Eona - Alison Goodman [192]
Sethon’s fingers curled into my hair and yanked my head back. I fixed my eyes on the canopy, trying not to show the pain that clawed across my scalp. “Look at what I have, brother,” he said, shaking my head. “Dragon power. I don’t need to attack on equal ground.”
Tuy’s eyes flitted across my face. “Everyone sees what you have, Your Majesty,” he said tightly. “The Mirror Dragoneye is indeed a prize. But her presence is making the men uneasy. They fear you will bring bad luck upon the campaign by flouting the Covenant.”
Sethon released my hair and gestured to the huge battalions below us, each division in its own painted armor—red, green, purple, yellow, blue—immense ranks of color that seemed to stretch forever toward the escarpment.
“The men will be glad enough of her dragon power when Lord Ido attacks,” he said. “You will take the ridge while I take care of Ido and his dragon. Even if we lose five men to their one, we will soon overrun them.” He crooked his finger at Yuso. “Remind my brother how many men we face.”
Yuso stepped forward. “No more than four and half thousand, High Lord Tuy.”
I bit down on my rage. Couldn’t Yuso see that Sethon would never release his son? He had betrayed us for nothing, and now the resistance faced dragon power. My power.
“I am aware of the numbers, Your Majesty,” Tuy said. “But—”
“No. I want this finished,” Sethon said. “I waited long enough for the throne, and I have waited long enough for the pearl.” He indicated a man kneeling at the far edge of the platform; a physician, by the maroon cap he wore and the red lacquered box beside him. “I want Kygo and Ido contained and captured, and I want the pearl sewn into my throat. Today. Do you understand?”
It was Kygo’s death warrant. As soon as the pearl left his throat, he had only twelve breaths left to live. Less than a minute.
Tuy bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Give the signal to Tiger Division to move into position, and return to your battalion.”
With his jaw set, Tuy bowed again and backed away. Sethon watched him issue the order to the twelve flagmen clad in leather armor who stood along the top terrace step of the platform. Immediately, two men at the far end of the line raised their large square pennants—one yellow and one white, on sturdy poles—and snapped them across the gusty air at right angles to their bodies. Below, the yellow division broke away from the main formations.
Sethon gave a grunt of satisfaction. “Now it is up to us, Lady Eona, to draw Lord Ido’s focus.” He stroked my hair again.
I pulled my head away. “You have had one day of dragon power,” I said. “He has had twelve years. You will not defeat him.”
I knew he would punish my defiance, but it was worth it. Strength came with bold words. I tensed, waiting for his blow. Instead, he laughed.
“When I had Lord Ido in that cell, I learned three important truths about him,” Sethon said. “Firstly, he must be in possession of his full faculties to use his power. Secondly, he can only direct his power to one task at a time.” Sethon leaned down until his face was close to mine. “The final truth is more about the man than the Dragoneye. After three days of my attentions, there was a moment in that cell when he regained both his faculties and his power. He could have razed the building to the ground. Instead, he directed his power elsewhere—to help you, I believe—and so he lost his chance to escape.”
Understanding prickled across my back. Ido had used his power to save me from the bereft dragons at the fisher village, instead of escaping.
“Lord Ido will protect you at all cost,” Sethon said. “It is why I know he is up on that ridge waiting to attack. Why I know this platform is safe. And why I know we will defeat him.”
With bullish purpose, Sethon rose from the chair and hauled me to my feet. My legs were locked into stiff crooks, and only his hard grip kept me upright as I stumbled to the edge of the platform. The