He felt it too.
Major Ledor moved quickly, stepping between us all with a raised hand. “This has gone far enough.” His voice was clipped, authoritative, trying to mask the tension rippling through him. “Major Kaler has made an error in judgment, but that does not give license to ignite a rebellion.”
He turned to me, then Zander. “Cadet Rebec. Lieutenant Rayne. Please… rein in your dragons.”
But before I could even move, Siergen’s tail whipped through the air, a blur of red scales and fury.
It cracked against the stone and swept inches from Ledor’s chest.
The major had to lunge to the side, stumbling hard, his eyes wide with shock. Dust rose where the tail struck, and the whole courtyard stilled.
Siergen’s voice slammed into all our minds like a command from the gods.
Do not speak of breaking treaties you had no hand in forging.
Ledor stared at him, stunned, chest rising and falling with each shallow breath.
Do not beg for peace while defending ignorance. Major Kaler overstepped. He nearly cost this realm the alliance of its strongest weapon.
Hein and Kaelith moved then, not toward Kaler, but to Siergen’s side. Slow. Deliberate. Their shoulders brushing as they took positions at his flank.
And it wasn’t about defense.
It was loyalty.
They stood not just as bonded dragons, but as sentries to the one who had drawn the line in fire. As if to say,You will not touch him either.
I stepped toward Kaelith carefully, hand pressed to my chest to calm my own heartbeat.
This wasn’t a trial.
This was a warning.
One I knew the court wouldn’t forget.
The courtyard was silent. So silent I could hear my own pulse drumming in my ears.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Even the dragons watching from cliffs had stilled, their wings folded tight, eyes locked on the glowing presence of the crimson-scaled courier.
Siergen stood in the center of the Ascension Grounds like a god among soldiers.
The smallest dragon.
But the most dangerous.
His red scales shimmered with a light that pulsed from within, as if molten power lived just beneath the surface. The ground beneath his claws had begun to crack, not from fire, but from pressure. From the weight of his magic. Kaelith, Hein, and Mysan stood just outside that aura, affected by it. Reverent of it.
Zander was frozen beside me; his eyes locked on Hein as if uncertain if even he could hold his dragon back right now.
Siergen’s gaze scanned the courtyard.
And then his eyes landed on me.
There was no warmth in them. No rage either. Just power. Endless, ancient, terrifying power that made the hair on my arms rise.
