Page 123 of Realm of Thieves

Andor is pushed forward as well, his face contorted in a scream.

Two large white teeth puncture his chest, the dragon having caught him with its lower jaw.

My scream rises as his fades, as he chokes on the red blood flowing from his mouth and down his chest.

I’m outside myself.

This can’t be happening.

This can’t be real.

After all we’ve gone through, this can’t be it.

I see the light fade in his golden eyes, his body slump in the dragon’s mouth.

I become something else entirely.

Chapter 34

Brynla

I am the wolf, Ithink to myself.

I keeping running at the dragon, my blades raised, but when the dragon notices me, it merely swipes at me, knocking me to the ground with its forefoot.

I roll and roll and for a moment I think perhaps I should just let it end me like it just ended Andor.

But something inside me makes me get to my feet.

And I use my rage to fuel me.

I scream, a battle cry, a warrior’s creed, and run at the dragon again. It still has Andor’s broken, bloody body in its mouth, seeming to pay me no attention. Perhaps I’m not of interest when it already has its meal.

The dragon shouldn’t underestimate me.

I’m still screaming as I throw myself at its neck, using the arrows that are stuck there to help me climb up it until I’m situated right above its head.

It drops Andor in a heap and starts shaking itself back and forth but I hold on, inching forward until I’m in the right position. Then, with a final, terrible scream, a scream for all the people I’ve lost, ascream that feels like an exorcism, I plunge the ash-glass swords into the dragon’s skull.

The dragon roars and immediately slumps to the ground, throwing me. I land a few feet away, my side taking the brunt of the fall, cracking something in one of my pouches, and my ankle twists painfully. I yelp and try to sit up, grinding my teeth through the pain as I watch the beast carefully. It doesn’t move, its yellow eyes unseeing, no breath to be had.

Lemi’s whimper brings my attention over to my dog, the only thing I have left in this world.

Lemi is lying beside Andor’s lifeless body and whining. He touches his arm with his paw and then sits back, eyes never leaving him. He does it again and again, followed by a bark, hoping in vain that Andor will get up.

But Andor won’t. He said the ability to heal never worked on himself, and besides, I’m unsure anyone could be brought back from this. If he couldn’t save his mother from a terminal illness, he couldn’t save himself from his body being lacerated by dragon teeth. Every part of his torso has been punctured, and the blood pooling out from around him won’t stop flowing.

And yet I find myself crawling toward him, my ankle useless.

I pull myself along the pebbles until I’m climbing through his blood. I manage to sit beside his body and pull it up into my lap. His head tilts back and I cradle it, pressing my fingers against his face.

“Hey,” I whisper to him, tears falling from my eyes and splattering on his cheek and nose. “Hey, you can come back now. You can wake up now. You can try, can’t you? Please? For me?” I brush my tears off his face. “Do it for your lavender girl?”

But Andor’s eyes are like the dragon’s. They see nothing. They stare at the sky above, empty golden pools that once were the window of the most beautiful soul I knew. If I keep staring at his face, though, maybe I can pretend a little longer.

“Hey,” I say again, running my fingertips over his lips, slick with blood. “What if I tell you that I love you? Will that make you come back?” I swallow thickly; it’s getting harder to speak. My jaw aches from trembling. “Would you have said it back? Would you forgive me for not saying it earlier?”

I sniff, cradling him harder, holding his head in my arms like a baby. I put my head up and stare at the sky, wanting to see what he could see. “I wanted to,” I go on. “There were many times I wanted to but I felt stupid. Like it would ring false if I said it and you wouldn’t believe me, and, fuck, it would have killed me if you didn’t believe me, if you didn’t take my heart when I gave it to you, but I’ve never been more honest in my life. I might be a thief, but I am not a liar. And I love you, Andor Kolbeck, and that’s the fucking truth, no matter how ridiculous it might sound.”

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