“Do you mind if I were to pop over to the treehouse quickly to grab my notebook? If I can sketch it before it dies, I’ll be able to study it better.
Wren gave me a wistful smile. “The only true danger here is boredom.”
I gave her a kiss and launched into the air, wings catching the wind’s current and lifting me effortlessly up. I neared the treehouse from the west side, seeing only a few earth witches lounging about near the jungle. The wards shimmered faintly as I passed through.
Lyoness rose below me, green and gold, new life growing over old scars. Smoke curled from cooking fires; children played on the bridges between the trees. The peace we’d built here was fragile, but it was real.
I landed near the treehouse's platform, folded my wings, and ducked inside. My desk smelled of parchment, salt, and the faint tang of iron ink. I grabbed my notebook and the charcoal set from the shelf, flipping through sketches of sigils, herbs, and ruins until I found an empty page. I could almost see the flower again, luminous and strange.
Stuffing my notebook and charcoal into the pouch at my waist, I jumped into the air and lazily circled the island. Below, on the western beach were several Elders, heads bent in heated discussion. I could hear them even before I descended.
“I should go,” Wyrren was saying. “I’m excited to meet these new drakens. I’m very friendly.”
“We should encourage the royal family to stay here,” another agreed. “She’s safest with all of them together until the drakling is born.”
“We should wait until after the birth for anyone to leave,” Thane argued, kicking a bit of sand with his foot claws. “It is too momentous an occasion.”
“If there really are other drakens, we need to meetthem,” Wyrren countered. “Now, not after another decade of isolation.”
Thane’s jaw flexed. “You sound like one of the hatchlings, eager for adventure. This isn’t a game. I do not want to weaken the wards if there is a hostile draken out there. Let alone a horde of them.”
“This is part of that future,” Wyrren shot back.
Elder fighting was a rare thing. I should probably make sure everything was OK.
I landed hard in the sand, shaking off my wings. They looked ready to claw each other when Wyrren stepped forward, trying to make peace.
“I want to meet new drakens!” They turned as a small voice split the air, high and whining. A little witchling–one of the daughters of a draken witch pair, tugged at Wyrren’s belt. She didn’t have wings or claws, but her skin did shimmer oddly under the sunlight just like a draken in human form.
“Perri, have you wandered off again?” Wyrren chastised her, trying to sound gruff but unable to as she stared up at him with big eyes.
“I wanna play!” she said.
And just like that, the fight was broken up. I turned to get back in the air, and back to Wren, when a horn blast split the air: low, mournful, and wrong.
We all froze.
Then came the shouting. “From the east! Vampyres—fifty at least this time!”
The sound of wings overtook everything as the Elders took to the air, and I followed. The sky darkened with shapes moving just beyond the cliff line. Overhead, Benedict and Kieran’s silhouettes threw shadows over us as they flew to the other side.
Wyrren’s face went pale, then hardened to stone. “Fifty?” He gathered little Perri in his arms. “Come, little one, back to your parents.” He veered off from the others, dropping down into the jungle.
“They must have gathered during the night,” Thane gasped. “More from the continent?—”
Benedict called down to us, issuing orders before anyone could panic. “Form perimeter lines! Get the hatchlings off the beach!”
That last command hit me like a blow.
The beach.
Where Wren was alone.
I wheeled immediately in the air, almost losing my balance in my haste to get back to my mate.
“Where is the queen?” Thane called out.
“Safe with Ronan!” Benedick called back.
