Perfect.
I let loose another wave of black fire, this one wider, hungrier. It spread across the sky like a net of shadow, cutting off his escape routes. For a heartbeat, I thought I had him.
Then he smiled.
The shadows exploded outward from his body in every direction. They swallowed my fire like it was nothing more than candlelight, devouring the darkness and leaving only empty air behind.
“Impressive,” his voice carried on the wind, smooth as silk and twice as deadly. “But predictable.”
The shadows reformed, wrapping around us like serpents. Kaelen twisted desperately, trying to break free, but there were too many of them. They wrapped around his wings, his throat, dragging us down.
I glanced sideways, just for a heartbeat, and saw Varyth locked in brutal combat with Merrick above us. Brynelle was there too, her dragon breathing streams of fire while Thessarianwove through the air in deadly patterns. Mist and lightning clashed in bursts of silver.
Below, purple energy flashed through the trees. Elowyn had pursued Shaelith and Cindrissian to the ground.
We were scattered. Divided. Exactly what they’d wanted.
Kaelen managed to dodge one shadow-spear, his powerful wings carrying us up and away from the grasping darkness. But I could feel his exhaustion bleeding through our bond, the strain of fighting both gravity and magic taking its toll.
“Wildfire,” he gasped, “I can’t keep this up much longer.”
Kaelen swerved to avoid a wild bolt of lightning that cracked toward us. And in that same moment Ashterion launched another spear of shadow.
It pierced straight through Kaelen’s chest.
The world stopped.
Time crystallised around that single, devastating moment—the wet sound of shadow tearing through scales and flesh, the way Kaelen’s body went rigid beneath me, the choked gasp that escaped his throat.
“KAELEN!” The name came out as a scream that tore my throat raw.
My vision fractured around the edges as we spiralled toward the earth, my hands clutching desperately at his scales, feeling his massive body going slack beneath me. The world tilted and spun—trees, sky, shadow, blood—everything blurring together in a nauseating kaleidoscope.
“Land!” I sobbed, pressing my face against his neck, feeling the warmth already starting to fade. “Kaelen, land now! We can find someone, we can?—”
“Wildfire.”A sound like a whimper left him.“It’s alright.”
The ground rushed up to meet us. Trees, rocks, the cruel indifference of earth that didn’t care about the bond being severed in the sky above it.
We hit hard.
The impact threw me from his back, sent me rolling across moss and stone until I slammed into the base of an ancient oak. Pain exploded through my ribs and shoulder. But I was already moving, already scrambling on hands and knees toward where Kaelen lay crumpled among the ferns.
The wound in his chest was massive, a gaping hole where shadow had torn through emerald scales like they were paper. Blood poured from it in dark rivers, staining the forest floor black.
“No no no no no.” I pressed my hands against the wound like I could somehow hold his life inside him through sheer force of will. “Kaelen, please?—”
“Run, wildfire.”His breath came weak.“You need to run.”
“I’m not leaving you.” Tears were streaming hot down my face. “I’m not fucking leaving you, Kaelen.”
His massive head turned toward me, and when he nuzzled against my shoulder—gentle, so achingly gentle—it shattered something essential in me.
“I’m glad I got to meet you,”His voice was barely a whisper now, so faint I had to focus to hear it.“I’m glad I got to call you wildfire. Got to feel what it was like to belong to someone who burned as bright as you do.”
Someone hit the ground behind me with a bone-jarring thud, but I didn’t care who it was. Didn’t care about anything except Kaelen.
“Don’t you dare,” I sobbed, pressing my forehead against his snout. “Don’t you dare say goodbye to me. We’re supposed to keep each other alive, remember? Mutual motivation?”
