The portal's energy crackled along my skin like lightning, leaving me breathless and dizzy as everything blurred into streaks of silver and violet and suddenly—stillness.
My feet touched solid ground, fine sand that shifted beneath my weight. Then salty air filled my lungs, sharp and clean after the electric chaos of the portal. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the spots dancing across my vision as my surroundings slowly came into focus.
A beautiful expanse of turquoise water stretched before us, so clear I could see the white sand beneath its surface even at a distance.
This must have been the Southern Isles.
While the Bloodsworn spread out around us, I inched away from Arielle to look around me.
We stood on a white sand beach that curved away in both directions, bordered by palms that swayed in the gentle breeze. Behind us rose a wall of lush green vegetation of tropical plants with broad leaves and flowers in shades of coral and gold that seemed almost too vibrant to be real.
But it was the silence that struck me most. The silence and the rhythmic whisper of waves against the shore.
“You okay?” Arielle asked.
“Just a little shaky.”
“It’ll pass.” She smiled reassuringly.
Alaric lifted one hand and began to chant, the words rolling from his tongue in a language I didn’t understand. It sounded ancient and heavy with power.
The chant hadn’t even finished leaving Alaric’s lips before the world answered.
The air thickened, pressure rolling through like an incoming storm. A low, distant thunder growled across the horizon, then the sky split.
A roar slashed through the quiet stillness that had settled here.
A shadow tore across the sky, vast and fast, blotting out the sun in a single, terrifying sweep. Wind slammed against us as wings beat through the air, each strike powerful enough to rattle my bones.
I sucked in a breath as the first dragon burst into view, scales glinting like molten steel as it banked hard and descended. A second followed. It was bigger. Much, much bigger.
Their bodies cut through the sky with lethal grace, massive and elegant all at once, tails lashing, wings spanning wider than any ship’s sail.
The sound was deafening.
They circled once, slow and deliberate, as if claiming the space, then swooped downwards.
The ground trembled as they first landed across from us, claws biting into the sand.
I stood frozen, heart pounding, awe and fear tangling in my throat.
The dragons were enormous. And beautiful.
Truly magnificent.
Pyrion and Hedion were their names. Twin dragons.
Hedion, the smaller one, turned its head. His gaze found me, and something in his expression shifted.
It was recognition. He was the one I’d ridden. Pyrion was Wolfe’s bonded.
Both bowed their massive heads for me.
“My Lady,” they said.
I bowed, too.
Everyone looked at me.
