A shadow swept across the crowd, vast, devouring the light. That sound came again, deep and rolling.
I lifted my hands, half expecting raindrops to splatter across my skin. None came. Only goosebumps, rising across my arms as those around me murmured beneath their breaths.
The silhouette lingered and I dared myself to look back up. But I didn’t have to. Because the horns answered for me. One long, bone-rattling blow—
“Dragon!”
The word wasn’t just shouted. It was feared. It was real. And as the shadow smothered the square, I realized Obrann wasn’t the monster to dread today.
I will admit it, Callum, I’m impressed.
Slightly terrified there’s a dragon hovering above me, but still, I hadn’t expected a reactionthisbold.
How in all the gods’ names did he convince a dragon to cross into Luamis?
It streaked across the sky, a flash of white and gloom, eclipsing the sun, its belly glowing with the threat of flame.The town collapsed into panic, Fae and mortals alike scattering, sprinting for cover.
I pivoted, forcing my way through the rush of bodies, only to be shoved back toward the platform. It was empty now.
Shit. Wells, anyone left behind, I was supposed to get them to safety. My one job.
The crush of bodies dissolved when I made it toward the village edge, the muck giving way to an open field. The grass bent pale and brittle against my fingers, rustling like kindling as a strange silence settled in Csolenia once again.
Only a few guards remained, their weapons raised, their magic braced. All of it aimed toward the trees.
“Did anyone see where it went?” one of them shouted, voice cracking under the fear.
“It flew over the trees, north.” Another’s head whipped frantically side to side. “It could be circling back. Godsdamned beast. We should’ve brought the spears.”
The resin spears, the only thing that could falter a force so unstoppable. Had Callum maneuvered them into leaving the spears behind? That would be too neat. Too damn suspicious.
Another guard tugged his helmet free, hair falling in damp strands to his shoulders. He spat into the dirt. “The king and prince are back in the palace.No need to sit here and end up as lunch. Let’s go.” He turned, stopping when he noticed me.
I started whistling a tune from childhood, the kind you might hum while stringing wildflowers together.
Spit came again when his stare honed. “What are you doing there, girl?”
My dagger spun around my fingers as I yawned, like I was bored of the entire world. “You know, just sticking around to watch the show.”
His eyes dipped, roaming where they didn’t belong, his tongue dragging across his lips with a wet slap.
Gross.
The temperature plunged as the wind shifted, dragging strands of hair across my cheek. Then the thrum began. Low then vibrating, rising into a growl that prickled my skin.
The guards froze, every pair of eyes snapping back to the tree line as we all listened, waiting, watching for whatever lingered at its brim.
Déjà vu laced through me, and I let the air bend as I exhaled, letting my dark pulse slither free.
The air cracked again, thickening before he appeared.
Smoke first, then the man who commanded it.
Not just any man. Not just the stranger on the platform or the ghost who slipped away with Rook—
His hood was down this time, thick, unruly onyx curls gleaming where light dared to touch them, soft where everything else about him was made of edge and threat.
The weight of them toppled forward in loose coils, tamed only where they’d been clipped shorter at the sides.
