“Because he is, and always will be, First Guild,” Remy said, folding his arms. “He doesn’t see riders. He sees pawns. And he’s decided it’s time to control the board.”
We stood in tense silence for a beat too long.
“How do we fix this?” Cordelle asked. “We can’t win a war if we’re split down the middle.”
“We don’t fix it,” Zander said, his voice steadier now. “We remind them what the guilds were created for.”
“You mean dragon unity,” Ferrula said, nodding slowly.
“No,” I said. “Survival. If we fall apart now, the Blood Fae won’t have to attack us. We’ll destroy ourselves.”
“So what then?” Jax asked.
“We give them something bigger to rally around,” Zander said. “Something worth fighting for. We take the mission to the Blood Isle public. We make them see the threat for what it is.”
“And if Theron tries to silence us?” Riven asked.
Remy cracked a half-smile. “Then we make so much noise he won’t be able to.”
Teren crossed his arms. “So we unify them with truth.”
“No,” I said softly, looking up at the gathering storm of dragons overhead.
“We unify them with purpose.”
The air changed the moment her shadow swept over the field.
Kaelith descended in a spiral of grace and glittering amethyst scales, her body catching the morning sun like molten gemstones. I sucked in a breath as she landed beside Hein, who followed a half-beat behind, his bulk a wall of gleaming silver and Stormlight. But Kaelith… Kaelith looked like something born from the gods and risen from the bones of stars.
Silence fell like a stone across the field.
Her wings flared wide as she landed, the sheer size of them casting shade over a dozen cadets. But it wasn’t just the size. It was the shimmer. Her scales radiated violet-gold brilliance, as though the sun itself bent to kiss her form.
She’s glowing,I thought in awe, unable to tear my eyes away.
Her eyes had changed, too. They were no longer just fierce, but… ancient. As though she remembered every sky she’d ever ruled and was preparing to claim them again.
Even Hein, regal and composed, kept a respectful pace behind her as they approached. He dipped his head to Kaelith in a way I’d never seen before, as if acknowledging something that had shifted between them.
Riven stepped to my side, her voice stunned.
“What exactly did she eat?”
I blinked, a laugh catching in my throat, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Kaelith. Her tail curled high, the double scythes at the end gleaming wicked and new. She looked refreshed… but more than that.
She looked reborn.
Kaelith?I reached for her mind.
I am here, little storm,she answered, her voice velvet and thunder.And I am becoming what I was always meant to be.
I swallowed hard, wonder humming under my skin. Because whatever had happened on their hunt—it wasn’t just rest. Something inside Kaelith had awakened.
And it felt like the world was about to shift.
ChapterThirty-One
Hein nudged Kaelith with the tip of his snout—gentle, subtle, a wordless gesture that saidTone it down. But Kaelith turned her head, her eyes narrowing into violet slits. Then she snapped at him, a sharp crack of teeth and warning.
