“She needs you,” Aura says, her voice hoarse. “She needs stability, a safe home, and a family where she belongs.”
Scarlet shakes her head, tears falling freely. “You’re her mother, too.”
Aura swallows, struggling with emotion.
“I gave her life,” she says quietly. “You gave her safety and love.”
Aura traces Ahya’s cheek one last time. The child’s fingers tangle in Aura’s hair, instinctively holding on. “Mama,” she says.
That nearly breaks her. Aura kisses her child’s brow, lingering as if reconsidering. She whispers words too soft to hear: blessing, apology, promise, and prayer.
With a sound between a sob and surrender, she gentlyplaces Ahya in Scarlet’s arms.
Tears leave wet trails over Aura’s cheeks as she stands, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. She turns and disappears into the trees.
We must leave soon and determine how to contain her magic. No other options remain. My mind races through impossible solutions, anxiety rising.
Hunter, Robert, and Evan embrace their rescued friends, gathering around the child in Scarlet’s arms. I'm grateful we could reunite the family and bring Aura some peace.
I stalk forward, expecting to find her close by. Ready to offer comfort, or fury, or anything Aura needs. But the air is thick with wet dirt and smoke, scorched pine and spilled blood, everything sharp and acrid and wrong. There is no trace of the warm, honeyed scent that clings to her skin. No whisper of jasmine. No soft current of her magic humming beneath my senses like a second heartbeat.
Nothing.
The absence is louder than any scream.
“Aura,” I bellow into the darkness, my voice tearing through the clearing.
Startled birds explode upward, wings thrashing against the lightening sky. The first grey of dawn bleeds through the canopy, washing the destruction in a pale, merciless glow, but our mate remains silent.
I strain for a sound, a breath, a prickle of magic, but nothing reaches me. My heart clenches so violently it burns like a physical wound. Dragons don’t panic easily. We don’t lose control.
But separation from our mate when danger is close feels like the echo of a bond suddenly broken.
I close my eyes and reach inward, searching for thethread that ties me to her. That luminous strand that has tethered me to her in battle, in sleep, in silence.
Only distance between us remains cold and vast.
She’s gone,I growl.
Ronyn’s head snaps toward me, eyes blazing. Darial goes utterly still, as if the world itself has paused.
She’s gone, I repeat, more quietly now, dread settling heavy in my chest.And we must find her.
Because if someone has taken her—
If another has touched what is ours—
We won’t rest until she is found, no matter what the cost.
25
AURA
I never wanted to come back to this forest. The branches close in above me, their tips scratching at the silver-speckled sky. My feet slide on wet leaves, but I keep running. Branches hit my face and arms, leaving sharp welts, but I don’t stop.
My chest is burning.
Ahya’s warmth is gone from my arms.
