. I don’t think this is something which can be fixed by a dragon falling out of the sky.”

Another voice interrupted them. “Then how about two?”

There was something wrong with Nadir’s voice. She’d only heard such tones in her head, when both the man and the dragon were speaking with her. Now, both voices were laced over his in a way that made her twitch in concern.

He stood at the end of the hall, hands loose at his side, and a deep scratch on one shoulder. The torn fabric of his shirt gaped over the wound, blood dampening the edges. She tried not to look at the bloody footprints he’d left on the golden floor.

He held out a hand for her, flicking the fingers inward as he beckoned her. “Come, wife.”

“Nadir, is everything all right?” she asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Because you’re covered in blood, she wanted to say. Because there’s something other than a man looking through your eyes.

Sigrid remained silent and strode to his side. This wasn’t something which could be fixed by their friends or the humans who knew him so well. Sigrid had never seen anything like this before. He was utterly unhinged, and so thoroughly beyond her reach that she feared anything would anger him.

But she did not fear him.

She took his hand, slid her fingers between his, and tugged him away from the friends and family who stared in horror.

“We’re going to Wildewyn,” she called back at them. “We’re going to stop the war.”

“You can’t do that alone!” Raheem shouted.

“They won’t be able to stop us.”

She hoped they wouldn’t even try. A dragon was a dangerous thing, but dragon mates who took flight and attacked a battle together? Getting between the two of them would only end in bloodshed unlike the world had ever seen before.

Sigrid tugged him toward the servants’ quarters where she knew there was a pool where she could wash the blood from his body. It was a lesser known one, where Camilla had always washed herself, and hopefully there wouldn’t be anyone there to disturb them.

They’d take one look at their sultan in such a state and run away. Her fear was that someone running from him would only set off the dragon’s ire more. The chase was so much fun to their beasts.

She tugged him through the door and looked around the room. The still pool in the center wisped hot curls into the air, undisturbed by another body. The open balcony doors allowed a cool wind to brush past them. Two benches on either side of the heated pool already had towels resting on them.

“Go on,” she said, turning to bar the door. “That cut on your shoulder needs tending.”

“The dragon will heal it.”

She flattened her palm on the wood in front of her, refusing to turn around when she recognized the guttural tones. “It would make me feel better to tend it. As a man, Nadir. It’s important to remain a man when you can.”

“Why?” he asked. Two voices asked the question, one so much weaker than the other. “When it’s so much better to be a dragon?”

At that, she did turn. He stood in the center of the room, watching her with yellow eyes. His pupils were little more than slits, and she swore she saw the ghost of a larger form overlaying his.

He wasn’t even trying to control the