Ferrula and Naia dove toward him, wings slicing through wind, magic streaking behind them. But the Blood Fae closed in like vultures, striking fast, forcing them to retreat or be cut from the sky.
The enemy didn’t even glance at me.
One rider passed within arm’s reach, and yet—nothing. No spell, no blade. Just a flick of their eyes before they veered off.
Why were they avoiding me?
“Dive!” I screamed, gripping Kaelith’s scales. “Now!”
She didn’t hesitate.
We dropped like a comet, wind shrieking past my ears, my stomach twisting as the ground surged upward. I saw Jax’s body limp, his blood trailing through the air like a thread unraveling.
“Faster!” I begged.
Kaelith tucked her wings tighter, and the world blurred.
We got under him just in time.
He slammed into Kaelith’s back with a bone-jarring thud as we landed. I gasped as the impact nearly threw me off too, my arms wrapping around him instinctively. He groaned, his face pale, blood soaking through his shirt and onto my arm.
“You’re alright,” I whispered. “You’re alright—just hold on.”
Above us, the sky burned.
A wave of Dark Fire exploded outward, a storm of deep-violet flames that hissed and roared across the clouds. It swallowed the Blood Fae riders mid-swoop—screams tore through the air as their dragons ignited like dry kindling, one by one.
But not a single flame touched our people.
It skipped over Stormforge. Curved around Crownwatch. Glided around Ferrula and Naia like the fire knew who it was meant to destroy.
I looked up, chest heaving, my fingers still pressed to Jax’s neck as his pulse fluttered weakly beneath my hand.
And then—I saw her.
Severeth.
Far in the distance, gliding in the storm clouds like a wraith.
Watching.
Her silver eyes gleamed, and she smiled—not kindly. Not cruelly.
Just... satisfied.
Then she turned away, her dragon’s wings dissolving into the mist.
Like she’d seen exactly what she came to see.
And now, she was done.
The skies began to clear, not with peace, but with the raw aftermath of battle. The Blood Fae were retreating, their black-winged beasts screeching as they peeled away from Warriath’s coast. The last of their riders vanished into the storm-churned distance, leaving behind nothing but smoke, ruin, and the screams of the wounded.
But I only saw Jax.
He lay crumpled on Kaelith’s back, his blood staining her violet scales, his eyes half-lidded, and lips pale.
“Stay with me,” I whispered, pressing my hands hard against the wound on his shoulder, trying to stem the tide. “Don’t you dare leave us.”
