them shut and let them fall. His breath hitched. “I want to kill that bastard.”
Kalai held him for what felt like an eternity as Tauran lost control of the tears, of the shaking in his shoulders. Tauran didn’t know how much time passed, but when he raised his head, he was still crying. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried. He hadn’t in years. Had been afraid to, in case he wouldn’t be able to stop.
Kalai brushed away the next tear with the pad of his thumb. “If you listen to what he has to say and you still want to kill him… I’ll accept your decision.”
Tauran could tell it was difficult for him to say. Kalai hadn’t been there during the battle, he hadn’t been forced to watch Andreus’ dragon clamp its massive jaws around Arrow’s throat. He hadn’t heard his dragon’s scream of pain and terror as it fell to the ground, soaked in its own blood. All Kalai saw was a poor, crippled man living isolated in an unforgiving land, not even raising a hand to defend himself against a pistol to his head. Tauran was sure there wasn’t a single violent bone in Kalai’s body. The sacrifice was clear in his words, and in the apprehension in his eyes, and yet he still offered Tauran this compromise of his morals. Even after Tauran had yelled at him and pushed him away.
A wave of gratitude and affection rolled through Tauran and he hugged Kalai, properly this time, arms locked around his shoulders. “Skies, I don’t deserve you,” he murmured against Kalai’s soft hair.
Kalai hushed him, rubbing his back. “You deserve all of me and more. Ready to try again?”
Tauran swallowed. He wasn’t. He really, really wasn’t. “Yeah.”
Kalai released him and rose. His trousers were soaked and muddy. “Let me talk to them first. I’ll come get you.”
“Be careful.”
CHAPTER 34
It demanded all Tauran’s self-control to return to the house.
He wanted to stand, but his leg wouldn’t let him, so he sat at the table, Andreus sitting across from him with his crutch leaned against the wall. He was missing half of his right arm, Tauran realized.
Tauran didn’t apologize for drawing his pistol on him, and Andreus didn’t seem to expect an apology. The woman stood above them with her arms crossed, tense, as if ready to draw her weapon again. Kalai stood on Tauran’s other side, close enough for their legs to brush. With the four of them in the room, the space seemed even more claustrophobic.
Kalai was the first to speak, which Tauran was grateful for, because he wasn’t sure he could get a single word out if he tried.
Kalai explained what had happened in Valreus. Falka’s lies. The dead archivist. He skirted around the truth of the medicine, revealing only that Falka had attempted to drug him and not that he had succeeded. Tauran couldn’t blame him. He wouldn’t have wanted complete strangers to know about that sort of thing, either.
All the while, Tauran watched Andreus. He was in bad shape. Were all those injuries from the battle? If so, he’d gotten off far worse than Tauran had. The thought made him uncomfortable, and he dragged his gaze away.
Andreus listened silently until Kalai finished their story. The woman spoke a few quiet words in Sharoani and Andreus answered her. It irked Tauran to know he was the only one in the room who couldn’t understand.
“Falka’s lies started long before the battle,” Andreus said. He sounded tired and spoke quietly, so different from the proud tone of authority he had used when he served the guard and had been Tauran’s superior. “He had aspirations to expand Kykarosi rule. On the back of a dragon, you feel invincible, and Excellor was the greatest of them all.” He accepted a glass of water from the woman, taking a slow sip before he continued. “But dragons became tools to him, rather than partners. He wanted more. With a sizable dragon army, he could impose complete control over Cadellian and Iradesi resources.”
“Didn’t Falka tell you Irades was rising up against Kykaros?” Kalai asked, looking at Tauran. “That they wanted to steal your dragons?”
Tauran nodded, slowly. So that had been a lie, too.
“But our attempts at breeding dragons for his army failed time and time again.” Andreus looked at Tauran. “Saving your dragon from the brink of death, and seeing how well you managed to tame her, gave him new ideas. Taking young dragons from wild herds and taming them seemed