“You’re not fighting me,” I said aloud, realization dawning like a storm breaking. “You’re measuring me.”
Severeth’s lips parted in a delighted sigh. “Good, little storm. You’re starting to understand. But tell me—when the final battle comes… will you still hesitate to strike?”
The heat scorched up around me the second her blade flashed.
I saw the glint—too late.
Severeth twisted, her body moving like smoke wrapped in silk, and from beneath her cloak, she drew a curved dagger. It gleamed obsidian in the low light, but when it struck, the blade hissed silver as it kissed my shoulder.
Pain flared, sharp and bright. I twisted away just in time to avoid a deeper wound, but the edge still caught me, slicing through the thin layer of armor and flesh. I hissed, my hand flying up to catch the warm trickle of blood—but there was barely any.
Only a thin silver line marred my skin, almost glowing before the magic inside me surged and knitted the flesh whole again. The pain was gone in seconds.
She watched it heal and smiled.Of course,her eyes said.You are what he claimed you were.
Kaelith roared behind me.
The sound was so furious, so full of protective wrath, it rattled the stones beneath my feet. Hein added his voice a moment later, and the flames that followed struck the barrier like a wave of molten rage. The magical dome shimmered violently as their fire smashed against it, again and again, until the air inside our makeshift arena began to boil.
The temperature soared.
Sweat beaded down my neck and spine. My lungs clawed for cooler air as it thickened, blistered by the firestorm battering the magic.
Severeth didn’t move.
Her crimson eyes locked with mine, as if daring me to see her clearly now. She’d drawn blood, and something about that fact pleased her more than I could understand.
“Your dragons burn for you,” she said, voice calm despite the inferno dancing just beyond her barrier. “That will be your strength... or your undoing.”
I flexed my fingers, lightning crackling through them. “You’ll never touch them.”
Severeth twirled the dagger once, then slid it back beneath her cloak.
“I already have.”
And then, without a word, she vanished.
The barrier shattered with a thunderous crack, heat blasting outward and scattering ash across the grounds. Kaelith lunged toward me, wings flared, her mind rushing into mine like a tidal wave.
You are hurt.
I’m fine.
She marked you.
It’s healed.
But even as I said it, I touched my shoulder.
The skin was smooth.
But the silver mark remained.
Zander slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me gently into his side, his touch a comfort and a tether as the heat from Kaelith’s rage still crackled through the air.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded, but it wasn’t just a nod—it was firm, certain, and probably more stubborn than truthful. “I’m fine.”
