Thane is truly looking at me and everything he’s held back crashes into the space between us. The storm. The resistance. The fear.
It doesn’t vanish, butyields.Then breaks open.
And in its place, I feel it:his yes.
Not fate or prophecy—his choice.
My lids fly open, eyes locking with his. I see them soften, like a gentle surrender intertwined with an apology. All of those walls—that Warlord mask—disintegrate in that moment.
And the bondknows.
It seizes on it, reshapes around it—not a tether, not a chain, but avow.
Magics ignites in my chest. Not wild or burning this time, but aligning. It moveswithme.Throughme.Answering.His yes answers mine.
I gasp as golden light flares from my sternum, a radiant pulse that reaches for him. And I feel him fully.
Finally.
Not just his presence. Not just his emotions. Hiswill.Hischoosing.
The bond isn’t a thread anymore. It’s a response. It’s a shared command.
When our eyes lock—there’s no fear. No mask. No running. Only fire. Only me.
And then—the world breaks. Stonescreams. The windhowls. Magicsshatterthe sky.
Two massive forms slam into the earth with a force that rattles the stones beneath my feet.
Xaroth.Calryx.
They land like falling stars—wings outstretched, magics trailing behind them like a comet’s tail. Dustexplodesin thick, choking waves. The groundbucksas the outpostshudders.
Soldiers shout, stumbling back, not in fear of the dragons—but because dragonsneverland on the training field. They’re supposed to descend in the clearing beyond the ridge, where stone perches and ledges were carved for them.
Xaroth—a shadow of obsidian and force. Calryx—a gleaming specter of iridescent flame. They felt it.They answered it.The bond didn’t just reshape itself.
Itcalled them.
They don’t roar, only stare at us, wings half-furled, eyes glowing with that same ageless knowing. And in their stillness I understand.
They weren’t waiting for danger. They were waiting forthis. Forus. For the bond to stop being prophecy and start being choice. For it to become something forged—not inherited.
The dragons apparentlyfeltit long before we did.
The blue fire vanishes, and my body is my own again. I push myself up off the ground, muscles weighted with exhaustion, and stagger back a few steps. My skin still hums, each breath tearing through me as if I’d sprinted the breadth of the grounds.
Calryx moves first, her powerful, lean body all grace and precision. Her gaze finds mine—bright, unending. And her voice—low, vast—settles into my mind like thunder rolling across stone.
“It is done.”
Xaroth exhales, steam curling from his nostrils. His tail sweeps the earth behind him like a war banner lowered in surrender.
Thane stares at him, eyes wide. He must be speaking with Xaroth and hearing the same thing. Because this moment—it’s not just ours. It’s theirs, too.
They’ve been watching. Believing—long before we did.
My chest burns. The bond thrums—louder now. Watching. Waiting.
