Blodeuwyn's wards held.
The blood circle flared brighter, green light climbing the standing stones until they burned like torches. The dragon threw itself against the barrier again, again, each attempt sendingripples through the charged air. Where it touched the invisible wall, sparks erupted—white and gold and terrible.
But it couldn't escape.
The stones had been placed for this exact purpose, consecrated in ritual. The blood ring bound it further, a second cage within the first. And Blodeuwyn stood at the center of it all, hands raised, fingers moving through gestures that left trails of sickly light.
The dragon screamed—a sound that had nothing to do with throats or lungs, pure fury vibrating through the marrow of the world.
And still, it could not flee.
"Blood called to blood, the binding done, Pendragon claimed when wars were won."Blodeuwyn's voice sharpened, cutting through the dragon's rage like steel.
Merlin joined her, their words weaving together in a rhythmic incantation that pulsed with the same sickly green light crawling across the stones.
"By name, by crown, by ancient right, you serve the throne through endless night."
The dragon writhed, coiling tighter, its luminous form compressing as the words hammered into it.
"Your vessel breaks, your keeper falls, death claims the flesh that bore your thrall. But name remains, the line holds true, new king, new cage—we bind you anew."
The light pulsed brighter with each syllable, the blood circle flaring hot enough that I felt sweat break across my brow.
"Arthur Pendragon, crowned in flame, bearer now of dragon's name. By blood and bone and sovereign claim, the beast obeys—the price, the same."
The dragon's scream pitched higher, a sound like tearing metal, like breaking glass, like the end of something that should never have begun. It turned in the air above Uther’s convulsingbody, and I felt its attention like a hand closing around my throat.
My body tried to recoil. I didn’t let it. I leaned forward instead, hands fisting in the dirt. The sigils around us twisted, their light going from green to a fierce white-blue that made my eyes water. Merlin’s voice rose, matching hers, meeting it, binding it.
The dragon struck.
It crossed the distance between us without crossing it at all. One moment it hung over Uther like a condemning star. The next, it was in front of me, too close, far too vast. It didn't enter me like a blade or a breath. Itcollapsedinto me, its immensity folding down, driven by the force of the wards and the weight of the spell.
Lance and Corvin flopped over, slumping against the ground, unconscious.
But I couldn't worry for them—agony exploded in my chest. Not the sharp, clean pain of a wound. This was… expansion. As if my ribs were being forced outward from the inside, as if my heart was being unmade and remade in the dragon’s image. Every nerve ignited. Fire roared through my veins, turning my blood molten. My spine arched. A cry tore out of me.
Something burned into my skin just below my collarbone, over my heart. A brand: a dragon curled around its own tail with wings that arched from its back. I couldn't see it, but I felt each line seared into me, each stroke a bar of a cage that was suddenlymine.
The dragon thrashed inside that new prison.
It clawed at my insides, at the back of my eyes, furious at being compressed, furious at being bound to flesh again. It raked its talons down the inside of my thoughts, testing for cracks.
Too small,it hissed.Too weak. I will break you.
I refused to give it anything—not fear, not pleading, not protest. It could have all the burning, all the pain.
Slowly, the light in the clearing dimmed.
The sigils on the stones settled back to a dull glow. Blodeuwyn lowered her hands, shoulders trembling with exertion. Merlin swayed where he stood, sweat plastering his hair to his brow, breath coming in ragged pulls.
Uther lay motionless between us. Dead.
Lance and Corvin were also motionless, but their chests were rising. They were alive.
“Is it—” I started.
“Gone,” Blodeuwyn interrupted. “From him, at least.”
