His fingers curled around stone, not metal, and for a moment he felt a pang of hope. Brief but profound. He had been wrong--
But the rest of the letter as he skimmed it proved his worst fears swiftly true and he swallowed hard as his eyes traveled down the page. His expression may as well have been carved from stone as well. There was ice in his stomach. His chest. His lungs.
His veins.
The page did not tremble in his fingers. His chest did not rise and fall with breath. Only his eyes moved, unblinking, as he scanned the letter again, as if the words would change. And then a third time, the only sound in the room the faint grinding of his other hand around the key that had fallen into it.
Emerald eyes closed, though the words were burned into his eyelids now. He could still see them, limned in violet fire. Soh sat across from him, but the King seemed to have forgotten her as he sought to master himself. She might have been left there for far longer than a few minutes if a scratching had not come at the window. A familiar sound, imperious and slightly plaintive, of a small dragon, and Hadama's head lifted and turned in a sharp jerk. "Spice--"
He leaned back to unlatch the window and pushed it open so the little dragon could enter. True to the letter's words, the companion did not come empty-pawed. He accepted the vial, bowing his head over the haughty reptile, heedless of the chill of her scales.
And then he spoke to Sohalia at last, his voice deepening with each word.
"Did you. Have any idea. What she intended."
But the rest of the letter as he skimmed it proved his worst fears swiftly true and he swallowed hard as his eyes traveled down the page. His expression may as well have been carved from stone as well. There was ice in his stomach. His chest. His lungs.
His veins.
The page did not tremble in his fingers. His chest did not rise and fall with breath. Only his eyes moved, unblinking, as he scanned the letter again, as if the words would change. And then a third time, the only sound in the room the faint grinding of his other hand around the key that had fallen into it.
Emerald eyes closed, though the words were burned into his eyelids now. He could still see them, limned in violet fire. Soh sat across from him, but the King seemed to have forgotten her as he sought to master himself. She might have been left there for far longer than a few minutes if a scratching had not come at the window. A familiar sound, imperious and slightly plaintive, of a small dragon, and Hadama's head lifted and turned in a sharp jerk. "Spice--"
He leaned back to unlatch the window and pushed it open so the little dragon could enter. True to the letter's words, the companion did not come empty-pawed. He accepted the vial, bowing his head over the haughty reptile, heedless of the chill of her scales.
And then he spoke to Sohalia at last, his voice deepening with each word.
"Did you. Have any idea. What she intended."
