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

were lacerating her as they left her body. But it was the only way. She couldn’t think of anything else that would save her people, her kingdom, and the man she loved all at the same time.

In that moment, Sigrid realized she didn’t want to have to choose between any of them.

She wanted them all. And she would have them all.

Eivor slowly stood, her hands twitching at her sides. “There was a woman who arrived in camp. She said she was looking for you.”

“What was her name?”

“Camilla.”

“Good.” Sigrid looked up at the ice again and then all around them at the shattered remains of an empire long forgotten. “She’ll help us get home.”

“Us?” Again, Eivor looked up at her with so much emotion in her eyes that it almost made Sigrid uncomfortable.

“Yes, us. Did you think I was going to let you stay here? When there are so many who don’t see your worth?”

Sigrid felt almost a little guilty at the order. Eivor might want to remain here with her people, regardless of how they treated her. But she refused to leave the medicine woman who had been so kind throughout this entire ordeal. She wanted to make certain Eivor saw the world the way it should be. That she didn’t have to hide her face just because she was different.

Although, she wasn't all that certain the other Beastkin would’t react the same way the ancients had. She was strange looking even for them. But that didn’t mean time couldn’t change the way they saw her. Sigrid was certain, given the right chance, her people would see Eivor as something more than just a woman to cast aside and never touch. They would see her as a person. Odd, yes, but a person.

She held out a hand for Eivor to take. “Come home with me, medicine woman. Come and see the world that you have been denied. If you wish to return once you have seen all the world has to offer, then I will carry you back.”

Eivor didn’t hesitate to take her hand. “I want to see the world beyond the ice.”

“Then so be it.”

Sigrid took a few steps away from the medicine woman, letting her hand fall and the dragon beneath Sigrid’s skin awaken. The creature was becoming more and more like Sigrid every day. She didn’t want to deny the dragon anything it wanted, because she wanted the same thing.

Taking a deep breath, she let the change shift through her body. Painless and easy, scales covered her body and a long snout erupted through her skin. Wings unfurled where her arms had been. Suddenly, she felt so much more powerful than she had been before. This was her true form. This was the form she loved and adored above all others.

Huffing out a breath, she stepped forward and lowered herself so Eivor could hop on.

The woman’s eyes widened. “No, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right.”

Again she shifted until it was clear they weren’t going to move without Eivor doing as she asked. Did the woman really think they were going to walk out of this ancient cavern? There were no secrets left here. Just relics of a time Sigrid knew had to end.

The moment Eivor managed to drag herself up onto her back, Sigrid reared back and let out a roar that shook the ceiling.

She stared up at the ice and wondered how long it would take for the ancients to punish her for this. She opened her jaws, then let out a stream of blue fire so hot it burned through the ceiling in a perfect hole.

Cold air rushed down upon them, falling from the air like snow.

With a great flap of her wings, she launched herself out of the cavern and out into the open air. The remains of the ice brushed the tips of her wings. Cold and still streaming water, it coated her wings and froze them solid for a moment before she flexed her muscles. The leathery fabric of her body shook free from the cold with ease.

Sigrid hovered in the air, holding herself still and trying to think where she would go. She didn’t want to return to the ancient’s stronghold. They had given her nothing but history. A history she refused to repeat.

And yet, Camilla was still there. Waiting for her, expecting that Sigrid would come.

She opened her jaws again and let out another stream of fire that struck the air like thunder. Cold air wrapped around her head, set out a reverberation, and the answering echo shook the ground beneath her.

Eivor shivered on her back. The poor creature had already wrapped her arms so tightly around Sigrid’s neck, she almost couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t time to reassure her passenger. They had very little time.

A small dot appeared on the horizon, darting toward her faster and faster. She watched as the grey owl rose above her in the air, and then changed into a woman plummeting toward Sigrid’s back.

She held herself perfectly still as Camilla landed between her wings. They’d never done this before, but she trusted her sister. The woman could climb trees with the best of them, and had been nicknamed monkey as a child.

If anyone could clamber across her in the air, it was Camilla.

Warmth bloomed in her chest at the touch of her sister. It hadn’t been that long… had it? A few months at best, and she still felt as though it had been a lifetime.

Camilla hooked a hand on one of Sigrid’s spines, slid down her belly, and landed in Sigrid’s waiting foot.

Carefully, oh so carefully, Sigrid closed her claws around Camilla. She lifted her up close to her head, winged arms beating at the air to keep them still with the added weight.

Her sister looked as though she’d lost weight. Sigrid tilted her head to the side so her large eye could sweep over Camilla’s form for a moment. Was she all right? Too much could have happened in her absence, and Camilla