Page 78 of Shadow Throne King

Still, he gestured two men to the door, leaving us with just Asahi and Sagam. The Kennelmaster brought up the rear, and the five of us walked into the tunnel.

The first body was where I had seen it, a Dog curled on his side, his sticky blood absorbed into the dark earth. There wasno sign of what had killed him, but ahead, we found evidence of what he’d been fighting. He’d managed to cut off a limb: a thickly muscled leg ending in a furred foot with protruding claws. The black fur was matted with blood.

Another Dog was just beyond that, his body curled on top of a monster like the one we had fought the night before. The Dog’s blade was buried in its back, and he had clearly used his weight to drive it deep but had not had the strength to crawl back to the door.

None of us made a sound, and if Asahi and Sagam had any feeling about seeing their comrades’ dead bodies, they kept it to themselves.

We continued further down the tunnel, finding what was left of the remaining two Dogs as well as another one of the monsters.

“Good, good, come deeper, come into the darkness,” Asahi singsonged. I didn’t even need to look to know that he hadn’t actually said the words. Tallu didn’t turn to look at him. Neither Sagam nor the Kennelmaster twitched at the delight in his tone.

We had been walking for more than an hour in silence, the quiet broken only when one of us trod on a loose clump of dirt. I began to wonder if that had been the Shadow King’s only plan: send two of the monsters down this tunnel and wait to see if they slaughtered the entire palace.

The blood monks kept calling back that there was nothing, and their voices startled me every time.

The air grew humid, and I wasn’t sure how deep or how far we had walked. Sweat collected under my braid, and I raised my hand to wipe at it, nearly dislodging Naî.

“Do you hear that?”she asked.“We are under the lake. We are headed for the mountains. I do not like the idea of that much earth sitting on top of us.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Asahi’s voice was a constant buzz in my ear, and finally, I turned to look at him. He held the lantern steady, matching pace with Sagam, but then he froze, turning to me.

“You can hear it, can’t you?” His question so closely mimicked Naî’s that at first I thought he was talking about the lake above, the massive body of water that had commanded her attention.

Asahi moved so fast that I blinked and he was already behind us, his blade buried in the Kennelmaster’s side.

Eighteen

Asahi hissed, ending on a series of soft clicks.

Sagam rushed forward, but Asahi shoved him aside in one swift movement, spinning to face us. When he turned, he tore the mask off his face, the skin of his cheek rising and falling like a sea serpent that crested the water and then dove back beneath.

“You fool. Did you think you could best me?” His question was so vicious, so cruel, that I took a step forward, adjusting my grip on my blade. The long walk and the tension ratcheting my muscles with every step left me too slow, and he was far too fast.

He barreled into me, hitting me so hard that he sent Naî flying, her body dropping somewhere further down the tunnel.

I brought my sword up, but his thick armor blocked the blade. My wolf’s claw scraped across it, bouncing off. I rolled out from under him, and he sprinted forward, one foot touching the wall of the cave as he dove down on top of me.

But I wasn’t alone. Sagam had his blade ready, lurching forward to shove it into Asahi’s chest.

At the last moment, Asahi arched unnaturally, his spine cracking as he nearly bent in two. He fell, landing with one handon the ground, the other still gripping his sword. He bounded to his feet, facing us.

A bolt of lightning hit him straight in the face, his skin nearly going translucent. Tallu was panting, blood dripping from his nose. He let loose another bolt, but Asahi was no longer there, and it went harmlessly into the wall. Asahi lunged, and Sagam hit him so hard that they both tumbled.

Struggling out from under his lover, Asahi reached for Tallu. He was hissing and spitting, a thousand voices echoing in my ears.

Desperately, trying for some relief, I reached out with ice, needing Asahi to slow for just a second. For half a moment, he froze, his legs not answering him, and that was all Sagam needed. Sagam dove on top of his lover, pinning those writhing shoulders with his knees. I called on the ice again, trying to still Asahi’s thrashing body.

Sagam raised a dagger, his hand shaking before he clenched his jaw and sliced down the exposed portion of Asahi’s nape, his blade swift. He reached into Asahi’s neck, pulling something free from the long slice he had made along Asahi’s spine.

It writhed, a thousand legs scrabbling helplessly in the air. It tilted back its head, sharp fangs about to bite Sagam’s hand, and Asahi pushed up onto all fours, unseating Sagam and distracting the insect. Asahi stood, grabbing the insect in one motion and throwing it to the ground. He smashed his foot on it over and over again, until all that was left of the creature was a thousand pieces of its crushed carapace.

Asahi stumbled back, landing hard on the ground, panting. Sagam knelt like a supplicant in front of him, cradling Asahi’s face in his hands.

“My love, have you come back to me?”

The question was so broken and so honest that I wanted to turn away, to give them a moment of privacy. But Naîapproached, bending down to sniff at what was left of the creature.

Asahi was not crying, but his breath came unevenly. Sagam’s hands fell away as he pushed himself forward, prostrating himself on the ground in front of Tallu.