Page 191 of I Dream of Dragons
But he’s distracted. Now, now is the time.Do it, I think to myself,do it and be done with it!
With a cry of wordless rage, I pull my dagger from my bodice, lift it.
And stick it into his chest, angling for the heart.
Pain tears through me. I gasp, dropping to my knees. A beat passes in which time stands still, the agony in my chest robbing me of breath.
I wait for death to take us both.
Then a howl rings out. It’s unmistakably Jai. “Rae!No!”
The king pulls the dagger out. Blood rolls down his chest. He looks stunned, face white, eyes stark, but…
He’s not dying. Why isn’t he dying?
I failed.
“Rae.” Jai is here, sweeping me up in his arms and standing. “Are you all right? Talk to me!”
“I had to try,” I whisper.
The guards are pointing their spears at us, and suddenly a thousand voices rise in a deafening din.
The king only chuckles, shaking his crowned head, a hand pressed to the wound in his chest. “Good try, but my heart is old. It’s an ancient, black root and hard to cut out. Much like your lover’s. Oh, I want to see her face when your memories return, Athdara.”
“I…” Jai stumbles backward. His heart is banging wildly inside his chest. “I don’t…”
Then he turns away, clutching me to his chest, and starts toward the stairs, his face a mask of pain.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
RAE
“Jai…” I whisper, rubbing my hand over my still-aching chest. The wound I inflicted on the king echoes through my ribcage.
He has brought me to his favorite terrace and set me down on a marble bench, checking me over, making sure I’m okay.
Then he retreated toward the balustrade over the sea. Now he’s standing there, the wind whipping at his dark hair. After a while, he lifts a hand.
What is he doing?
He’s like a picture from a book, his tall, strong frame cut out against the night, the light from the Pillar limning his outline in silver.
Then a huge shadow descends from the sky.
I stare, unable to believe my eyes, muffling a gasp behind my palm.
A Great Dara.
He called down one of the great dragons.
I sit there for long moments, frozen, as the creature flies lower. Then, as if against my will, I stand up and approach him.
“Jai. What are you doing?”
He turns his head. The Pillar is reflected in his dark eyes. “He’s just curious.”
He says it like that’s normal.
