The Darkest Sword by Samantha Kroese (ebook voice reader txt) 📕

Ashiyn grunted as he sat down at the head of the table. "I hope the dragons who laid the eggs don’t find out. Although, it might be fun to fight a dragon, I haven’t had the pleasure since I was very young. They're too intelligent to fight me now."

"Well, anyone intelligent would avoid fighting you, my King," Soryn pointed out. Then he bowed to Seraphine as she entered. "I trust Lady Seraphine is well this morning?"

"Are those dragon eggs? My very favorite! I used to hunt dragons as a child." Seraphine clapped her hands, delighted, before sitting down next to Ashiyn.

Ashiyn watched her. Her eyes were a very strange purple color, and he kept getting lost in them. Her giggle brought him back to reality, and he started to eat his food. "Join us, Soryn."

"If you insist," Soryn bowed again, then slid into the chair on Ashiyn's other side and dug into the breakfast with quite the appetite.

Halfway through the meal and the pleasant small talk, Ashiyn felt it again. That strange empty feeling. The loss of his Master? But surely, he would only feel good about that? He had wanted to kill Rhadamanthus since his first death at the monster’s hands.

"What will you do next, my King?" Soryn asked as he finally finished his breakfast and rose to clear the plates.

Ashiyn leaned back in his chair, thoughtful. He hadn't planned that far ahead yet. Killing his Master had seemed impossible and that task had consumed him for so long.

It really had been too easy. He'd tried to kill his master many times over the years and always failed miserably and ended up dead. It had barely been a challenge with Soryn and Sihtaar. Though, as he thought about it, Soryn had only destroyed Rhadamanthus’s sanctuary. Had Sihtaar been holding back for millennia? Why would it do that? What about now had changed its mind? The only thing different this time was Soryn’s arrival. Ashiyn remembered the weeping celestials when he had freed the blade.

"I think I will go to the library," Ashiyn said and rose. He did not give them an explanation, even when they both looked at him as though he had grown another head.

Now that his master was dealt with, it was time to find out more about Sihtaar and what kind of bargain he had truly made with the magical sword. Anything that powerful came with a heavy price. It was time to visit Sia.

Ashiyn stalked down the halls to his library, and once the heavy door shut behind him, he looked around. Dusty tomes scattered the room. He could not remember the last time he had been in this room. Sia did not inhabit the library; he still lived in the cave library to which Ashiyn had freed him when he stole the chronicler from Rurik. Ashiyn could, of course, summon him to this place when needed. He took a deep breath and focused his magic to call the ghost.

Sia appeared in the room with an audible pop, and then glared over his ghostly spectacles at Ashiyn. “Rude. Don’t start acting like Rurik. You could at least ask if I am available.”

“You’re a ghost. Why would you not be available? Did you find some ghostly women to entertain you?” Ashiyn snorted as he leaned against a desk and picked up a tome to flip through.

Sia sputtered and flickered in and out of sight in his embarrassment. “For your information I prefer men!” He used his magic to slam the book in Ashiyn’s hands and snatched it away. “I told you before not to man-handle my tomes. What do you want?”

Ashiyn blinked at the ghost at the admission. “You prefer men?”

“My preferences are not why you called me here, are they? I’m very busy. Tell me what you need,” Sia grumbled at him as he floated around righting books back onto shelves and dusting them off. “And get a servant to take care of these books! This place is in shambles!”

Ashiyn rolled his eyes. “Have you found anything more about Sihtaar? You’ve only had three thousand years.”

“I was very much enjoying my vacation from demanding villains,” Sia gestured and a stack of books appeared next to Ashiyn on the desk. “That is every relevant tome in this gods-forsaken world about that horrendous sword you’ve decided to make your best friend.”

“Sia!” Soryn exclaimed with a smile as he entered the room.

“Oh, Master Soryn,” Sia immediately seemed more agreeable. “It is good to see you’re still intact. Especially since Ashiyn wields a blade that enjoys feasting on celestials.”

Soryn just gave Sia a wry smile as he walked up to join Ashiyn. “Yes, I know.”

“I won’t let it harm Soryn,” Ashiyn grumbled, offended by the notion, as he picked up one of the books. “Any way you can summarize for me? I do have eternity to read, but there are a lot more entertaining things I could do with the time.”

“It is a terrible demi-god that you keep making stronger by feeding it. It wants to destroy our lovely friend here and then break free to devour the rest of the world like a jar of candy. Anything else you need to know?” Sia said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ashiyn narrowed his eyes. “So, letting it devour Rhadmanthus was likely not the wisest thing?”

Sia gave Ashiyn an exasperated look. “No. It was not. Enjoy your apocalypse. You know where I’ll be.” Then with another audible pop sound, the ghost was gone.

Soryn raised a brow at Ashiyn. “We’re already in an apocalypse. How much worse could it get?”

“I don’t really want to find out. If it means the blade has to harm you to release the creature inside, we won’t have to worry about it. I won’t allow it. I’m still the master of the