Left: safety bought with silence.
Right: fire, truth, consequence.
I picture the path left again. Quiet years spent hiding from the sky while cities burn in my absence. Names erased. Faces turned to smoke. A kingdom unmade while I cling to survival like a stolen prize.
Life, at the cost of everything else.
My fingers tighten around the knife.
“I’m done running,” I whisper—to the stone, to the stars, to myself.
I turn right.
The darkness closes around me, cool and absolute, but the vigil braid warms against my skin. Each step forward feels like crossing a line drawn long before I was born.
Toward fire.
Toward truth.
Toward the fate that has been waiting for me all along.
I follow the stream until it spills into a thin spring beneath an overhang shaped like a giant egg. Moonlight slices through cracks above, guiding me to the ridge. Smoke drifts from the mountain’s peak—his breath. My heart pounds.
“This is it,” I whisper.
At the ridge, hooves clatter behind me. I spin—and relief floods me. “Mariel!”
She leaps from Ashwing’s back, wild-eyed but alive. Vivian clings behind her on Brimstone, white-knuckled and breathless. Moonbeam circles above them in frantic loops of light.
I run to them, pulling Mariel into a fierce hug. “You’re safe.”
“For now,” she says. “Whatever happens, I’m with you.”
We climb the final slope together.
Chapter 42
The Final Trial
The cave looms ahead, black and breathing. Golden light seeps from the cracks within, spilling across heaps of treasure—coins, jeweled goblets, relics piled high like offerings. At the center of it all waits the dragon.
Drako. Keiren. Both.
Massive wings half-unfurled, eyes molten gold. When they meet mine, the ground itself hums.
“Welcome,” his voice rumbles, shaking the walls. “To the final Trial. I’ve been waiting for you.”
I step forward, heart hammering. “Let Mariel and Vivian go. This is between you and me.”
A low, thunderous laugh rolls through the cavern. “Everything here is because of you. But if you wish to save them, you’ll have to win.”
Seraphina stands near the entrance, her lips curved in smug defiance. “I accept the challenge, too. When I win, I’ll be queen.”
“Seraphina, stop,” I warn her.
Keiren’s voice deepens to a growl. “Silence. All of you will compete. The winner decides the others’ fate.”
He gestures to the hoard. “Bring me what you believe is most precious to me.”
