My parents.
The past few days have been brutal—blindfolded battles,free falls, Elemental surrender—but for once, I don’t mind the exhaustion. Because I feelalive. There’s a charge under my skin—an energy that hasn’t left me since the moment I heard Calryx’s call.
I close my eyes, letting it all sink in.
And then, a shadow falls across me.
“Didn’t expect to find you just sitting around.”
I crack one eye open.
Kieran.
He stands over me, arms crossed, grinning like he just caught me slacking off.
I smirk back, too wired to be annoyed.
And maybe, just maybe, I don’t mind the attention right now.
“Even I need to breathe sometimes.”
He crouches beside me, elbows on his knees, that same mischievous gleam in his eye.
“Heard something interesting,” he says low—like he’s about to reveal a scandal.
I lift a brow. “Yeah?”
He leans in. “Rumor is . . . a dragon called to you.”
At the mention of Calryx, something flares bright in my chest.
I meet his gaze. Grin widening. “Maybe.”
Kieran’s eyes flick over me, like he’s trying to read between the lines. “Didn’t peg you for the secretive type.”
I shrug. “I’m not. I just don’t think people know what to do with the idea of me with a dragon.”
He tilts his head, studying me. Like he’s figuring something out. “No,” he muses. “I think they know exactly what to do with it.”
He lets the words sit between us for a second longer. Then—
“Worship it.”
I laugh, rolling my eyes. “Okay, now you’re just making things up.”
“Not flattery.” He grins. “Just an observation.”
His gaze drifts toward the training grounds, where Valen and Thane are deep in discussion. Then back to me—and his expression shifts. Still teasing, but more deliberate now.
“You seem different.”
I raise a brow. “Do I?”
He nods. “Brighter.”
Something about the way he says it makes my stomach flip. Not like when I was standing on the edge of the fall. Not like when Thane looks at me like I’m a storm he can’t stop circling.
This is different.
