Tae muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “I’d rather throw him off a cliff,” but stepped forward anyway. Naia brushed past me with a confident nod, and I matched her stride as we entered the ring.
Above us, three dragons cut lazy circles into the sky.
Kaelith flew just ahead of Temil—Naia’s bright-orange Swordtail—and Kieren, Tae’s sleek green Clubtail, who tucked his wings and dove, only to catch the wind and flare out again in a showy spiral.
Show-off,I muttered to myself, but Kaelith only huffed.
Focus,she said, her voice thrumming against my mind like a taut string.Pull from the deep well. Let the wind feel your pulse.
I lifted my hands and inhaled deeply, grounding through the soles of my boots as the magic coiled just beneath my skin.
A breeze stirred, swirling dust at my feet.
Then it grew—fast. Wind burst from me like a scream made physical, twisting and funneling into a tight, narrow vortex on the ground in front of me. It spun tighter, faster, pulling my hair free from its tie as the air howled with the raw taste of storm.
But it was wild. Unstable. Just like Kaelith.
Naia stepped forward, her blue eyes glowing faintly as she reached out with both hands.
“Let me in,” she whispered.
Her fingers spread wide, and her magic reached for mine, not to smother it, but to shape it. Temil’s calm filtered through her, wrapping around my whirlwind like silk. The gale slowed… then curved, forming a controlled spiral of steady, rhythmic wind that roared without destroying.
We were doing it.
Until Perin sneered.
“Cute party trick.”
Tae tilted his head. “Wanna see another?”
His dragon surged above, but Kieren didn’t need to land. Tae’s eyes shimmered with that eerie gleam that always made people uncomfortable. Dominion of the Mind.
Perin stiffened.
Then he dropped.
Straight to his knees. Hard enough, I winced. His teeth clenched as he fought against Tae’s hold, but Tae didn’t even flinch; he just stepped forward, one brow lifted, as if considering whether or not to keep going.
“That’ll do,” Major Ledor called.
Perin collapsed fully to the ground, panting and glaring as the major walked past him without a glance.
The vortex unraveled gently at my feet, dissolving into the air as Naia let go.
The major nodded once, almost approving.
“Not bad,” he said.
But I barely heard him.
Kaelith’s voice pressed into me again.
Next time, I’ll be stronger. And so will you.
I wasn’t sure if it was a promise.
Or a warning.
