And then he struck.
A pulse of raw power coiled through the air, red and violent and honed. It wasn’t wind or flame, but something more invasive. Somethingwrong.
It wrapped around me before I could blink, and every tendon in my arms and legs seized. My fingers curled involuntarily around the rope. My legs locked tight against Kaelith’s body, as if they were trying to fold in on themselves.
I cried out, but it was fleeting.
The magic passed like a whip of barbed wire across my nerves. Sharp. Hot. Gone.
He didn’t touch you, I reminded myself.He can’t touch you in the air.
But gods help anyone hedoes.
Kaelith snarled, wings pulsing harder. My magic surged, rising from deep inside, angry, wild, but mine. I shoved it outward, the power spilling over my limbs like armor. My tendons loosened, and the tension in my body snapped back into place with a jolt of pain that made me grit my teeth.
You’re not taking me down that easily.
Kaelith banked, our shadow streaking across the clouds like a warning. And this time, we flew straight toward him.
The air screamed around me, my body locked in the rhythm of Kaelith’s wings, but my magic, gods, my magic surged.
Unbidden. Uncontrolled. Wild.
It snapped free from the center of my chest like a tether had been cut, a cyclone of raw energy that coiled through my veins and exploded outward before I could rein it in. Kaelith jerked midair, startled, as the surrounding wind bent and twisted into something violent.
“No—” I gasped, too late.
The blast hit Coldrath like a hammer from the heavens. A vicious undercurrent of wind slammed into the red Swift’s underbelly, hurling him off course. He shrieked, wings flailing, and I watched in horror as his sleek form spiraled downward, spinning dangerously close to the jagged black rocks that bordered the edge of the cliffs.
My heart stopped.
No, no, no?—
Coldrath pulled up at the last possible second, claws skimming the stone as he staggered back into the air. Perin held fast, his mouth twisted in fury, but he didn’t retaliate. Not yet.
Because he knew what I’d done.
I hadn’t struckhim.
I’d attackedhis dragon.
It wasn’t just dishonorable.
It was grounds for disqualification.
I clenched my fists, pulling at my magic,reining it in, but it burned like molten steel through my skin. My eyes blurred with the effort. My limbs went numb. It felt like something inside me cracked.
And Kaelith, unamused and unceremonious as ever, dove hard and dumped me onto the Ascension Grounds with a jarring thud.
I hit the ground and rolled, dirt and stone scraping my palms as I gasped, blinking up at the sky.
Kaelith was already gone, her massive wings cutting across the clouds as she soared away without a backward glance.
I’d survived the first trial.
But I hadn’t won.
And the second trial, the ground duel, was still to come.
