Sofia watched in horror as two men on the backs of their respective dragons swept low, dropping a net over a silver dragon. It reared back, letting out a roar as smoke hissed from its scales, and it collapsed under the weight of the net. It was iron—the same netting they’d tried to use to capture Chalia. Her eyes swept across the sky, and she saw even more pairs of dragons holding nets.
Harlow had captured the scouts that Aurelia had sent after him.
Now he was here for the rest of them. It was her worst nightmare come true. Everything she’d begged Aurelia to prevent.
As she watched, their people ran up the mountain toward the fight. She wanted to scream out to help the dragon, but even as she thought it, two people cut off to the left, toward the fallen creature. Her chest tightened as she recognized Javi’s curls.
Chalia skidded through the snow, sending out a wave of ice as she came to a stop in front of them. Sofia could feel her body vibrating with the fight already, just as focused as she was. Chalia’s father was there a moment later, his head twisting around Chalia’s neck in an embrace.
“Thank Quelia, you’re okay. When the call went out and you weren’t here…”
Chalia hummed in comfort before pulling back.“I need to go back to the battle.”
Ielo gave a nod.“I’m coming, too.”He turned until he was looking at Fox, head tilting slightly.“You can come with me.”
Fox paled, but he kept his face neutral, nodding. Sofia expected him to move toward the dragon’s back, but instead, he pulled her against him, giving her no time to protest. His lips were hot as they met hers, a sharp contrast to the icy air. She let herself melt into him, pressing her body against him as she tasted him. Why did he always know what she needed?
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he said as he pulled away, his voice low and rough.
“That’s your job,” she said. His answering smile made her chest twist.
He turned, muscles tense as he moved toward Ielo. Sofia took a breath, turning to Chalia.
A roar shattered around them, and the two dragons froze.
“The eggs!”A dragon the color of the night sky came darting through the battlefield, eyes roving until she saw Chalia’s father.“They have found the eggs!”
Ielo let out a guttural sound that shot straight through Sofia’s soul.
“I will stop them!”he growled.
“They are inside the ground—we cannot reach them. Rost is trying to break through the stone, but we are afraid he will bring down the mountain.”The dragon’s head swiveled to Fox and Sofia standing there, so small and insignificant.“They can. The humans.”
Ielo let out a snort of discontent, and the dragons seemed to exchange words privately. Sofia wasn’t sure what they said, but a few moments later, Ielo turned to Chalia.
“Can we trust them?”
“I trust them with my life,”she said, and Sofia swallowed back the swell of emotion that gathered in her throat and behind her eyes.
Ielo nodded.“Will you come with us? To save our eggs?”
Chalia had said that no humans had ever been allowed in Quelia’s Womb. Sofia recognized the honor of the ask in that moment. But she also looked behind her at the soldiers and shifters flooding down the slope. She’d lost track of Javi and the others in the shuffle, but dragons flew above, striking where they could.
“Sofia,” Fox said, looking at her expectantly. He had already taken two steps toward Ielo. “We have to go help them.”
She swallowed and nodded.
“Where are the eggs?” he asked, looking between the three dragons. Chalia’s father hesitated for only a moment.
“Get on!”
Sofia and Fox sprang into action, slipping onto Chalia’s back in the way that had become second nature. They turned toward the northernmost part of the grounds, flying low as snarls and screams echoed in the air. And Sofia couldn’t stop herself from looking back at the battle raging behind them.
CHAPTER FORTY
SOFIA
They headed toward a rocky cliff that shot up into a peak just lower than Quelia’s Wings. Only once they were nearly at the peak did Sofia realize there was a crevice that opened up into a large cave, two hundred yards above the slope. Chalia swept sideways into the cavern just behind her father. Sofia expected the dragons to stop or slow down, but they kept flying, twisting down and into the heart of the mountain. The air was hot, a thick fog swirled below, hiding the ground or whatever lay there.
