She woke to the sensation of being lowered to the ground, bark rough against her spine as he propped her against an ancient oak. The moon had moved, painting everything in silver-blue shadows. Karse crouched beside her, and she could see thechange in him—muscles coiled tight beneath skin and scales, his pupils contracted to thin lines despite the darkness. His fingers splayed against the ground, and she noticed his nails were longer than they should be, darker, more claw than human.
His head tilted, and she could see him breathing deeply, tasting the air with that forked tongue that flickered out between too-sharp teeth.
Briar heard it then, voices carried on wind that shouldn't exist, moving against the natural current of the forest.
"—blood trail leads this way." Sian's melodic tone, but worried, stressed in a way that made the words sharper. "Too much blood. If she's lost this much—"
"She's alive." Arion's voice cut through the darkness, certain as dawn. "I can feel... something. She's close."
Her heart lurched, pulse jumping in her throat. The warmth in her chest suddenly pulsed. Faint, barely there, but reaching toward Arion's voice with desperate recognition. The sensation made her gasp, her hand flying to her chest.
Karse's attention snapped to her, those reptilian eyes tracking the movement. "What's wrong with you now?"
She shook her head, struggling for a moment to breathe. His stillness transformed into something else entirely—muscles coiling, weight transferring to the balls of his feet, every line of his body ready to explode into violence.
"Three," he murmured, his voice lower now, anticipatory. The moonlight caught his eyes and they flared gold-green, reflecting light that shouldn't exist. "Water magic on one. Light on another." His lips curved, revealing teeth that had grown sharper while she watched. "Interesting."
"Karse—" she tried, but he was already flowing to his feet, moving without sound despite the carpet of dry leaves.
"Stay," he said without looking back. "This won't take long."
“Karse! Wait!”
She heard Halian's voice, closer now. "Then we should hurry before—"
The words cut off in a strangled sound, followed by the crack of wood and Sian's sharp intake of breath that preceded her magic, water gathering from moisture in the air with a sound like distant rain.
Briar forced herself up, using the tree for support. Her leg screamed protest, the cauterized wound pulling with each movement, but she pushed through it. The warmthin her chest pulsed stronger with each step toward the conflict, reaching for Arion with an intensity that made her stumble.
She broke through the trees to find chaos.
Karse had Halian pressed against an oak, one scaled hand around his throat, lifting him just enough that his feet scraped for purchase. Water whipped through the air—Sian's magic manifesting as liquid tendrils that turned to steam before they could reach Karse, the air around him shimmering with heat waves.
Arion stood between Sian and the conflict, his hands glowing with cold light that created a barrier of radiance. When Karse turned toward him, the light flared brighter, forcing him to squint and step back, but it didn't strike out, didn't attack, just... pushed.
"Let him go," Arion said, voice steady despite the tension. "We're not here to hurt anyone."
"No?" Karse tilted his head, still holding Halian. "You're tracking what's mine. Following her blood through the forest. That sounds like hunting to me."
He squeezed slightly, and Halian's face darkened. Sian pulled more water from the air, from the dew on leaves, building something larger.
"Stop!" Briar's voice cracked as she stumbled into the clearing. Her leg gave out three steps in, sending her to her knees in the leaf litter. "Karse, stop. They're—" she had topause, gasping for breath, "—they're my friends."
Karse's attention shifted to her, though his grip didn't loosen. "You're supposed to stay where I put you."
"Please." She tried to stand again and failed. The warmth in her chest was burning now, pulling toward Arion with such force it felt like being torn in half. "They helped me before. They're not hunting—they're trying to help."
Arion moved toward her, his light dimming, but Karse's free hand erupted in white-blue flame. "Don't."
"She's injured," Arion said, keeping his hands visible, the light fading to a soft glow that illuminated rather than threatened. "Let me help her."
"She doesn't need your help. She has me." Karse's flames grew hotter, the nearby leaves beginning to curl and blacken. "I fixed her. She's mine to protect."
"Yours?" Sian's voice was sharp with disbelief. "She's not property—"
"Karse." Briar forced steel into her voice despite the pain. "Put Halian down. Now."
The Drak looked at her, really looked at her, and something shifted in his expression. Not obedience exactly, but... consideration. His fingers loosened slightly, though Halian still remained pinned.
