The kill demands a high cost from the knights. The dragon swings its tail and arm, sending Mercy Knights falling from the wall like little more than scattered dolls. I’m too far to see them hit the ground, but I can feel it in my bones, and it knocks the wind from me.
Finally, the beast is felled.
As if in retaliation for its fallen friend, another dragon roars—louder than any before—and explodes over the sky of Vinguard. I collapse this time, my knees meeting the stone.Steal the inquisitors’ daggers. Eat a rock. Kiss Lucan. Jump off the roof. The thoughts are scattered, racing.Maddening.
The purple dragon is still alive.
“Isola!” Lucan shakes my shoulder. As I come to, I nearly heed the suggestion of the madness and kiss him. But I refrain, grateful for the night to hide the flush that covers my face. He points at the shadow in the sky. “Purple dragon. Snap out of it.”
“I know; I’m fine, I’m fine.”
We get Saipha back to the present, barely. She doesn’t wantto stop rocking and shivering. The rest of the supplicants are struggling worse as fear and purple dragon madness overtakes them. Some have scattered to the edges of the rooftop. Others tug on their jerkins and hair. Some are laughing.
A deafening boom resounds from behind us.Thatpulls everyone back to reality.
A beam of pale light streaks across the darkness in response. Whatever knight took the shot will be awarded with a handsome feast for sure, because it’s a direct hit—rare to shoot them down from the sky. The purple dragon cries out in agony. The sound rips between my ears, and I grip the sides of my head with my hands. It feels as though it’s tearing my mind apart as its final act.
But its dying cry is short-lived. The dragon falls to cheers from the other supplicants. I force myself to clap as well…to look happy. But I feel no joy. Relief, maybe. All joy within me has been rotted away by blood and chaos. By one near-death experience after the next. By having sense beaten from me at the vicar’s hands—by being his toy, his experiment. By starving at the hands of people who’d call themselves my fellow citizens.
This can’t be the only way to live…There must be a better way.
It’s treasonous to even think, but I can’t accept that all this death and destruction is good for our world. I can almost feel the flow of Ether shift as the dragon draws its last breath. A void where there was once vibrancy.
My eyes drift to Lucan’s profile. He’s as still as a statue. Expression unchanging. Somehow…I know he’s thinking the same as me. That he feels the same. As if sensing my attention, he turns all that intensity on me. There are a thousand words unsaid. Words I can’t even fathom but ache to know.
Do you think like me? Feel like me? Do you want to see the dragon scourge ended without blood? Or, Lucan, are you really the Mercy Knight I caught a glimpse of shining in your eyes?
“Lu—” I’m interrupted by a screech so close I can feel the heat of the dragon’s breath.
We all turn in unison, facing the monstrosity that glides toward the rooftop with outstretched wings and a body larger than most houses. It’s a yellow dragon. Gold glimmers off its slick scales in the moonlight. Etherlight fills the air with an effervescent quality. My head spins from the sensation washing over me.
The dragon lands on the edge of the rooftop, talons sinking in. Spiderweb fractures splinter the stone, and supplicants frantically attempt to keep their balance. Saipha lets out a scream unlike any sound I’ve ever heard from her.
I don’t say anything. I can’t even breathe. It’s just like that day six years ago. It’s as if I summoned the beast by allowing myself to remember. My heart feels like it’s stopped completely and abandoned me.
But the only people who have abandoned anyone are the inquisitors. As I search for someone to help us—to intervene—I realize they’re absent from the rooftop. They just…left us here.
The dragon sweeps its unfeeling gaze across the rooftop, as if assessing which tasty morsel it wants to consume first. No one moves. Everyone is too terrified to even make a sound. For once, I’m not alone in my fear.
Maybe now, they’ll see it’s not so unreasonable… Now that they’ve all been face-to-face with one of the monsters. It’s so easy to imagine yourself as brave when you’ve never known true fear.
The dragon shifts, leaning back. Its long neck stretches. Jaw relaxes. It’s going to bite and take out all the supplicants clustered together at once.
Someone has to do something.
I look for the inquisitors, but they’re not here. I look to Mercy Spire, but I don’t see the glint of a cannon. It must need to collect more Ether.
Someone has to do something.
Someone…
You saved me that day. Lucan’s words from earlier resonate within me, repeating with every quickening beat of my heart. Being Valor Reborn was always a hollow title placed upon me by a man I’ve come to hate more than anyone in the world. It felt unearned and undeserved, especially when I’ve never been able to do anything else befitting of Valor. But Lucan…he really believes I saved him that day. Maybe I did.
And then there was what happened in the sundering pit when I drew Ether without a sigil.
Something wild and untamed pulses through me. I lunge forward, sprinting across the rooftop.
“Isola!” Saipha shouts after me, Lucan’s voice joining hers in shock.
