Luthias was slower, heavier, but no less determined. His feet smoked when he stepped off the path, but he didn’t make a sound.
Cade’s stride was clean, secure and disciplined.
Then… it wasmyturn.
I met Kaelith’s gaze across the path. She didn’t speak. Just watched, silent as always, her violet wings half-folded like she was still deciding what I was worth.
The coals glowed in front of me, heat wafting in ripples.
I pulled off my boots.
And stepped forward.
The first coal scorched instantly, and I clenched my jaw.
The second made my vision blur.
By the fifth, I couldn’t feel the bottoms of my feet at all, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t falter.
I justmoved.
When I reached the end, I sank to my knees, half from pain, half from the rush of it, but I didn’t scream.
And then…
It started.
The warmth in my core surged.
The ache in my soles faded.
The skin that had bubbled began toknit,the pain folding inward like water closing over a wound.
I was healing.
Not by Kaelith’s will.
By mine. Only stronger.
Slow. Steady.
But undeniable.
The moment Hein shifted toward Kaelith, the air changed.
His massive silver body moved with deliberate force, muscles rippling beneath his plated hide as he stalked toward her across the edge of the Ascension Grounds. At first, it looked like a casual approach, one dragon greeting another.
But Kaelith’s head snapped toward him, lips curling back, and asnarlripped from her throat, a guttural, warning sound that made the verygroundvibrate beneath us.
Heingrowledin response, low and thunderous, not in challenge… but something far more primal.
The entire grounds fell still.
Even the chatter of the younger cadets cut off mid-breath. The crackle of the Ashen Path coals dimmed beneath the silence. Major Ledor turned, halfway through giving instructions to a squad, andfroze. His brows furrowed as he took a wary step back.
Zander’s hand shot up. “Move,” he said quietly, but the command was clear.
The riders around us scrambled out of the circle, retreating to the edges of the field as the two dragons began to circle.
