Page 98 of Shadow Throne King

I called out to the ice magic, shaping my desire clearly.Hold him.

I kept up the chant, the words in every beat of my heart.Hold him. Hold him.

Ice spread like water across the dais, surrounding Maki, rising up from the ground, catching first his ankles, then his calves and knees, and he struggled, but I wanted it so badly that my heart pounded with it, my vision going spotty with the need. I would hold him, even though that wasn’t what I had been taught.

I would hold him, because I was an assassin, but Naî was a killer. Predatory and fierce, she clawed over his face, breathing ice straight down his throat, her head practically inside his mouth as she poured magic into him.

Maki might know how to control electricity, and Centipede knew how to control men, but neither of them was prepared for the raw fury in Naî’s magic. It slammed into them, distilled from generations of dragons’ rage, all the way from the One Dragon whom Centipede had wronged.

Maki froze, ice crystals sprouting from his eyes, his extremities going black from frostbite. He still struggled, and I could feel his desperation. He didn’t know that he was already dead.

Inside Maki’s throat, Centipede flexed and moved, his head breaking free from the open wound I’d carved, his mandibles clicking together as he reached for me.

The bite he had given me earlier throbbed, pulsing with my own heartbeat, the skin so hot I was sure it was going to burst open.

I can promise you Tallu’s life. I was the only one of the animalia to escape Spider’s clutches. I was the only one who was able to walk along her webs and not get caught. I can save him.Centipede turned his head, his black eyes staring directly at me; it was a promise he couldn’t make, and yet it fell so freely into my head.I can promise you happiness. That is what you want, isn’t it? I can promise you happiness and a life free of the responsibility you think you need to bear.

Then he wasn’t just speaking into my head. He turned Maki’s face toward Tallu, Maki’s black lips moving as he spoke with a ghost of a voice, his vocal cords frozen by Naî’s magic.

“Let me free, and I will fight this war for you. The Imperium will not survive my wrath. The Imperium will not survive my soldiers. I will turn the empire on itself, turn the generals oneach other.” Centipede’s words were a promise. One made by an ancient animalia. He could do it, too.

Naî dropped to his neck, tearing it out with her teeth, shards of frozen skin dropping on the floor with the tinkle of gemstones. I could barely see, my vision black-spotted and hazy.

But I could feel Naî’s weakness, her bites slowing, her claws unable to dig as deeply. Impossibly, Centipede raised Maki’s hand, grabbing hold of Naî. She tried to turn, but the effort was too much.

I didn’t wait to see what he would do to her.

Kill him. I pushed my desire into the ice, imagining a column of it thick enough to hold him, thick enough to destroy him once and for all.

A whirlwind spun around us, circling tighter and tighter until it surrounded Maki alone. His hand fell free, dropping Naî to the ground. She stayed unmoving, and I pushed harder, the cyclone that trapped him beginning to tear him apart.

Maki’s body came loose, falling away and revealing Centipede. The creature was half frozen, lying limply on the ground, and I had to release my hold on the magic.

The screaming winds were suddenly silent, and all I heard was my own heavy panting and the drip of something behind me. I didn’t need to turn to know what it was: Tallu was bleeding.

I can save him still, Centipede promised.Let me have him, and I will save him.

Taking two staggering steps, I smashed my foot down on the back of his neck, bending to pick up King Inor’s abandoned sword. I raised it over my head, the blade trembling, the tip swaying like a pendulum.

I brought it down, the sword cracking through Centipede’s thick carapace. Black oozed from the wound, Centipede’s head knocked aside by the force of the blow. It chuckled.

Do you think that is the way to kill me? I’m already inside you. Your desire let me in, it whispered, and this time I could feel it shivering up my spine, the animalia already inside me. The animalia had moved from Maki to me in the moments before its death. My hesitation had cost me my life.

I staggered back, stumbling down the stairs, and Tallu caught me, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. We collapsed down onto the ground together as Iradîo approached the dead animalia, bending to pick up Naî. The dragon whimpered. The blood monks circled one of the dead bodies, whispering among each other about the magic.

Then, the floor behind the throne exploded into lava.

Twenty-Three

Istared, jaw open, feeling nothing but shock as the stone floor turned to liquid, dripping down into nothingness, a font of melted rock spraying up out of the hole.

Iradîo yelped, clutching Naî tight as the dais tipped, the throne sliding to the edge. She stepped backward, holding Naî tight to her chest, and practically fell down the stairs getting off them.

A set of claws emerged first. It grabbed hold of the fallen throne, dragging it down into the hole as the creature pulled itself out.

Centipede had said that it wasn’t what killed all those imperial soldiers. I just hadn’t believed it, knowing what a liar it was.

Another paw reached up, just as large as the first, and then a head pulled itself free.