Kaelith lowered her shoulder just enough for me to scramble up her scales, my hand gripping the smooth curve of her neck as her muscles bunched beneath me.
We rose.
The moment Kaelith took flight, the ground dropped away as if nothing had ever held me. I gripped the ridge of her neck as we soared upward—straight into chaos.
The sky over the coastline before Warriath was war incarnate.
Dragons clashed like living titans, their wings slicing through clouds, their roars ripping through the air. Flame exploded in gouts of violet, gold, and black. A silver Striker spun through the clouds, locking talons with an obsidian-scaled beast as their riders clashed blades midair.
Lightning cracked across the sky from a green Clubtail as it circled a pair of Blood Fae dragons. A Swordtail dove from above, catching a Blood Fae rider in its jaws before hurling him toward the sea.
Screams. Magic. Steel.
The kingdom was under siege.
And Kaelith’s voice rang clear and terrible in my mind.
No more hiding. No more waiting. The war is here.
Kaelith’s wings beat hard against the air as we soared through the chaos, dragons twisting in midair, riders shouting spells, fire lighting up the clouds like the heavens themselves were at war.
A Blood Fae rider locked eyes with me, his dragon black-scaled and narrow-winged, its eyes gleaming like obsidian knives. I urged Kaelith toward him, bracing myself as power gathered in my palm, but the moment we closed the distance, he veered off sharply, his dragon pulling into a high roll and disappearing behind a veil of smoke.
He didn’t want to fight me.
The second one didn’t either. I chased him down through a narrow pass between two rising columns of fire, Kaelith’s tail lashing, but he peeled off just before contact, not even raising his blade.
Something was wrong. They were avoiding me.
Around us, the sky blazed.
There were more dragons of color than black, more bound dragons fighting for Warriath, but the Blood Fae had numbers in the air. More riders. They darted between unbound dragons like vipers, spells flashing from their palms.
Iron Fang was nowhere to be seen. Off on some mission Theron had sent them on, and without them, we were outnumbered where it mattered most.
Still, the unbound dragons fought viciously, wing to wing and tooth to scale. They moved like a storm, no rider commands, no formations, just rage and instinct and fury that couldn’t be leashed.
Then I saw Jax.
Koddos tore through the clouds below, massive and armored, shielding his rider from fire blasts on both sides. Jax stood on his saddle, arms out, his power sparking across the air around him like a living mirror. One attacker struck, and their own spell ricocheted back, burning into their chest.
Another dove at him, and the same, his magic retaliated, sending their dragon spiraling.
But it was costing him.
I could see it in the tremble of his arms as he swung his sword, the sluggish return of his counterstrikes.
And then?—
A Blood Fae swooped in from above, blade drawn, and stabbed Jax in the shoulder.
I screamed as he tumbled, arms flailing, blood trailing behind him like a comet.
He fell from Koddos.
And I dove after him.
The air split with screams as Jax fell.
