Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

beast inside her said. “I brought you into this world to maim and destroy. By denying who and what you are, you have forsaken all that I have given you.”

“I haven’t,” he said, his words thick as he battled the dragon inside him. “I would never.”

“Then prove your worth to me.”

He wanted to. Gods, he wanted to be something more than just the sultan whose strings were pulled constantly as if he were nothing more than a marionette in a play. But he was afraid of what he would become.

Would he descend into madness as all the books within his palace said? Would he become nothing more than an animal looking for its next meal?

The fear which lived inside him since he was nothing more than a child was a monster he hadn’t named. It wanted him to understand that he was nothing. To know that no matter how hard he tried, he would always be a disappointment to his family and to his friends.

Even now, with the woman who had given him life, he was disappointing her by hesitating.

For the first time in a very long time, he tried to think with reason and not with the fear in his heart. What was she asking him to do? That was the most important part of this journey. He needed to know what Nahla wanted before he made any decisions.

“What would you have me do?” he asked. “Tell me.”

“Become one with the dragon.” Nahla’s eyes shifted back to her own and softened immediately. “Learn how to be the man and the beast, together as one being.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It’s how you would have been trained long ago. My dragon can speak, because she is me and I am her. And though my age has prevented me from taking her form ever again, I know she is still with me. I will never wonder whether she will shoulder me out of the way and take control forever. Our choices are made as one.”

It sounded like heaven. Like he wouldn’t have to constantly fear what he would, or could, do.

Nadir wanted that more than anything. He wanted to feel like he was in control of his life and decisions. Was that really too much to ask?

The feeling of silken hair sliding over his shoulder was little more than the touch of a ghost. She was with him always, it seemed. More than he wanted to admit.

Sigrid’s voice whispered in his ear, “There is always another way.”

But he didn’t know what she meant this time. Did she mean trust the Alqatara? Trust the woman who had birthed him to not do something that would forever harm his kingdom?

Gods, he couldn’t think. He couldn’t do anything other than stare into the eyes that looked so much like his own and were so soft. He missed his own mother so much. She had been taken from him far too early and all he wanted…

Even Nadir’s thoughts caught. He wanted someone to love him. Because no one, not a single person in his entire life, did.

“How?” he asked.

Something like triumph flashed in Nahla’s eyes. She gestured to the Beastkin surrounding the oasis pool. “Go to them, Sultan of Bymere. They will take you where you need to go.”

As if in a trance, he stood and turned toward the men and women who were just like him. They had been discarded by their families. Destroyed so many times he couldn’t even count them all. Humans had tried to wipe them out of existence, and yet they were still here.

They dropped their faces from the sky and all watched as he walked toward them. There was something of acceptance in their eyes as he approached. Something that looked like friendship, if he squinted his eyes just a little bit. It couldn’t be that they were taking advantage of him. They wouldn’t do that to the man who ruled them.

Would they?

Tahira was the one who stepped forward with her hands outstretched. “Welcome, Sultan of Bymere. The Beastkin Qatal of Falldell will bring your second soul forward.”

“My what?”

“The beast inside you needs to come out. He needs to see the world as he never has before. This will not be an easy process, and I beg of you to remain calm.”

Remain calm? What was she talking about?

She pulled him forward toward the oasis. Perhaps she saw the panic in his eyes, because she licked her lips and flicked her eyes to the others. He could tell she wasn’t supposed to talk. Rituals like this were meant to be taken seriously. He could see that much of the truth in her eyes. Still, Tahira surprised him.

She leaned closer and whispered, “This isn’t an easy process, Sultan. You need to be prepared for what’s going to happen.”

“What are we doing?”

“This is a ritual to bring out the dragon. You’ve kept him caged for so long, he doesn’t know when he’s allowed to come out. The Alqatara believe that beasts protect us from situations we wouldn’t know how to handle, or want to handle. They are a guiding spirit that saves us from ourselves. To bring him out, we have to make him feel threatened.”

“Which is why you weren’t supposed to tell me that,” he muttered. “Now it’s going to be harder to draw him out, because he knows what’s happening.”

“Precisely. But I argued this isn’t the safest way to teach you how to merge with the dragon. The reality is that you aren’t an owl or a hawk that is easily tamed. A dragon is a massive creature capable of destroying the entire camp. You have to be stronger than it is. Do you hear me, Sultan? Be stronger than the beast or we’re all going to die.”

“Die?”

He didn’t have time to think what she meant by that. Nahla’s voice lifted above the others and shouted, “Hold him down!”

The flint and steel words startled him so much that he didn’t move even when the other Qatal lunged forward. Each grabbed one of his