“Don’t touch her!” the major roared, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade. “She’s still charged!”
I couldn’t move. I didn’tdaremove.
Electricity crackled over my skin in erratic pulses—blue-white arcs leaping between my fingertips and the stone beneath me, dancing across my arms like I was lightning’s favorite toy. My chest heaved as power surged and surged again, with no direction, no restraint.
I was a livewire. A storm with no sky.
My limbs shook uncontrollably, and when I blinked, all I saw were the horrified faces of my squad, frozen just beyond the edge of the ring. Naia’s hand hovered at her throat. Tae stepped forward and then stopped, uncertain. Riven’s eyes were wide. Cordelle clutched a parchment to his chest like it could shield him from what I was becoming.
“She isn’t anchored,” the major bellowed again, panic threading beneath his command. “That’s why her power’s breaking through—she has no control!”
“Sheis,” Zander hissed, his voice in defiance against the fear in the air.
I turned my head just enough to find him, his jaw clenched, fury blazing in his eyes, not atme, butforme. Because he knew the truth.
Kaelith was still my dragon. Still my bond.
But she couldn’t anchor me, not like she was supposed to. Not now.
Not whenshewas in flux, her body shifting and her magic turning inward to survive the transformation. Her silence wasn’t abandonment. It was survival. But that meant I was alone in this, and Zander knew it.
His gaze locked with mine, fierce and burning with the weight of everything we couldn’t say here.
Sparks licked up my forearms. My hair clung to my face, the ends glowing softly with static. The very air around me buzzed—my magic rising in coils and surges, searching for something to cling to, to ground itself.
And the worst part was—I didn’t know how to stop it.
I could hear the fear in their breath. I couldfeelit.
And still, the power kept building.
Through the blur of light and static pain, I barely registered the sound of footsteps breaking through the stunned circle—until Remy dropped to his knees beside me.
His eyes were wide but steady, his voice gravelly and tight as he held out a small vial no bigger than his thumb. “Ashe, I need you to drink this,” he said, breath quick. “It’s Dragonsbane.”
Dragonsbane.
Even through the storm inside me, I knew what that meant.
My heart stuttered.
“It’s poisonous,” he added quickly. “But in small doses, it’ll block your powers. Just a drop. Any more could kill you.”
“Absolutely not,” the major barked, striding forward with iron authority. “She has to learn to control herself on her own. If she can’t channel her magic without her dragon, she is a danger to us all.”
“She’s inpain,” Remy snapped, rising to his feet, fury in his voice. “And it’s going to tear her apart before she ever learns a damn thing.”
I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe past the charge still sizzling in my lungs. My skin felt like it was on fire and frost all at once.
Remy didn’t wait for more permission.
He slipped the vial into my palm and gently closed my fingers around it. I felt the warmth of his touch, real, grounding, but it was gone the second he stood again, arguing with the major, their words blurring into a wall of sound.
I focused on the vial.
I didn’t want to take it. Ishouldn’ttake it.
But the pain was too much. The magic too loud. And Kaelith wasn’t here to pull me back from the edge.
