I snorted softly, unable to help it. “Don’t sound sohappyabout that.”
Then, quieter?—
“But yes. I’ve never held anything back from you. Whatever you want from me… you may have. I just want to save the innocent people of this continent.”
Kaelith went still, her eyes narrowing, not with suspicion.
With understanding.
I accept your terms, she said.
Something shifted in the air, like wind and flame curling around one another. I didn’t feel it with my skin, I felt it withmy soul.
I glanced at Siergen.
He hadn’t moved, but his crimson eyes glowed brighter now, like twin stars igniting.
He was waiting for something.
“Is that it?” I asked, breath catching.
But deep down, I knew?—
No.
This wasjustthe beginning.
Kaelith lowered her massive head until her glowing violet eyes were level with mine. Her breath, warm and sharp with the scent of scorched earth, brushed against my skin.
Ashlyn Rebec, by flame and storm, blood and bond, do you accept me as yours, not just in purpose but in soul? Will you bind what is eternal to what is fragile and walk beside me, though your footsteps end before mine?
I couldn’t breathe.
My heart pounded, and the air around us shimmered like heat over fire.
“Yes,” I whispered, and this time, I felt it in every part of me.
The moment the word left my mouth, Kaelith spoke again, but this time, the words weren’t in my language. They vibrated with ancient power, her voice low and guttural and filled with something older than the sky above us.
The Dragon Oath.
It was not a spell. It was abinding.The kind that echoed through the marrow of the world.
Magiclatchedonto me.
Not like before, not the raw, cracking magic of the anchor.
This wasdeeper, ancient and intricate. It pushed andpulled, wrapping around my ribs, pressing behind my eyes, threading into my spine. Kaelith’s power rose up like a storm caught in a bottle, and my magic responded, spiraling upward to meet hers.
But somethingchanged.
Mine didn’t just merge with hers.
Itfedhers.
Lightning snapped in my blood. I felt her inhale, and my magicsurgedinto her. Not taken.Given.Freely. Fully.
Siergen moved forward, slow and reverent. His glowing red eyes locked on Kaelith as she lifted her head, the violet scales along her spine flickering with iridescent flame.
