Sky Breaker (Night Spinner Duology), Addie Thorley [100 books to read in a lifetime txt] 📗

My back goes rigid. I dismount and toss the frozen reins at his face.

I would be making progress if they’d let me do my job instead of summoning me back to Sagaan.

“What do you think?” I bark to avoid the question.

Reza beams and gives me the Kalima salute, even though he’s magic-barren, and hurries off to the stables with Tabana.

I march up the steps and slam through the heavy brass doors of the treasury. It’s nearly as cavernous as the Sky Palace, comprised of two wings that intersect like a cross. Silver molding adorns every wall, and a glass dome crowns the center of the spiral staircase. When sunlight streams through the diamond-cut panes, the vivid blue walls glow like lightning bugs on the grasslands.

I used to think it was beautiful. Serene, even. I would sneak over here and sit in the stairwell when I needed a break from the endless bustle of the Sky Palace. It reminded me of slower, more carefree days, when Papá would bring me to his office and teach me to balance ledgers and manage the royal coffers. I always found the steady clink of coins and murmured transactions so comforting. Like a song, in its own way. But ever since the Sky King claimed the treasury as his temporary residence, those soothing sounds have been replaced by the clomp of boots, the rattle of weapons, and, ever more increasingly, the sound of his raging criticism.

“Varren!” I call, my own voice grinding with exasperation when he isn’t waiting in the atrium beneath the glass dome either. And Cirina isn’t ready with towels and a change of clothes. The thin coat of irritation varnishing my skin like sweat hardens into ice. How dare they summon me, then fail to prepare for my arrival!

“Varren!” I yell again as I storm toward the vault—our newly minted war room. It’s the only place prying ears and treacherous arrows won’t breech. When my second still hasn’t appeared by the time I reach the hidden door, covered in oak paneling to match the rest of the hall, I vow to demote him.

I spin the lock.

Right, left, right.

“There had better be a damn good reason for disrupting my search,” I say as the door swings inward. “What could possibly be so important?”

My voice trails off and my boots freeze in the threshold. Arctic flurries whip around my wrists as my arms slap against my sides. There, seated at the long ebony table we dragged in from the assembly hall, is every Kalima warrior. Including Varren. And at the head of the table sits the Sky King.

“What’s this?” I look from face to face, trying to keep my voice level, but it pitches higher with each word. “What are you doing here?” I point at Iska and Eshwar. “You’re supposed to be patrolling the highway between Sagaan and Lingosk.” I turn to Karwani and Vanesh, who stare at the table as if it’s inlaid with gold. “And you’re assigned to watch the fish market a day’s ride from Chotgor.” They all look down and away. My heart pounds so wildly, it echoes off the steel walls. Filling the tiny room.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. If everyone has been recalled, it must be for a good reason. “You’ve found them?” I ask hopefully.

Still no answer.

The ticking of the clock has never been so deafening.

I spit out a hysterical laugh. “What sort of conspiracy is this? It isn’t any wonder we haven’t captured the traitors. You’re not even looking for them!”

The Sky King rises with maddening slowness. “Just because they’re not following your orders doesn’t mean we aren’t hunting the traitors.”

I try to make sense of his words. “Whose orders are they following if not mine? You gave me complete control. Full confidence. Find them. By any means necessary…. Is that not what you said?” I think back to his command, how he stared at me inside this very vault with such pride and conviction. What about all the routes and rotations I’ve mapped? All the missives I’ve written? All the detailed reports I’ve received?

Did they carry out any of it?

My hand instinctively goes to my saber. “I don’t understand.”

The Sky King casts me a look that’s both pitying and condescending. “You’ve been erratic and unreliable, so we did what was necessary to keep you out of the way.”

“Erratic and unreliable?” The words drill into my flesh like Zemyan arrows. My pulse throbs wildly in my throat. “What are you talking about? I’m neither of those things!”

“You put your feelings for that monstrous sister of yours above your duty and the well-being of Ashkar,” the Sky King accuses.

“I never—”

“You helped her sneak out of Ikh Zuree to complete an unsanctioned mission.” He raises a finger and counts off my crimes. “Then you lost track of her in Sagaan, allowing her to join forces with the Shoniin. When you finally recaptured her, you were unable to extract any useful information, and instead of killing her, you let her thwart Temujin’s execution and escape. Again.”

With every word, the walls press closer. At least half of the Kalima exchange small, lurid grins. “I didn’t let her get away!” I shout. “I ran to you, my lord. To protect you and guide you to safety. As any good warrior would.”

“And by so doing, you ran away from her.”

I blink at him, my eyelashes crusting with frost. “You can’t possibly think I would defend Enebish after she tried to kill me!”

“Perhaps not consciously. But familial bonds run deep. Sometimes deeper, even, than love for one’s country … and king.”

“These accusations are absurd!” I cry. “Varren, tell him! You were with me every moment. You know I would never …”

Betray my king and country. I can’t bring myself to utter the horrible words.

I lean across the table, staring desperately into my second’s eyes. We’ve rarely left each other’s sides since we were fifteen, when neither of us could best the other in the