The silence was unbearable.
Zander stared straight ahead, his jaw locked. Cade shifted beside him, his hands in fists.
And then?—
A scream.
Raw andhumanand full of something that ripped straight through bone.
We looked up.
The dragon emerged alone.
Torven’s body plummeted from the clouds, limp and boneless, his armor glinting once before it struck the earth with a sickeningcrack.
Gasps erupted.
No one moved, not for a heartbeat, not for ten.
The dragon circled once overhead, slow and distant, and then turned sharply, wings flaring wide as it flew away, toward Dragon Isle.
It didn’t land.
It didn’t look back.
Two guards sprinted across the grounds, solemn and practiced. They gathered what was left of Torven and carried his body back toward the castle in silence, leaving a dark stain on the stone behind them.
No one spoke.
No onecould.
The trial continued.
One by one, the remaining prospects mounted. Some trembling. Some resolute. Dragons took to the skies and returned, each time a little more hesitantly. But no more fell.
They all bonded.
All but me.
I was the last.
Major Ledor’s voice rang across the Ascension Grounds.
“Ashe Rebec of Thrall Squad.”
Everything inside me stilled.
The grounds were silent, eyes turning toward me—my squad, Zander, Cade, the other riders who’d already bonded, and the empty sky above where Ishouldhave felt her.
But then…
She came.
Kaelith descended like a storm, her massive violet wings cutting through the sky, landing harder than usual, more force than grace. Her eyes didn’t meet mine.
She didn’tspeak.
But I walked forward anyway, legs numb, pulse thundering in my ears. I placed a hand on her flank, and she did not flinch, did not welcome.
