“Roa sends her love,” she said, silencing him with alook—one she hoped conveyed the truth:Roa’s on her way.
But where were Safire and Jas? Asha glanced around the courtyard.
Empty.
Her gaze fixed on Torwin. He didn’t look broken. He didn’t even look afraid as his eyes met hers from across the court. As if he’d resigned himself to this. As if he knew what was coming and he was going to face it, unwavering.
The distance across the courtyard had never felt as vast and uncrossable as it did now.
“It seems I’m in possession of something you want, my dear.”
“And what’s that?” She tried to sound calm as she moved toward her father, letting her hunting instincts guide her.
Go slowly. No sudden movements.
Sensing what she was doing, her father began to slide the edge of her slayer across Torwin’s throat. Blood gathered and spilled. Torwin’s body clenched.
Asha halted, throwing up her hands.
“No! Please. I won’t come any closer.”
Her father eased up on the blade, smiling a slow smile. If he was uncertain before, he was uncertain no longer. He did indeed have what she wanted.
Asha’s heart beat out a frantic rhythm as she stared at the blood staining the collar of Torwin’s shirt. The same shirt she’d kissed him in.
This was not going as planned.
Think, Asha.
In the back of her mind, a shadow moved.
Restless. Worried.
No,she thought. Her father knew they had dragons. Which meant he would be prepared for them.
Asha couldn’t let Kozu come here. They would kill him.
So she did the only thing she could think of. Pinning her hopes on Roa, she stalled for time.
“You tried to poison Dax with dragon bone. You tried to kill your ownson.” She looked from her brother to her father. “Why?”
Their father smiled a cruel smile.
“You figured that out, did you? You always were the smarter one. You and I both know, my dear, your brother could never be king. I’ve always thought his affection for our enemies was a threat to the throne. And look: tonight he’s proved me right.”
He narrowed his eyes on Dax. “I’d hoped the ring would kill him out there. It would have been the perfect reason to start a war with the scrublanders... and finally subdue them.”
“You would kill your own heir... to start a war?” asked Dax, sensing what Asha was doing. Helping her stall.
“A dead heir is more useful than a traitorous one.”
Anger blazed through Asha at those words. “Is the same true of a dead wife?”
For half a heartbeat, a strange emotion flickered across her father’s face. Surprise, maybe. Or remorse. Whatever it was, he recovered quickly, his hand tightening on the hilt of his daughter’s slayer.
“Your mother disobeyed the law, Asha. She undermined my rule. I needed to make an example of her.”
“She was mymother.”
