“She nearly drained you dry,” he snapped, his voice shaking.
Kaelith lowered her head, her enormous form crouching just enough that her snout hovered near mine.
I will not let it happen again,she whispered.
And I believed her.
Because her fire wasn’t meant to burn me.
It was meant to protect me.
Siergen’s steps were nearly silent, but the weight of his presence drew my gaze before he even reached me. The other guild members were still huddled at the far edge of the Ascension Grounds, whispering like frightened sheep beneath the watchful eyes of dragons.
He stopped just a few paces away, his red scales glinting with the subtle glow of lingering embers.Kaelith did not understand the bond you and she share,he said, his voice brushing gently against my mind.It is new to her.
“I know.” My voice was hoarse, my throat raw from the surge of power that had almost consumed me.
Most dragons fuel their riders’ magic,he continued, stepping closer, his tail flicking across the stone.But a Shiftling… must take power from their rider to alter their appearance. At least in the evolution stage of their development.
I blinked, trying to absorb what that meant, my body still trembling with exhaustion. “She needs me… to change forms?”
For now, yes. In time, she will stabilize and be able to make that transformation on her own.
“She never changed because…” I swallowed, understanding dawning like cold lightning in my veins. “She didn’t have a rider.”
Not one she was compatible with,Siergen said, his tone pointed but evasive.
Not one she’d chosen. Not one who could anchor her.
I stared at Kaelith, the impossible glow of her twin-scythe tails curling protectively around her body. She looked nothing like the dragon who once refused to even acknowledge me.
Zander knelt beside me, his hand brushing against my back. “Are you alright?”
I turned to him, the weight of Kaelith’s magic still humming in my bones. “I think so,” I whispered. “But she needs me more than I realized.”
His brow furrowed. “And if she needs too much?”
I met his gaze. “Then I’ll give her what I can. She chose me.”
Zander’s eyes moved toward Kaelith, then back to mine, something stormy and reverent settling in his expression. “Then so will I.”
Major Ledor approached with heavy steps, but it wasn’t me he was watching. His eyes were locked on Kaelith as if she were a living prophecy made flesh. Her twin tails twitched lazily behind her, blades gleaming with residual flame. The guild hadn’t moved any closer; no one dared, but their murmurs carried, rising like the start of a storm.
“She is a Shiftling,” he said, voice quiet but tight with restrained awe.
I nodded once. “But her transformation is in its infancy.”
The major’s brow furrowed, a bead of sweat slipping down his temple despite the cool air. “How is that possible? The Unifier was the last Shiftling recorded in the royal logs. No others survived the fall.”
“She is his clutchmate,” I said evenly. “His sister.”
The words fell like stones into a silent pond.
Gasps and broken whispers rippled through the watching crowd. I could see heads turning, jaws slack. Several cadets crossed their arms as if warding off disbelief, while others simply gawked at the glowing, twin-tailed dragon who stared back with all the calm of a storm waiting to break.
Major Ledor’s jaw clenched. “This is… unprecedented.”
Kaelith’s mind brushed mine with the heat of wild violet fire, her voice a low murmur of amusement.They have no right to question me.
