Page 76 of I Dream of Dragons

“But what does it all mean?” I ask, frustrated. “And why do you care about the dead returning? I thought you wanted to cross back to your world.”

“Exactly.”

“You speak as if… as if you’re dead.”

“Crossing the gates changes you.”

More half-answers.

“And what do you need me for? Why put this mark on me, why declare me your beloved in front of everyone and when you’re with me you only speak of prophecies and gates?”

“Who is Athdara, really?” he asks, and I sigh, defeated. “How come he has Phaethon in him? History says that only one man ever merged with the great Eosphor Astar, the great king Phaethon, but then…”

“The dragonking Marsyas swallowed him.”

He turns his narrowed gaze on me. “How do you know that? Wait, don’t tell me… The telchin told you the story.”

“I didn’t realize it was a secret. Yes, he told me the story.”

“… good. Well, we don’t know what happened to Phaethon between the last battle and now.”

“How did you find Athdara? How did you know he was so powerful?”

“Oh.” The king waves a narrow hand as he walks to the window. “He called a dragon to him. The villagers talked. Rumors reached me.”

“A drak?”

“Oh no. I wouldn’t have much bothered with that. No, he called down a Great Dara.”

“Really?”

“Amazing, I know. Nobody has ever managed to call down one of the great dragons in an age. And he was young. Orphaned. The mere act of calling the dara almost killed him. I plucked him like a rose and brought him to my court. He went insane for a while as Phaethon fully awoke in his mind, but I managed to restore him. The problem is… he is holding Phaethon’s power back. I do understand that he is afraid to lose himself in Phaethon, and that is why he accepted my aid.” He tsks. “Phaethon alone cannot open the gates. Not only does he need a body and a mind to work with, but the shadow power seems… linked somehow to Phaethon’s command of dragons and gates.”

“A power coming from darkness and death.”

“Yes.” He nods, tapping his fingers on the windowsill. “Yes, exactly. They are bound together. I don’t know if Jai could live without Phaethon, either.”

A pain seizes my chest, even as I’m relieved to hear confirmation that the king wouldn’t kill Jai. I realize that deep inside I’d hoped there was a way to yank Phaethon out of Jai and…

And what? Run away with him?I almost laugh out loud at the absurdity of it.

“You still haven’t replied properly,” I whisper. “What do you want with me?”

“You are the only one who can push him into his potential.”

“How?”

“Deny him.”

I stare at him. “You don’t care about me at all, do you? It’s all for show. That’s what this mark on my wrist is about?”

“You accepted my mark. It’s too late to back out now.”

“Please,” I snap, frustrated. As if I had agreed to anything beforehand. “I’m just trying to understand what we’re doing here.”

“Athdara… has been in the court for a hundred years and yet he hasn’t been alive. The only spark in his eyes came when he killed. But since you appeared, he has slowly been coming back to life.”

I fight a shiver. “But?—”