The vapor is as black as night, save for a ring of light around the edges that’s unmistakably gold. It billows out of me like an odorless smoke.
I try to move, but I’m caught in this surge of magic. The smoke gathers and thickens, streaming out of me and pulling all my breath with it. More scales tear across my chest like a slashed wound from predatory claws, peeling away my skin in the process.
Sweat slicks down my face as I lift my head, watching as those shadows start to gather. Coalesce.
They come streaming out of my body and land upon the ground, making Argo back up even further.
I strain to sit up, to see…
The smoke takes form.
I suck in a breath of shock at what I see. It’s as tall as I am when standing, its vapor dense and rippling. When I realize what shape it is, my mouth drops open. My eyes widen.
“What…the…fuck.”
A face looks out at me from billowing darkness. A face of power and viciousness. A face that hasn’t been seen in Annwyn for hundreds of years.
A dragon.
A fuckingdragon.
The same curved black spikes that are on my body are also on the dragon’s. Four on each front forearm, six down its back, a row of stubbed ones arcing above each eye—just like mine.
The dragon is formed from the shadowy smoke that streamed out of me, but the wicked sharp teeth seem dense enough to bite. The layered black eyes clear enough to hunt for prey.
The creature has a sweep of gold scales along its silvered cheeks, with more down the chest like gilded armor. Each scale is as wide as my hand, brighter than the flare around my shadows, making the smoke creature gleam in the dark. It looks like something out of a nightmare. Something that can’t possibly be real.
Except it is.
It turns to me, iridescent eyes blinking, and its gaze makes my blood run cold. The hair on the back of my neck lifts as it opens its mouth, flashing its coal-black fangs.
Yet just as quickly as it appeared, it dissipates. Like someone blew away a plume of dust. Just like that, its form and its magic fade away.
And I fade with it.
The last thing I see is Argo taking flight high above me, sending birds to burst out of the trees and aim for the sky. I slump back on the ground, and my eyes fall closed, submitting to the dark.
But inside of that dark, I feel Auren’s fire continue to burn.
CHAPTER 4
There is something chomping, digging,writhingin my mind.
I want it out. I want all of itout.
Sweat breaks over my skin as I feel my body slump. Feel hands catch me. My ears are ringing…but the sound feels far away.Ifeel far away.
What is happening?
I don’t know. There’s no clear thought, no clear memory I can cling to. I’m blowing in the wind.
“Auren!”
I blink around blearily, lost, confused. I can’t hold my body up. There’s a man yelling, looking right at me. Tan skin, black hair, brown eyes, a wound on his arm. He looks frantic. Terrified.
What’s wrong?
I’m flooded with panic, though I don’t know the source. My head is pounding. Sharp smacks that make my eyes sting.
