Just a dull hazel. Empty. Almost lifeless.
“Lyra?” he murmurs weakly.
Then his full weight drops.
Folding forward all at once, my legs hit the ground as I lurch to catch him, arms scrambling around his shoulders, but he’s too heavy. We tumble together, twisting, and I barely manage to slow his fall before he slumps against the tree behind us.
His head lolls to one side.
And he doesn't move.
“Talen!” I yell, panic consuming every inch of my body while my hands frantically search all over him as another gust of wind rolls through the camp. “Talen, what's wrong? Please answer me!”
Nothing.
I shake him harder as my skin pulls taut around me like my magic is going to rip me open from the inside out.
"No. No, no, no..."
I check his pulse. He's alive, but he still won't move, and he's gone stone cold. Quickly, I button up his trousers, then shrug out of the jacket I'm wearing and drape it over him before kneeling in front of him.
"Wake up." My voice cracks as I shake him again, trying to make sense of what the hell is going on. "Talen, wake up."Please.
The sharp stink of charred leaves fills my nose as beside us, the incinerated bush continues to billow smoke into the sky, the dark plume rising like a beacon, and I stare down at my hands.
They're shaking.
Twitching with magic.
“How...” My lips are quivering now. “I don't have Fire Threads, they must be Tal?—”
THUMP.
The cold blood flowing through my veins turns to solid ice as the familiar sound of a dragon landing ricochets through the ground beneath me.
Oh god, Cal, if he's down, the Veils are down too.
My pulse pounding in my ears, I slowly turn my head and look past the tree.
Please be Ahria, please be Ahria.
I already know what I’m going to find, but my heart still lurches for my throat as the black-scaled dragon spreads its wings wide, blotting out the moonlight before folding them backagainst its body. I can’t see its eyes, but something tells me they’re just as dark.
Movement above pulls my focus and I glance up to see a figure in white robes sliding down the side of the massive creature and effortlessly dropping the distance to the ground below right next to the smouldering remains of the burnt bush.
Cold sweat starts to bead at my temples, running slowly down my cheekbones like a countdown. Turning back to Talen, my hands trembling on his shoulders, I shake him again.
“Please.” I beg silently. “Please wake up, you need to move.”
Nothing.
Glancing back around the tree, the dragon’s head is turned toward the rider in white now as he steps in front of it. Its massive nostrils flaring, the dragon listens as the tall, robed figure says something too low for me to hear. With a deep rumble, the dragon answers and then the rider starts heading this way.
Oh shit.
Terror strikes like lightning, piercing straight through me, crushing me from the inside and causing my Threads to flare violently in response.
Biting down on the inside of my cheeks hard enough to sting, I try to force them back under control, but they writhe against me, angry and fierce, with more power than I've ever known.
