“We’ll be fighting our own,” I whispered, my stomach twisting.
Kaelith didn’t answer. She didn’t need to.
The truth hung heavy between us.
I turned toward the clearing, toward the distant line of sky we had flown from only hours ago. “And we just called the lost horde.”
All without riders,Kaelith confirmed.
The reality of it dropped into my chest like stone. Dozens—no, hundreds—of dragons, flying here from across the sea. Hopeful. Free. Vulnerable.
And we’d painted a target on their backs.
“They’ll be slaughtered,” I said, barely breathing the words.
Or turned against us,Kaelith added, her tone sharper than bone.We need to warn them, Ashe. Now.
I nodded and spun back toward the others. Jax was helping Ferrula to her feet. Narvea hadn’t moved. Riven stood beside Cordelle, lips pressed into a thin line. Naia kneeled beside scorched earth, her fingers brushing blood-dark grass.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
We waited in tense silence as Narvea lay curled against the blackened grass, her breath shallow and steam curling from her nostrils like a wounded beast trying to hold onto itself. Ferrula knelt beside her, whispering words I couldn’t hear—soft things, maybe fierce things—but her hand never left her dragon’s scales.
Then Narvea stirred.
Her tail twitched. Her wings stretched once, slowly, then again, with more strength. And finally, she rose.
Ferrula didn’t hesitate. She mounted in one smooth motion and Narvea launched into the air, shaky at first, but steadier with each beat of her wings. Relief punched through me like a second wind.
The others followed, dragons rising one after another as we joined her in the sky. We were bruised, rattled, but we were still whole, for now.
Kaelith’s voice twisted through my mind like smoke.We must warn the others. Despite the last vote, there are thoseamong the lost horde who do not favor our alliance with the riders. They must be warned of this new threat.
I gritted my teeth. “Do you have any idea who could cast a spell that strong? That corrupting?”
There is only one man with the power to do this,she answered, and dread thickened in my chest even before she said his name.Veralin.
My heart stilled for a breath. “My grandfather.”
Yes. He is the only Blood Fae powerful enough to cast this kind of soul-splitting enchantment…a pause…besides you.
My fingers tightened on Kaelith’s spine. “He’s using the same thing I did, isn’t he? To call the dragons.”
It is similar,Kaelith admitted.But yours was instinctive, born of need and purpose. His is deliberate. His magic digs its claws into a dragon’s soul and drags it into the dark. Where yours calls with hope—his chains with despair.
I closed my eyes against the wind as it whipped my braid loose.
“He’s calling them to destroy.”
Yes,Kaelith said softly.And if we do not stop him, he will succeed.
As Kaelith soared over the sea cliffs of Warriath, I leaned into her scales, wind biting my cheeks, the aftershocks of that corrupted magic still making my stomach churn.
“How was Siergen able to connect with us from so far away?” I asked aloud, though I knew she heard me long before the words left my lips.
He is the king,Kaelith responded, her tone reverent.He can reach any dragon from the isle at any time—regardless of distance. That is the birthright of the Unifier.
