Finally, the silver dragon lowered her head slightly, eyes locking onto mine.
Sacrifice isn’t always about a body falling, Hedge Witch. Sometimes it is the surrender of anger when it is easiest to hate. Sometimes it is choosing patience when fear would run faster. Sometimes it is letting others carry what you have always carried alone.
“I’m not good at that,” I admitted.
You are becoming, she murmured.
I stared at the sleeping young dragons again.
“How do I protect them?” I whispered. “How do I protect the Academy when the Priestess has her hands in everything? When Gideon, Gideon of all people, might be trying to do something right, but his right has sharp edges and history and blood on it?”
The bronze dragon’s thoughts rolled through the air like distant thunder.
What is anchored by truth will hold. What is rooted in fear will crack. But hope must remain triumphant.
I thought back to the fear that rolled through me when I looked into the pedestal, and that’s when I realized I couldn’t let someone else’s plans define me. And I couldn’t live in fear that someone else’s actions could dictate my own.
“I keep thinking about the meaning of magic,” I confessed. “I never used to think about it on its own. I thought about spells, Wards, and survival, and… not dying. I never stopped to ask what magic meant to me. Sure, I might not be the best at kitchen spells, and sometimes my wand work is a bit sketchy, but I still feel like magic is surrounding me.”
The silver dragon’s gaze softened, if a dragon’s gaze could soften.
Once you master what it means to you, all spells will fall in place, Hedge Witch.
I nodded, feeling hope fill my veins.
“To the Priestess, it means control, and to my mother, it means saving her family.”
And what about you, Headmistress?the bronze dragon asked.
The answer came like warmth spreading slowly through cold hands.
“To me, it means choosing hope. Magic gives me hope.”
Yes, my dear child,the silver dragon’s elegant head nodded.
“Magic gives me hope that we can unite and come together. Hope that we can end this and make the magical world safe again. Hope that Gideon will remain an ally.”
I took a deep breath and scanned the dragons, young and old. “Magic means hope to me.”
The den hummed around me, the Academy’s heartbeat threaded through stone, but then something shifted at the far edge of the cavern.
I watched a dragon I had never seen before step forward from deep in the shadows. It was so silent I might have missed it if the air hadn’t changed around him.
It was elegant, yet familiar. Its black scales weren’t just dark; it was as if midnight had been laid on his shoulders. Along the edges of his wings, along the ridges of his spine, silver tippedeach scale as if someone had brushed him with starlight. His eyes were deep and unreadable.
He didn’t speak to me. He didn’t need to. He walked with deliberate strength and grace until he stood behind the other elders. His presence made the den feel larger.
And it suddenly felt like a page had been turned that I didn’t expect. That a new story was being written. I noticed the silver dragon glanced toward him for the briefest beat before turning her gaze back to me.
There are those who listen, she murmured.And those who watch. Both matter.
My pulse quickened as I felt the black dragon watching me.
“Who is he?” I asked quietly.
The black dragon met my gaze.
He didn’t answer.
