Eona - Alison Goodman [27]
Take the pearl!
The command drove me over the corpses to the emperor. All I could see was the pearl stitched to his throat, only a sword thrust away. Kygo was dazed, swaying on his feet, blood welling from the burst skin above his eye. He would not see me coming. One sharp stab. I raised my blades.
“My lady, now’s your chance. Disarm him!” Ryko’s voice broke through the triumphant humming in my head. Something within me—deep and dragon-forged—reached out to the islander’s massive energy. Once again, his strength pulsed through my body, his heartbeat melding with mine. Instinctively, I grabbed at his solid presence and silently chanted, Disarm, disarm, disarm , to drown out the building shriek of the swords.
“Disarm, disarm!” Ryko ran at Kygo, horror twisting his face as he bore down on his king. My chant was overriding his actions. Somehow, I had a hold on his will.
I stopped chanting, but it was too late. Ryko rammed the slighter man. They staggered and fell. Ryko rolled away as the emperor landed on his hands and knees, both swords jarring from his hold. Kinra saw the opportunity. In my mind, I saw her lift her blades and bring them down. Cleaving spine from skull. Slicing out the pearl.
Screaming, I raised Kinra’s swords. Their arc downward felt like a thousand years of breathless terror.
And in every second of those thousand years, I fought Kinra for control. I fought her for my mind. I fought her for Kygo’s life.
The blades smashed into the stones a fingertip from the emperor’s face. The force vibrated through my hands, howling Kinra’s disappointment. As the emperor recoiled, I saw fear pierce the madness in his eyes, slamming him back into his mind.
I gasped as relief twisted into my chest. “Kygo!”
He slumped, the fierce rage draining away.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?”
Slowly, he looked up, his breathing ragged and pained. “Lord Eon?”
I let go of Kinra’s swords. The sudden absence of her fury was like my backbone had been yanked from my body. I collapsed onto my knees.
“I am here, Your Majesty.”
He reached out and touched my shoulder, checking that I was truly in front of him. “They are dead, Lord Eon.” His voice broke as he fought back his sorrow. “My brother. My mother. Dead.”
“I know.”
He looked at the carnage surrounding us. “What is this?” He closed his eyes. “I remember Ryko coming to the camp, telling me about the coup. And the soldiers . . . He pressed his fists to his eyes. “By the gods, I did this, didn’t I? Killed my own men? And those people, in the village—”
Gagging, he bent double. The tension in his body gave way to shivering. He did not seek comfort; he was both man and king. Yet something within me knew I had to reach out and breach his lonely despair. It was a risk. His royal body was sacred, inviolate. And I had just fought a desperate battle to stop Kinra from killing him.
It was the guilt and pain in his bloodied face that made me take the chance. I understood guilt and pain. I touched his shoulder, the hard muscle flinching under my fingers. His head snapped up, a lifetime of learned distance swamped by sudden need—something else we had in common. Awkwardly, I drew him closer, as much to escape the horror in his eyes as to comfort him, and murmured sounds of solace against his sweat-slick skin. His ghosts would come soon—as mine had—but the least I could do was hold them back for a while with my touch and a voice that was not screaming for mercy.
Nearby, Ryko hauled himself to his feet, using a sword for leverage. At the corner of my eye, a flicker resolved into Haddo, still trading blows with Dela. He was very close to breaking the Contraire; her blocks were slipping, and there was no strength left in her thrusts. Ryko saw it, too. He gathered himself and ran at the combatants.
“Dela, fall back,” he yelled.
With a desperate burst of strength, she disengaged. Ryko caught one of Haddo’s swords in a sweeping cut that sent it spinning into the air. It crashed to the cobblestones, loud in the sudden, eerie calm.
I realized there was no clashing swords or cries of effort;