She helped him walk, her arms around him.
"There is no fleeing him," she said. "There is no fighting him. You must join us. That is all you can do. You must serve him like I do."
He looked ahead. A barred door stood open in a wall, leading to a cell. Inside he saw a pile of straw, a hole in the floor, and chains dangling from the ceiling. Old blood encrusted the walls.
"Tilla," he said, nearly too parched to speak, "what is this place?"
"You won't have to stay here long," she whispered, guiding him toward the cell. "Only until he thinks you're broken. Only until he hears you worship him. Rune… it doesn't have to hurt. Your pain can end."
The courtyard swam around him. He would have fallen were Tilla not holding him. He tried to break free from her, but he was too weak. He tried to shift into a dragon, but couldn't muster the magic.
"Tilla," he whispered, and his voice cracked, and his eyes stung. "Please. They're gone now. The legionaries. The dragons. The emperor. They're gone. Shift into a dragon, Tilla! Shift and hold me in your claws and fly from here."
She shook her head, and her tears fell, and she kept moving forward, pulling him with her.
"I cannot," she whispered.
"We can escape," he said, looking above. The sky cleared. He could see the stars. "I can fly myself, maybe. Let's fly from here. Let's fly home."
They reached the cell. She paused. She released him, and he stood on shaky feet before her, the world spinning.
"Rune," she whispered, and she was beautiful in the starlight, a statue of marble. "Do you remember that night on the beach? Our last night?"
He nodded, a lump in his throat. "I never forgot."
She embraced him. She touched his cheek, and she kissed him. They shared a long, deep kiss, a kiss like that last night, a kiss of goodbye. It tasted of tears and of memory.
She pulled back, and her lips shook.
"That was our home," she whispered. "But it's gone now. The city burned. There is nowhere left to fly to." She gripped his arms. "Rune… you are home."
She shoved him into the cell.
He fell to the floor, landing on old blood.
"Tilla!" he shouted. "Tilla!"
He rose to his feet and stumbled toward her.
She gave him a last look, her eyes large and haunted, eyes that reflected the sea, the stars, and the city that was no more.
She slammed the door shut, leaving him alone in darkness, hurt and cold and mourning the burning of his home… and the breaking of her soul.
The story continues in...
A MEMORY OF FIRE
The Dragon War, Book Three
Available Now
AFTERWORD
Thank you for reading A Birthright of Blood. I hope you enjoyed this novel.
You can keep following the story in A Memory of Fire, the sequel. Click here to grab your copy or search for "A Memory of Fire" at Amazon.
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Thank you again, dear reader, and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.
Daniel
NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
Standalones:
Firefly Island (2007)
The Gods of Dream (2010)
Flaming Dove (2010)
Misfit Heroes:
Eye of the Wizard (2011)
Wand of the Witch (2012)
Song of Dragons:
Blood of Requiem (2011)
Tears of Requiem (2011)
Light of Requiem (2011)
Dragonlore:
A Dawn of Dragonfire (2012)
A Day of Dragon Blood (2012)
A Night of Dragon Wings (2013)
The Dragon War:
A Legacy of Light (2013)
A Birthright of Blood (2013)
A Memory of Fire (2013)
The Moth Saga:
Moth (2013)
Empires of Moth (2013)
Secrets of Moth (forthcoming)
KEEP IN TOUCH
Email: [email protected]
Join my mailing list: DanielArenson.com/MailingList
www.DanielArenson.com
Facebook.com/DanielArenson
Twitter.com/DanielArenson
A Birthright of Blood (The Dragon War, Book 2) Page 23
