It washers.
Phoenix fire.
She let out a shriek that turned intoa birdsong—high, resonant, and laced with magic. It cracked the stone walls, sending shards raining down.
I glanced at Tessa and Kieran behind her, who had risen to his feet, leaning heavily on Tessa for support. It would take longer for a wound like his to heal, even with his Shifter healing.
“You two, get out!” I shouted.
Tessa’s brow furrowed. “We’re not going without you!”
“We’ll be fine, justgo!” I bellowed.
She glared at me, and I thought she was going to argue before she finally said, “You arenotallowed to die on us, do you understand?”
I gave her a tight nod, watching as the two of them turned and limped their way as fast as they could back down the tunnel.
I faced my sister and took in her blazing tempest. I spentyearsdreaming of rescuing her. I couldn’t leave her down here now. Not again.
“Vera, please,” I begged, stepping toward her. “I came foryou, too. Let me help you.” When I reached for her, she held her lightning sword up in warning, and the walls gave a shudder.
“I love you,” I said. “We can fight this together. I promise, I won’t let him win this time. Just come with me.”
She held my gaze, blonde hair whipping around her in the frenzy of her firestorm. Her lips parted, and with a voice that sounded more like the sister I knew and not this creature of Scarven’s machinations, she whispered, “I can never leave.Thisis who I am.”
Flames and rubble surrounded us, the tunnels shaking with the force of her power.
We were out of time.
But for a heartbeat, a single breath, Vera’s eyes flickered. Recognition, sorrow, and deep, endless pain.
And then she lashed out, lightning and shadows blurring the air.
I unleashed my dragon with a roar. Magic exploded from me as my wings ripped from my back, every limb elongating andthickening with muscle and scales. My horns gouged the stone above us, sending more rock crumbling to the ground. I grabbed Devora with my talons, snapped the chains at her wrists, and tucked her into my massive side.
With a single lunge, I burst through the ceiling in a flood of gravel and stone.
The night air greeted me like a cool kiss across my scales. The ground cracked and ruptured as I spread my wings and hovered above the tunnel, Devora gripped in my claws.
I spared one last look at the rubble. With a heavy weight sinking in my chest, I watched my sister disappear in a flash of phoenix fire.
49
Devora
We soared above the clouds, the tips of forests and villages barely visible in the gaps. Nox’s scales were like armor beneath my fingertips. Cool to the touch and hard as steel, deadly in their own right. Every inch of his dragon form radiated strength and power. It hummed through my veins with each flap of his wing, each dip of his massive neck.
It took all my focus to not fall off his back as the four of us raced back to the Keep. The adrenaline from the fight and seeing him again was wearing off, replaced with constant, bone-deep pain.
Every time I swallowed, I could feel the collar Scarven had put around my neck. It had some sort of spell on it that snuffed out my shadow magic, leaving me hollow. And the serum he’d forced into my system was still surging through me. Every breath hurt, every movement ached, and every beat of my heart made my vision blur at the edges.
I couldn’t believe they came for me. They should’ve stayed back. It was such an obvious trap—they had to have known that. And if any of them had died because of me…
I couldn’t handle any more guilt.
I pushed the thought away, forcing my muscles to grip Nox astightly as my weakened form could. I thought he was growling when a rumble vibrated down his massive body, but then I saw lightning streak through the clouds beside us. More thunder sounded. It was so close, I could feel it in my teeth.
The tower of the Keep finally came into view. Exhaustion swept over me until a sharp pain erupted from the wound in my neck. I cried out as my vision wavered and a voice echoed inside my mind.
