Cade leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “More wagons have gone missing. No survivors. It’s getting worse.”
We exchanged glances, the same thought rising unspoken between us.
“The Blood Fae?” Naia asked.
“Possibly,” Cade said. “But the missing shipments are too clean. No scorch marks. No blood. Just... gone.”
“Could be one of the new sects,” Ferrula muttered, frowning into her cup. “They’ve been growing bold.”
“Or someone’s helping them,” Riven added, her tone grim.
We finished eating quickly after that, shoving back from the table before the rest of the squads had even finished their first rounds.
The sun was barely clearing the castle spires as we crossed the courtyard to the Ascension Grounds.
I tilted my head back and called out to Kaelith, feeling the answering tug in my chest as she stirred in my mind.
One by one, our dragons appeared with wingbeats heavy in the cool morning air.
Kaelith landed first, her massive purple form stirring dust and gravel in a wide circle. Her golden eyes found mine immediately, sharp and unsettled.
Tense, I noted silently.Why are you so tense?
She didn’t answer.
Jax’s dragon, Koddos followed, the massive blue Palisade whose thick, armored scales gleamed like polished shields.
Then Cade’s dragon, Voth, swooped in—a red Palisade, slightly smaller but just as broad-shouldered, with similar heavy plates guarding his neck and sides.
They landed close to each other, standing side by side with an ease I rarely saw between two adult dragons.
I glanced at Cade as I tightened Kaelith’s saddle straps. “Are Voth and Koddos related?”
Cade grinned, patting Voth’s thick, ridged side. “Yeah. Same parents. Different clutch, though. Voth’s younger. Notice the scale patterns along their flanks? They’re almost identical.”
I stepped closer, tracing my eyes along the thick, interlocking shields that ran down Voth’s side like layered armor.
“I noticed they’re more comfortable standing near each other than most dragons,” I said.
“Yeah,” Cade said. “Siblings are less territorial... until mating instincts kick in. Koddos is a couple hundred years older, though. Voth won’t reach mating maturity until long after I’m dust.”
“Convenient for now,” Jax said, flashing a grin as he strapped down his gear.
Once everyone finished checking saddles and gear, we mounted.
Kaelith rumbled under me, her tail lashing once, then curling in tightly. Her wings twitched at her sides.
She was tense. Restless.
With a powerful beat of wings, we launched into the sky, heading east toward Kruisaan, and whatever waited for us there.
The wind whipped across my face as we flew, the wide stretch of Warriath shrinking behind us.
Ahead, the misty outline of Kruisaan’s mountain ridges rose on the horizon, large and jagged against the pale morning sky.
Kaelith shifted beneath me, her wings dipping slightly. I caught Zander’s hand signal from his place ahead to veer left.
We adjusted course, skimming lower toward the road that snaked like a scar between Warriath and Kruisaan.
