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

Something had happened. Sigrid was certain of that.

Camilla reached up and touched a hand to Sigrid’s chest. “Sister.”

An answering rumble in Sigrid’s chest conveyed what she hoped was happiness. Even if Camilla had something terrible to say, Sigrid was glad to see her.

“You have to return home,” Camilla called out. “Although, I suspect you already know that.”

Sigrid inclined her head in a nod. It was long past time she come back, even if her people thought she were dead. She would handle that fallout in the only way she knew how. With honesty and integrity. If they wanted nothing to do with her after that… then at least she would still have her dignity.

“Sigrid…” Camilla cleared her throat. “There’s a war starting.”

Again? She didn’t want to fight with the Beastkin again. They needed to enjoy their lives for a little while, not fight and watch more death come to their lands.

A warm hand smoothed down her breast, finger sinking between scales to touch her skin. “It’s him, Sigrid. Not the Beastkin, not anyone else. Bymere has started a war again, and this time it’s against our homeland. The Bymerians are here. They brought war elephants and soldiers unlike any I’ve seen before.

“We don’t know what to do. The Beastkin don’t want to help those who they feel have imprisoned them. Hallmar specifically asked for you, and I had to tell him you were dead.

“Raheem returned to Bymere to try and talk sense into Nadir but… no one knows where he is. An imposter sits on the throne, something about a league of assassins who know how to help Bymere in times of crisis. But while they focus on their own kingdom, ours burns.”

Camilla stared up at her, dark eyes swirling with tears like starlight in a vast expanse of sky. “I would have left you here. I would have let you find yourself for longer but our home is dying, and I knew you wouldn’t want me to just… let it die.”

There were too many emotions running through her. She could hardly think past the screaming in her head at the mere thought that Wildewyn was dying. She had fallen in love with the green trees. The ones that were burning under the great empire of Bymere as it marched upon her people.

Upon her king.

She didn’t notice she was roaring until her ears began to rang. She’d tilted her head back, dropped open her great jaws, and screamed into the sky until it rumbled with her anger.

The emotion was so strong it sent a current of energy through the tenuous thread that connected her to Nadir. It shimmered in her mind, flaring bright with rage and heartbreak.

The moment she realized they could still speak, that this was what had allowed his anger and pain to reach her, she screamed in her mind. Over and over, she screamed until the draconic beast released its hold and she could shout, “You did this!”

Silence was her response for long heartbeats before she heard his reply.

“What has happened?”

“You know,” she growled back. “You knew Bymere was going to attack my home and you did nothing to stop it.”

“They did what?”

She couldn’t speak anymore. Instead, all she projected were images of Wildewyn trees, ancient as the earth itself, burning to the ground. She sent pictures of blood and warfare. Children dying in the streets and their mothers becoming shields made out of desperation and love.

Maybe that was not the scene in Wildewyn. Though she doubted there was any mercy in their actions. Sigrid knew what war was like. What it did to men who felt more fear than anything else.

She’d never thought to see it destroy the only place she’d felt accepted.

Her blood heated, a projected anger shaking the connection between them when he bellowed, “What has he done?”

“You know who did this?”

“A man who replaced me so I might learn from the best assassins in the world, the Alqatara. He was meant to stall the advisors, not lead them into a war.”

Her wings shook, and she tossed her head. “Enough. We end this now.”

“Come to me,” he replied, desperation lacing his tone into something rugged and raw. “Come to me, and we will fix this.”

It was not a bad idea. She could fly over the Bymerian army, ignore them entirely, and head toward their homeland. Perhaps then she could make them feel the anger and the fear she felt in her heart.

She would be the one destroying their home. Let them shake and quiver when they saw her great form fly overhead.

Without question or response, Sigrid turned her great head toward the Edge of the World and the man she called husband.

26

Nadir

“Sultan?” the voice interrupted him as he tried to connect with Sigrid again. Anything that would let him know when she was coming. Where was she? What had happened? From whom had she heard these terrible things?

“What?” he snapped, turning so quickly water rushed off him in droplets.

He stood in the center of the oasis still. Nothing had changed there. How long had they been standing here, doing nothing? Staring off into space like some kind of dolt?

Tahira stood in front of him, her eyes eagle golden and staring through him. “Are you still with us?” she growled back.

“I’m alive, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m asking if you are the one talking to me, or if I’m speaking to the dragon.”

“He cannot speak.”

“He can.” Tahira stared into his eyes a few more heartbeats before her own eyes turned back into the gold gaze of a human. “But perhaps you haven’t learned how to do that just yet. It’s good you survived, Sultan.”

“I don’t think you would have missed me.”

“I wouldn’t have. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have enough of a heart to realize there are some people who would.” She tilted her head to the side. “Like that woman you were whispering to while you were out. Sigrid, is it? I knew a tale of