This wasexactlywhat I’d wanted to keep hidden from Eliza.
“She’s lost control,” she whispered, lifting a dagger.
Lips curling into a snarl, I snatched Eliza’s wrist, pinning her in place. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
“Get your hand off her beforeIkillyou,” Levi barked.
“Try it, angel,” I snapped, taking a step toward him.
“Knock it off!” Varz yelled, lunging between us before Levi and I came to blows. Calder and Gorr ran to my side, between Eliza and Lily. “We have bigger problems right now!”
“Yeah, and we’re looking at her,” Eliza said sadly.
Her words scraped me raw, and something within me snapped.
“You don’t get to say that!” I shouted, the sound tearing past my lips in a hoarse bellow. My blade came up without thought, pointed at her chest.
Eliza didn’t move out of the way. She just stared at Lily and the dragon, which now lay prostrate at Lily’s feet, its head resting at the toe of her boots, eyes half-closed.
With a miserable sigh, Eliza took a step forward.
“No!” I shot in front of her, forcing Eliza to look at me instead of Lily. “You donotget to do this, do you hear me? Back the fuck off, before Imakeyou back off.”
“She made me promise, Rathiel,” Eliza whispered, voice cracking with grief. “If she lost control. If she became this—” Her hand lifted a fraction, trembling as she gestured at Lily. “This is the moment. This is when I?—”
“Don’t,” I barked, stepping farther into her space, the snarl tearing out of me. “You even think of fulfilling that pact, and I’ll cut you down before you touch her.”
Steel shimmered as Levi’s blade came up, the tip angled at my chest. His wings flared, ragged from the dragon’s strike, but steady enough to make his point.
“You’ll have to go through me first,” he uttered, his voice flat. He circled around and planted himself next to Eliza, one arm held before her like a shield.
Eliza lifted a hand and pushed Levi’s sword down.
“Enough guys.” Then her eyes met mine. “Let’s just take a breath and calm down. No point inallof us dying here. So, I won’t do anything right now, okay?”
Right nowwasn’t the same thing as promising she wouldn’t ever harm Lily. And I wouldn’t forget that. My grip tightened on my sword hilt until my knuckles cracked.
I forced myself to look back at Lily. The shadows whipped around her, creating a living barrier between her and us. Those dark veins still crawled beneath her skin, stripping her face of colour until it looked carved from bone. And her eyes—those endless black pits—weren’t hers. They were bottomless, a void staring back at the world with nothing inside it.
“Lily,” I rasped.
She didn’t respond. She didn’t blink. The shadows around her pulsed once, twice, as if savouring the meal. Then, slowly—like someone easing shut a door—the darkness began to withdraw. Tendrils slithered back beneath her skin, leaving faint black trails that vanished as smoothly as they came. The cocoon unraveled, the air around her loosening its chokehold. Her shoulders sagged, a tremor running through her body as the abyss bled out of her.
Her eyes changed last. The black cracked, bled, fractured into shards of colour until her gaze was blue again—bright, celestial, and achingly familiar.
She blinked. Once. Twice. And then she looked around. And at us.
No one moved or spoke. We all juststaredat her.
Lily’s mouth parted, but no words came. Her gaze flicked from me to Eliza to Levi, then back to me again, searching, confused. Then her attention dropped the dragon, still prostrated before her.
Understanding flickered across her face, quickly followed by shame. Her mouth tightened, shoulders slumping under a weight heavier than any sword. She drew in a slow breath and let it out, ragged at the edges, before finally finding her voice. Now, she understood. She’d lost complete control. And we’d all seen it.
“Let’s just go,” she said, her voice hers again. “Back to the outpost.”
No one argued. In fact, no one said a word, not until Lily climbed up onto the dragon’s back and let it carry her up into the air. Ash curled around the dragon’s wings as it rose into the sky. Only then did Eliza utter a sarcastic, “Oh, that’s just freaking perfect,” before Levi took her into his arms, and they flew after our dragon-riding, darkness-infested queen.
Chapter Twenty-One
