Startled panic. The instinct to flee. The recognition of a threat so old and so deep it turned the blood to ice.
"Something's wrong," I said, my hand flying to my sword.
Flynn was already moving, his head snapping toward the tunnel entrance. "I felt it. Fear. Sharp."
"They are running," Elias said, his eyes going distant and white. "They are sliding. Down. Fast."
"The Citadel," I realized, the memory of the Sentinel’s spear flashing in my mind. "They found them."
"No," Elias whispered. "Not the Citadel. Something else. A light. A beacon."
I didn't wait for clarification. I didn't wait for a plan. The jealousy evaporated, burned away instantly by a protective fury that was a thousand times hotter.
The dragon didn't just surface; it breached.
I didn't shift form; the cavern was too small, and the magic too costly, but the essence of it flooded my limbs. My skin hardened, phantom scales shimmering in the surrounding air. My eyes burned with a light that illuminated the entire cavern, casting long, monstrous shadows against the walls. Heat rolled off me in waves, drying the damp stone instantly.
"Move," I roared.
We sprinted for the tunnel.
I didn't care about stealth or potential traps. The only thing I cared about was up there, exposed to the sky, and something had terrified the Bear Prince.
We tore through the narrow passages Thane had shaped, Flynn taking the lead with his superior senses, me right on his heels, a living torch. Elias trailed behind, moving with unnerving speed.
We met them halfway down the chimney.
Thane was sliding down the rock face, using his body as a brake, with Aria clutched tight against his chest. He hit the floor of the junction with a heavy thud, dust billowing around him.
Aria looked pale, her eyes wide and dark in the gloom. She was clutching Thane’s tunic, shivering.
"Kaelen," she gasped as soon as she saw me.
I was there in a heartbeat, reaching for her. Thane passed her to me without hesitation, and I pulled her into my arms, burying my face in her wind-tousled hair. She smelled of the night air, of Thane’s earth, and of cold, sour fear.
"I’ve got you," I growled, my voice vibrating against her skull. "I’ve got you."
"A light," she stammered, pressing her face into my chest. "From the Astronomy Tower. Teal. Sickly."
"Sorcery," Thane rumbled, straightening up and dusting himself off. His face was grim, carved from granite. "Abyssal magic. It wasn't a signal fire. It was a hunting beacon."
"Marissa," I said, the name a curse.
"She’s scanning," Elias said, arriving behind us. "Like a lighthouse. If that light touched you..."
"We hid," Thane said. "But it was close. Too close. She knows we are still in the mountain."
"She is turning the realm into a hunting ground," Aria whispered. "We have to go back to the Cradle. We have to hide."
"No," I said, pulling back to look at her. I brushed a strand of hair from her face, my hand trembling with the force of the rage I was holding back. "We’re done hiding."
The fear in her eyes was a physical pain to me. I hated it. I hated the thing that put it there. "We go to the Cradle," I said, addressing the group. "We perform the binding. Tonight. Right now."
"Kaelen," Flynn started, "she’s exhausted, she?—"
"She is being hunted by a goddess who wants to wear her skin!" I roared, the sound echoing down the tunnels. "We do not have time for rest! We do not have time for hesitation! If we stay here, we die in a hole. If we bind, we might die, but we die on our feet, with weapons in our hands!"
TWENTY-TWO
