Alison Goodman: Eona: The Last Dragoneye

Dela shifted; no doubt she had guessed which ancestor.

Something flickered across the wary intensity in Ido’s face; a moment of empathy, or maybe it was just his own pain, remembered. He smiled thinly. “I thought you vowed you would never do that to your dragon. You keep drawing your moral lines, and you keep crossing them.” His eyes held mine, his voice lowering into a caress. “You and I are the same, Eona. We cross the lines that others dare not step over. Cross this last line with me.”

He wanted the dragons’ power. He wanted everything. And he wanted me to take it with him.

“I won’t destroy the dragons.”

He jabbed his forefinger against his chest. “Do you want to feel like this for the rest of your life? As if everything important has been ripped out? Do you want to be nothing again? Because that is what will happen.”

“Eona will never be nothing,” Kygo said. “She is my Naiso.”

Ido snorted. “Why would she be your Naiso when she could be a god with me? It is still the same choice, Eona. Either we take all the power or we are left with nothing.” He held out his hand. His smile drove itself into my very core. “You and I can take it all, Eona, together. It would be like the cyclone, a hundred times over. Forever.”

Kygo gripped my shoulder. “If you think Eona would destroy the dragons and take my land, Ido, then you do not know her at all. We would both die a thousand times over before we would let you have anything you want.”

I stared at Ido’s outstretched hand. The memory of the sea cabin — our bodies entwined and the glorious rising energy— held me still. All that power between us.

Kygo glanced at me. “Eona?”

I took a deep breath, fighting my way through the wash of sensation. With so much power, there could be nothing else. It would burn everything in its path. And every minute of every hour would hold the bud of distrust, just waiting to blossom into betrayal.

“I am not the same as you, Ido,” I said. “I will not destroy the dragons.”

Ido closed his hand into a fist. “You would choose to have no power with him when you could have all the power in the world with me?”

I lifted my chin. “That is not the choice, Ido. I choose the dragons and the land. Not my own ambition. Or yours.”

Beside me, Kygo smiled.

Ido gave a low, harsh laugh. “The emperor and his Naiso , standing united.”

Around us, the pitch of the humming pearls changed, the resonance vibrating through my ear bones.

Ido spun on his heel, taking in the swaying dragons.

“What is happening?” Kygo asked.

“The dragons are preparing to lay down their pearls,” Ido said.

I remembered what he had told me on the beach. Once the pearls were separated from the beasts, they could never reclaim them, and the String of Pearls could not be stopped. It was now either the dragons’ renewal or the land’s destruction.

Ido faced me, his eyes narrowed with fury. “Your misguided loyalty has lost us both our power. All we can do now is avoid annihilation.” His eyes fixed on the white bundle in Dela’s tight grip. “Give me the folio.”

Dela pulled back from his reaching hand. “I do not follow your orders.”

He sucked a breath in between his teeth. “Listen to me, Eona. The Mirror Dragoneye is the only one who can direct the String of Pearls’ power to the dragons. Otherwise it will raze everything to the ground, including us.”

“I have to direct it?” My voice cracked. “How?”

“With the folio and the Righi.”

I stared at him, my memory conjuring the blistering heat and terrible power of the ancient words. “But that’s the death chant.”

“Isn’t that what Dillon used to kill all those soldiers?” Dela asked uneasily.

“It not only destroys,” Ido said, “it creates. It holds the dragons’ Hua in the black folio so we can use their power. “

“How do you know all this?” Kygo demanded.

“I have been studying the String of Pearls for years. The Righi ignites the Imperial Pearl to start the renewal, and it will release the dragons’ Hua from the folio.”

“The dragons’ Hua is in the folio?” Kygo echoed.

I searched Ido’s face, trying to read beyond the fury that pinched his features into a snarl. I did not trust this turnaround. He was not one to back down so easily. But what could I do? Kinra’s memory had also told me the String of Pearls could not be stopped once the dragons had released their pearls into its power circle — but she had not told me that I had to invoke the Righi to release the dragons from the folio.

I clasped Ido’s arm. He flinched under the dig of my grip. “Is that the truth? Is the Righi the only way for their renewal?”

“Do you think I have a death wish because I cannot have you?” he sneered.

I snatched my hand away.

“You are not the woman I thought you were,” he said. “You do not have the steel to be a true queen.”

“Well, you are exactly the man I thought you were,” I snapped.

I hoped he could not see the bitter truth in my heart; some part of me had believed him when he’d said I had changed him. How could I have been so gullible? He was still the same ruthless, selfish Ido. I was the one who had changed, pulled into his world of power and possibility.

Kygo shoved Ido’s shoulder. “Answer her! Is the Righi the only way to do this?”

Ido stepped back, his body tightening into defense. “Yes.”

He was telling the truth, and it dropped a hundredweight of dread through me. I had barely controlled the Righi against Dillon — now it had the force of renewal in it and the power of all the dragons to draw upon. May the gods protect us. And if they could not, at least I could protect Kygo.

I dragged at his arm. “You have to get off the platform.” With a glance, I gathered Dela into my plea. “You too, Dela. Help Tozay. Get off the platform. You saw what happened to Dillon.”

“I am not going anywhere,” Kygo said. He bent and picked up the sword I had dropped. Kinra’s sword.

“Neither am I, Eona,” Dela said.

“No, both of you must go. I don’t know if I can protect you.”

Kygo shook his head. “I will not leave you alone with Lord Ido.”

The Dragoneye circled on the spot, watching the dragons, his hands raking his hair.

Kygo looked at Dela. “Take Tozay down to the lower steps. I want you both safe. That is my command.”

Dela hesitated.

“Go!”

Dela bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

She passed me the bundle. The rope of pearls writhed beneath the cloth, jabbing my hands. “Eona, please be careful,” she said. “I have already lost …” She tipped her head back, her throat jumping with the strain of grief. “Just be careful.”

Together, she and Kygo hauled Tozay to his feet. He was still dazed, but he could walk. Dela took his weight and helped him limp to the edge of the platform. As she supported him down the first step, she looked back and pressed her fist against her chest. The warrior salute. I did not feel like a warrior. I felt terrified. I remembered Ryko in the palace alley telling me I had a warrior’s courage. He’d had such faith in me then. And he had died for that faith.

I lifted my fist to my chest. For Ryko, and for Dela. With a nod, she turned and led Tozay down the steps.

“What do I have to do?” I asked Ido.

“Go up on the dais,” he said, nodding at the small raised stage. “It is the highest point, and once the Righi has ignited the Imperial Pearl, the Mirror Dragon will come for it.”

I looked at the red dragon. Her huge eyes watched me. Kinra’s plea whispered in my mind: Make it right . I followed Ido across the platform to the dais, holding the squirming bundle away from my body. Kygo walked beside me.