Sadie

I stared out at the wobbling rope bridge waiting for us to cross the Stoneater River. I dipped a toe into the burning sand and quickly pulled it out again. I was ready for a change in weather.

Navin plucked at the strings of his lastar, the dragon arcing through the sky—up and down—flying rhythmically to the music. To our right, heat waves warped the horizon, the brightness of the sun leaching the world of color as I squinted. To our left, a shoreline of river grasses morphed into a rolling pine forest. Damrienn. My homeland.

The week had been a slow process of weaving my soul back together. There were edges that would always be frayed, questions that kept me on tenterhooks, but at least through practice and sheer determination I could keep going. Navin had helped spool me back in, the comfort of his body calling me home like a lover’s song. His love sustained me in the wreckage of a world come undone.

As the dragon moved, I scribbled onto a piece of parchment our findings. The monster didn’t turn my stomach like it used to, having gazed upon it enough times to morph from dread to curiosity to an almost begrudging respect. It would make a fearsome ally if Navin could harness its strength. There was still so much more we needed to test, though.

How long could he control this creature? Did the vase’s song only work on this dragon? When Navin needed to sleep and his songs were interrupted, the dragon would return to the sky and hunt for creatures in the distant dunes. When the dragon had returned one morning still chewing a crishenem leg in its mouth, I knew we had a formidable weapon in this war.

I began to wonder how long after Navin’s songs played was the dragon still within his control. It seemed to know to return to Galen den’ Mora after a night’s hunt. Would it stay close without any songs at all?

I lifted the hem of my tunic and dabbed the sweat on my brow. Squinting at the horizon, I asked, “No sign of anyone?”

Navin paused, dropping his lastar and sitting in the shade of the steps. He was slick with sweat, clearly exhausted from his hours of singing. We needed more people desperately if we were going to make this work. One Songkeeper couldn’t conduct a beast through an hours-long battle.

“They’ve been contacted,”

Navin panted, whipping his tunic over his head to wipe his face. My eyes trailed down his lean torso, a familiar hunger building in me again. The fact we got any work done at all was a miracle. “But I don’t know how many heard, nor how many will come. The Songkeepers have truly fractured now—Rasil’s gone rogue and others will join him. Who knows if any will stand with Galen den’ Mora anymore.”

I held a hand over my brow and stared off in the direction of the Stormcrest Ranges so far in the distance I’d lose them on the horizon if I stared too long. I wanted to return to Olmdere, wanted to hold Calla as she grieved, wanted to rally with the others to her cause, but this . . . this could win us the war. I wouldn’t let my stubbornness win out. We’d find a way to control these beasts and bring them into her army.

“That was good,”

I said, finishing jotting down my notes and tucking the booklet back in my pocket.

Navin braced his hands on his knees and sucked in deep frenzied breaths. “Just good?”

“We’ll try to find an ostekke at sunset.”

“You’re evil.”

Navin tossed his balled-up tunic at me. “I never thought I would ever be seeking out monsters.”

“We need to try,”

I opposed. “Or we can summon more—”

“I’ll do everything I can,”

he said tightly, clearly exhausted but adamant. The guilt of his conjuring gnawed at him. Nightmares pulled him from the depths of sleep. Maez still hadn’t been found. For all we knew, Briar was still in Nero’s control, too. And my brother . . . there had been no word from my brother, and I prayed that he was somewhere dead in the snow. Because if he was alive, I would kill him.

“I’m glad it is you with the power now and not me,”

I said finally, stepping out of Navin’s touch. As the dragon disappeared over the pine forest, I picked up his lastar and patted him on the shoulder. “You should go again. I’m going to keep translating that songbook we found under Ora’s pillow.”

Navin grabbed the instrument from my hand and gently propped it back against the wall. He leaned his bare chest into me, his half-mast eyes dropping to my mouth. “I’ll join you.”

“No.”

His hands skimmed up my sides. “Why not?”

“Because when you join me, we never get any work done,”

I said, playfully shoving at him as his hands tightened on my waist.

We’d been poring over every dusty old tome and song sheet we could find in Galen den’ Mora, translating so many ancient scrolls that my skin bore the permanent scent of old parchment. But still, we’d found no answers to how to reverse the effects of dark magic. I hoped the temple of knowledge might have more answers. Surely if there was a way to conjure it into the world, there was a way of pulling it back out again?

Navin let out a hungry protestation as he nipped at my earlobe. “I like the way we work.”

My hands trailed up his back as he kissed his way down my neck. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, distracting me.”

He laughed against my shoulder. “So long as it’s working.”

A high whistle sang out over the desert. We lifted our heads, finding a tall figure cresting the nearest dune, a trail of a dozen others following him.

“I think you’ve had this place all to yourself for too long, Navin,”

the tall one called. The man had a smooth, honeyed baritone, his eyes a matching bronze to Navin’s own. His gaze slid to me. “We meet again, Wolf.”

Recognition alighted my expression. I’d seen this man before. Behind him the others gathered, all of them wearing little badges on their lapels: the Songkeepers of Galen den’ Mora. They’d come to our aid once more.

But the tall one—the one I’d nearly cut down with my sword only a few moons ago—the one Navin stopped me from killing. I glowered back at him. Of all the people to answer Ora’s call . . .

The group as one crossed fists over their chests and dropped into a bow.

“What is this, Kian?”

Navin asked.

“We heard Ora’s song. We’re the new officers of your army, General.”

Navin’s brother rose and smiled. “We’re here to train some monsters.”