Page 63 of Heart of Shadows

“If your mind is made up, I cannot dally any longer,” he said dully. He reached inside the folds of his cloak and unbuckled his dagger. “Here. I want you to have this.”

Harper took it, holding it gently in her hands. “I can’t take this,” she whispered. The ornate scabbard was a shadow of the beautiful blade within. She had already admired it. Silver filigree on red leather that matched the grip and guard inside. A small pommel of intricately wrought steel, and a leaf-shaped blade the likes of which she had never seen.

“You need it more than I do,” Aedon said, stepping back and raising his hands when she held it out. “The handle of your knife was damaged and the blade nicked. I’m sorry. I hope this will serve you as well as it’s served me. Take care not to lose it. One day I might ask for it back.” His smile was half-hearted, but hopeful.

“I’m sure our paths won’t cross again, Aedon.” Harper fingered the dagger, feeling wholly out of her depth and ill-equipped to use it as it deserved.

“I hope they do, but promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“On your honour, swear that if you ever become a member of the Winged Kingsguard or something so grand, you won’t arrest me.” A flicker of his usual light-hearted humour broke through the creases of worry etched on his face.

Harper could not help but crack a small smile. A part of her hated that he could worm through her defences so easily. “I’ll consider it.”

“Well, I suppose this is goodbye.” Aedon lingered. It was clear he still wished for her to change her mind.

“I suppose it is. Thank you, Aedon, for everything.” Despite how this ended, she was grateful to them. They had saved her life. She didn’t want to think about what would have happened had she not run into him that day. “Goodbye.”

Aedon nodded and swallowed, before turning on his heel and marching away. After a few paces, he broke into a run to catch up with his distant companions, and did not look back. Harper watched them crest the hill and disappear. Despite their short companionship, she had grown to care for them. She hated herself for it, but to see them receding into the distance, knowing their paths were unlikely to cross again, made her ache more than she wanted to admit to, even in spite of the hurt that had been caused. And in the end, had they not proved themselves? No matter how desperately they needed that stone, they had not taken it by force when they could have done. That counted for something. It eroded the hot anger she felt towards them—leaving only her own surging pool of guilt at her selfishness.

She followed the valley until the land flattened out, trying to outrun that feeling. The great city of Tournai stood proud on the horizon, stretching up into the mountains like a crown amongst the foothills. As she hiked toward it, Harper tried to be distracted by the promise of what awaited—but there was no way to outrun the turmoil churning inside. She would live or die by the decision she had just made.

46

DIMITRI

The order was a physical compulsion, a tug of magic deep within Dimitri. The king summoned at his will and Dimitri was bound to follow. He could have cursed Toroth in that moment. Having dealt with the wood elves, he now had to secure the Dragonheart. The last thing he wanted was to return to Toroth’s side to falsify yet another report that he had not located it—and endure Toroth’s inevitable wrath.

It took all his efforts to conceal the truth from his thoughts, but Dimitri took heart that the charade would soon be over. He listened to Raedon’s reports, too, feeling a noticeable tinge of relief that the Winged Kingsguard weren’t any closer to finding the location of the stone, but in fact drifting further away. He allowed himself a moment’s smug satisfaction, hidden from both Raedon and the king.

“Is that all?” The king’s furrowed brows suggested that it had better not be.

“Your Majesty, every member of the Winged Kingsguard searches from dawn until dusk for your stone.”

“Bah,” spat Toroth, pacing back and forth before the hearth so angrily, Dimitri swore he would wear a hole in the stone. “What of your efforts?” he fired at Dimitri.

He straightened, caught off guard by the sudden switch in the king’s attention. “I am afraid my results are the same as the general’s. It must have travelled far afield indeed.”

They bowed their heads in contrition as the king erupted at them. Curses were shouted, objects hurled, items of priceless value smashed, before the king’s anger abated and he dismissed them. Dimitri held his tongue, averted his eyes, and dipped his head for it all, despite the rebellious streak of anger that spiked in him. Every moment further pushed him towards that inevitable path. This was why the wheel needed breaking. Why Toroth had to be supplanted.

Knowing there was no time to waste, the moment Toroth dismissed them, Dimitri rushed to Saradon’s chamber in the heart of the mountain. He had to make his reports and retrieve the Dragonheart. Now Aedon and his companions knew he sought it, he had no doubt they would do everything in their power to thwart him.

Saradon’s crushing presence greeted him in the warm, stale air of the cavern. Dimitri bowed to the sarcophagus before opening his mind to the strange, not entirely welcome presence of Saradon, who brooded and lurked upon the fringes of his consciousness.

“I have located the Dragonheart, Lord,” Dimitri said without preamble. “I was unable to obtain it due to a complication, but it is safe for now. As soon as I leave here, I shall retrieve it.”

“A complication?” Saradon’s tone was curt, with a bite of impatience. Dimitri could understand that. Five hundred years was a long time to wait.

“Yes.” Dimitri shared a flood of mental images with Saradon’s consciousness, showing the encounter with the wood elves that drew him away from his pursuit of the stone.

“You should have crushed them,” Saradon said flatly.

“They may yet be allies—and I do not want them for enemies.”

“The wood elves ne’er were amicable toward my ilk. They were too high and mighty to associate with the likes of me.”

Dimitri pursed his lips. “I understand that only too well. They were none too keen to cooperate with me, either.”

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