The dragon's eyes tracked between us, and I realized it was waiting. Hunting. It wanted us to come closer, to make a mistake.
I had a different idea.
“Can you use your elemental magic here?”
Lore's eyes lit with understanding. “On the stream, not the dragon.”
He gathered frost and ice, sending it racing along the poisoned flow. The moment the liquid crystallized, I darted forward and snatched the corroded key from the dragon's frozen tongue.
The guardian's roar shook the chamber, but the ice held long enough for me to retreat.
“Cold,” I gasped, dropping the useless piece.
The dragon's eyes closed, and it returned to weeping as if nothing had happened.
Moving to Farris, I lifted him into my arms, giving him a hug while he licked my chin. “What a good nyxin you are. Did you chase the water dragon away?”
He yipped.
I lowered him to the floor between us, and he sat, looking from Lore to me. His shadow had settled, or near to it.
I shoved strands of hair off my face. “Fire’s the only one left.”
Pyr'Toval stood pristine before us, its scales gleaming like molten gold. But as we approached, I noticed something that made my blood chill, tiny scorch marks on the floor around its base, and what looked like bone fragments scattered near its claws.
“Previous challengers,” Lore said grimly, following my gaze.
“Naveer’s sacrifices, you mean.”
He jerked out a nod.
The metal piece rested on the dragon's tongue, but unlike the others, this one pulsed with inner heat. The air above it shimmered.
“It's not only going to breathe fire,” I said. “It's going to explode.”
Farris pressed against my legs, trembling. His shadow didn't just retreat, it cowered, trying to hide behind him.
“We could leave,” Lore suggested, but I shook my head.
“What if this is the right one? We can't give up.”
I studied the dragon's construction, looking for weaknesses. The mouth was too narrow for both of us to reach in together, and the metal was clearly superheated beyond what we could grab quickly.
“I have an idea, but you're not going to like it.”
Lore's jaw tightened. “Tell me.”
“You create an ice barrier between me and the dragon. I grab the key with shadow magic since shadows can't burn, and the moment I have it, you flit us out.”
“The explosion will?—”
“The ice will absorb most of it.” Maybe.
His face went deadly pale. “Reyla, no.”
“Lore.” I framed his face with my hands. “Trust me. Trust us.”
He stared into my eyes for a long moment, then nodded once.
