KOL STOOD ON the balcony of his room in Ravenspire’s castle and stared at the midnight sky. How was Brig faring without him? How much ground had his army lost to the ogres while he’d been gone? The council hadn’t sent word for him to return, so he had to believe the ogres had yet to threaten the capital, but that could change in an instant. His people needed saving, and so far his desperate mission to get help from Queen Irina had been a spectacular failure.
He couldn’t hold up his end of the bargain without a specific scent to follow. The trip to Nordenberg had been as terrifying as it had been unproductive. It was one thing to know he was dealing with a mardushka of extraordinary power. It was another to see it in action.
All that power, however, had been for naught. No princess caught in the queen’s web. No scent for Kol to track. And at the end of the spell, Irina had simply collapsed. He’d been ensconced in the visitor’s wing of the castle for days now with no word on when Irina would be well enough to meet with him. In fact, judging by the somber looks on the faces of the maids and pages who served the Eldrians, many in the castle no longer believed Irina would recover at all.
Which meant Eldr and everyone in it was doomed.
He began pacing the stone balcony, his eyes tracing familiar constellations in the sky above. Did his sister wander her balcony at night staring at the stars while she worried over him?
Did his people fear their second-rate king had abandoned them in their time of need?
Most important, could he come up with a plan to save Eldr that didn’t involve Irina before the ogres destroyed what was left of his kingdom?
The cathedral bells tolled the hour—twelve strikes of a hammer against the bells. Twelve reminders that Kol was running out of time. Eldr was running out of time.
Maybe he could go to Morcant and beg King Milek for favor. Despite what Irina had said about mardushkas in Morcant obeying the laws restricting the use of magic, he bet he could find a price that would tempt Milek into finding a mardushka capable of helping. He doubted Milek would need reminding that Draconi were able to sniff out veins of gold and caverns of jewels buried deep under the ground. It was tantamount to agreeing to enslave himself to the king as a treasure hunter for the rest of his days, but it was better than allowing Eldr to fall.
His friends would never let him do it. He’d have to shift into his dragon and leave the castle without a word to them.
The thought of not saying good-bye—to his friends or to Brig—hurt, but he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t have the energy to argue with them, especially when nothing they said would sway him. Eldr was his responsibility, and he’d made a promise on his father’s funeral pyre that he wouldn’t be a disappointment again. He refused to break that promise.
He also couldn’t risk his friends shifting into dragons and following him to Morcant, which they would do without hesitation. King Milek would agree to loan Eldr a talented mardushka in exchange for the servitude of one dragon. He didn’t need to know there were two more potential treasure hunters at his disposal.
Kol stopped pacing and sagged against the iron railing as a frigid breeze chased dead leaves across the wide expanse of the castle grounds. Facing the flight to Morcant alone was harder than he’d anticipated, but it was what a true leader would do.
His mind made up, Kol unbuttoned his shirt with swift fingers and shrugged out of the garment, letting it fall in a heap on the balcony. He’d leave enough signs for his friends to realize he’d shifted and flown away on his own, rather than let them worry someone in Ravenspire had done him harm. By the time they realized he was gone and tracked him by scent to Morcant, he’d have already struck a deal with King Milek, and it would be over.
He stepped to the edge of his balcony as he reached for his belt.
“Going somewhere?” Jyn asked from the balcony to his right.
He jumped and whirled to face her as she stepped out of the shadows beside the door to her room.
“Planning to shift into your dragon and go make a deal without us?” Trugg asked from his the balcony to his left as he too stepped out of the shadows and into the starlight, his meaty arms folded over his chest while he glared at his king.
“What are you two doing out this late?” He forced himself to sound casual, like the fact that he’d been stripping in the moonlight was of no consequence, but the looks on his friends’ faces said they weren’t convinced.
“What do you think we’re doing? We’re guarding you.” Trugg sounded furious.
“Guarding . . . I never instructed you to guard me.” He returned Trugg’s glare with one of his own while his hastily constructed backup plan disintegrated into dust.