The dragons had voted. Kaelith’s decree echoed across the clearing, her voice silent to all but the minds it pierced—We rise together.
And they had agreed.
A tide of draconic assent rolled through the summit—wings unfurled, horns lifted to the sky, a storm of unity that should have filled me with hope.
But it didn’t.
I turned slowly, the voices fading in my mind, and found Zander waiting at the edge of the circle. He must have heard my unspoken question because he met my gaze with the same troubled gleam in his lavender eyes.
The timing,I sent, not bothering to speak aloud.
He nodded. “I’ve been thinking it too. This attack… it was too precise. Too targeted. It wasn’t just an attack on Narvea. It was a message.”
“And we’re all too busy rallying around a single fire to see the smoke billowing elsewhere.”
Kaelith stirred, her head lowering to the clearing.You’re both correct. It was a distraction. Someone wanted the focus here, on threats from beyond. But the true danger lies behind our walls. Among us.
Zander exhaled, his hands fisting at his sides. “The king’s poison. The attacks on the warders. The dark magic meant to break the dragons, it’s all been carefully orchestrated.”
“And now we have a summit to celebrate. A victory we didn’t earn. Not really.”
You were meant to see this,Kaelith whispered, her voice quieter than before.The summit was necessary—but don’t mistake necessity for coincidence. The hand guiding these events… belongs to someone who knows our history. Someone tied to the Blood King.
Zander’s jaw tensed. “Then it wasn’t Severeth acting alone.”
“No,” I said. “There’s someone else. Someone who’s been manipulating every step—stalling us with infighting while they dismantle the very things keeping this continent alive.”
He scanned our surroundings, the wind catching the edges of his cloak. “Then we find them. Before the rest of the kingdom burns.”
My hand found his.
“Together,” I said.
His grip tightened.
“Always.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
The wind swept across the island as Kaelith banked low over the trees, the late afternoon sun casting gold across the sea. Zander and I flew side by side in silence, both lost in the gravity of what we’d learned. The summit had ended, but the shadows that chased us had only grown.
We broke through the cloudline and dipped low toward the Ascension Grounds, the stones finally coming into view. Kaelith rumbled beneath me, already sensing what I hadn’t yet seen.
Elara.
She darted from the castle’s main doors, her lavender skirts fluttering, hair tied in a loose braid. Her steps were quick but unhurried, as though drawn by instinct more than fear. Innocence radiated from her, untouched by court politics or the truths that haunted her brother. And Zander… gods, the look on his face.
He dismounted from Hein before the dragon had fully landed, boots crunching softly on the stone. He crossed the grounds in long, urgent strides and dropped to his knees before her.
“Elara,” he whispered, voice cracking as he took her hands in his. “Are you alright?”
She nodded with a shy smile, already tilting her head as though listening for something only she could hear. “You’re back.”
His fingers brushed her cheek. “I always will be.”
For a moment, the world stilled.
