The world seems to hold its breath. Seconds stretch, then longer. My heart hammers as I stare at the empty water, waiting—dreading—to see what rises.
Did they kill each other?
The surface stirs. A ripple. Then another.
Onyx scales break through the water, gleaming in the moonlight.
I collapse, my face pressed to the stony shore. My body convulses, muscles trembling. My clothes cling to me, soaked in blood, water, and ash. I curl into myself.
And then I feel it. A thrum deep in my bones, a warmth blooming around me like firelight in the dark.
Crimson and obsidian, like glass forged in flame. The beast’s wings beat again, scattering sparks into the sky.
The ground falls away, and I’m flying again, nestled in its massive palm, surrounded by a cage of black, curved claws. This flight feels different from the first time it carried me. Not ruthless. Not desperate. Almost…tender?
The dragon flies as though the slightest jostle might break me, making every wingbeat a careful lull. I don’t feel like I’m being held captive; I feel like I’m floating. Weightless, like a leaf caught in a pool of starlight.
The wind rushes past, cool and sharp, but his warmth shields me from its icy tendrils. His scales shimmer beneath the moon,slick and burnished, like garnets dipped in silver. I can’t look away.
Above us, the stars stretch as far as the eye can see, a thousand miniature suns stitched into velvet night. The moon crowns the sky, bathing everything in silver. And in its glow, he shines, fearsome and magnificent.
He tilts his great head. Once again, golden eyes find mine, and my breath catches, but not because I’m afraid—I’ve faced death already too many times tonight. Hell, in the past week.
His gaze holds the fire of a thousand suns, but there’s no cruelty in it, only knowing. Depth. As if he’s peering into my soul and seeing everything I am. Everything I hide.
The steady, low rumble in his chest hums through me, a sound more felt than heard. It resonates in my ribs like a lullaby sung in a forgotten tongue.
I should be terrified, but I’m not. I feel… safe. Safer than I’ve felt in days. A sharp, impossible contrast to our first flight, when his wings cut the sky like knives and I clung to life by sheer force of will. Now, I surrender to it. To the quiet awe of the stars as we glide effortlessly beneath their gaze.
To him. At least, Ithinkit’s a him. Do dragons even have a gender? Mother used to say all creatures, magical or mortal, were made male or female in Rexen’s likeness—but no one’s seen a dragon in over six centuries. What would I know?
I risk a glance down the wide expanse of his form and find the answer immediately.
Yep. Definitely a him.
The wind sings, and the lake vanishes behind us. All that remains is the open skies, starlight, and the steady beat of colossal wings. The sound is surprisingly quiet, like an owl taking flight.
He carries me higher, then dips and spirals downward as if showing off. His wings fold slightly as we descend toward the keep in a final arc, a whisper of motion.
Then he lands, his talons kissing stone, and gently lowers me to the balcony. He spreads his wings again but pauses, taking one last look.
Gold meets blue.
Without a word, he’s gone again, vanishing into mist like a dream half-remembered.
“Oh, stars!” Mae bursts in, robes aflutter, eyes wide with something akin to wonder. She wraps me in a thick wool cloak, and it’s only then that I realize my clothes are still soaked through. My skin is numb from the cold, my limbs quivering. My body feels like stone, but I’m alive.
“You came back,” she breathes. “From the depths.”
I nod. “Are the others… Did they make it?”
My throat is raw, and her hands are shaking. No—mine are. She’s trying to hold the cloak in place, but I’m shivering too hard.
“Yes.”
With that one word, relief floods me. I take a deep breath for the first time in what feels like forever. They made it. Though if they followed me through the darkness, I have no idea why they didn’t emerge in the lake with me. But I’m too exhausted to ask any more questions.
Mae helps me to my feet, but the moment I put weight on my right ankle, pain explodes up my leg like lightning. I cry out and collapse in a breathless heap.
