dying dragon echoing in his mind as if he was back in the sky above the Solar Tower. His hand moved before he’d even made the decision and his body followed, pushing upright as he drew his pistol, cocked and aimed between Andreus’ eyes.
The click of a second pistol meant nothing to him. Neither did Kalai’s shout of alarm, or the feeling of cold metal against his temple. Everything was still except for Tauran’s shaking hand on the grip of his pistol, the desire to squeeze the trigger stronger than anything he’d ever felt before.
Andreus hadn’t moved an inch. He looked at Tauran calmly, as if he wasn’t seconds from having his skull shattered, seconds from lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor.
“You died.” Tauran didn’t recognize the sound of his own voice. “In Valreus. You died.” His finger tightened on the trigger.
“I did not.” There was a fatigue in Andreus’ husky voice that reminded Tauran of Emilian, and that fact alone enraged him, because Andreus was nothing like Emilian. Emilian was good, true, faithful to the guard…
No. He wasn’t faithful to the guard. And neither was Tauran.
Tauran’s breaths were loud in the small room.
“Tauran.” Kalai’s hand on his shaking shoulder made him flinch. All at once, Kalai’s presence brought him back to reality, to the feeling of the wood beneath his feet and the woman’s gun pressed to his temple, the metal slowly heating to the temperature of his skin.
“Tauran, put the gun down.” Kalai’s voice was shaking as bad as Tauran’s hand.
Tauran unclenched his jaw, teeth aching. He stared at Andreus. “You killed my dragon.”
“And you killed mine.”
“No. You did that yourself.” Tauran adjusted his grip on the gun, and the one against his temple pressed harder.
“I never wanted a fight, Tauran,” Andreus said.
“Bullshit!” He shouted so loud his voice broke on the word.
“Why did you come?”
“For answers,” Kalai broke in. He still had his hand on Tauran’s shoulder. It slid along his arm and pushed. “Catria and Emilian sent us here.”
Andreus didn’t take his eyes off Tauran. “We should talk.”
Tauran barked out a joyless laugh. “This is bullshit. No. Fuck this.” He withdrew his gun and shoved it into its holster, then spun on his heel, if only because he didn’t want to blow Andreus’ brains out in front of Kalai who didn’t deserve that kind of trauma. Pushing past Kalai, he yanked the door open, feeling it break on the top hinges. He had to get out. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be what they’d traveled nearly four weeks and risked their lives to find.
Outside, Kalai’s hand closed around his wrist, pulling Tauran to a stop and Tauran spun, grabbing Kalai’s wrist and pulling his hand off too hard.
“Why aren’t you on my side?” Tauran shouted.
“I am!” Kalai insisted. His eyes were wide. He tried to reach for Tauran, block his path, but even with an injured leg, Tauran was larger and stronger and moved him aside effortlessly.
“Tauran!”
“If you won’t help me, then leave me alone!” Tauran barked. In the back of his mind, he knew this wasn’t Kalai’s fault, that he shouldn’t take his anger out on him, but he had nowhere else to direct his fury and hurt in this vast, wet emptiness.
Tauran marched on, the agony in his leg draining his fury until all there was left was pain and hurt and terror. Kalai didn’t follow, like Tauran had asked him to, although he desperately wished he would. More than ever, he wanted Kalai to wrap his arms around him and tell him it was all a bad dream.
Instead, he sank to his knees, the soggy ground instantly soaking his trousers. He couldn’t bend his left leg all the way. Instead, he sat awkwardly sideways with one hand braced against the ground, waiting for his stomach to force out the water he’d just drunk. But nothing happened.
A hot puff of air against the side of his face startled him. He looked up, a large, dark, scaly head filling his vision. Leyra cooed softly, the tip of her tongue sliding out to lick his temple. Tauran patted her nose.
Footsteps behind him made him look up. Kalai’s shadow fell over him. He stopped beside Tauran, hands tucked under his arms, shoulders drawn up. His expression was drawn and the last of Tauran’s anger gave way to guilt.
Tauran dropped his head, studying a gray worm wiggling in the grass beside his leg. This was what he’d feared all those weeks ago,