Wyrren stepped forward first, his scales dulled with age but his posture still steady.
“I will do it,” he said. “I still practice.”
“I have read how to anchor, but haven’t done it myself,” Domik offered up, nervously adjusting his hair.
“None of you have anchored, I believe,” Benedict reassured him, “but your knowledge would be valuable.”
Domik’s wings lifted in happiness. “Wonderful! I think I have a book that details an old anchoring ritual, let me fetch it.”
He rushed off, wings fluttering, probably to the library.
Kaida stepped forward. “As one of the few females here, I would love to participate.”
Nerissa considered her. “You must be very sure you do not carry a child.”
Kaida’s smile dimmed. “I have not been blessed these many years, so I do not think it an issue.”
I grabbed her fingers, entwining them in mine.
“Even more reason to not,” Nuva muttered.
There was a pause as drakens looked around, wondering who the fourth would be.
“I can anchor.” The voice came from above us at the exact moment I felt a gaping tear rip through what was left of the wards, leaving them in complete shambles.
Benedict twitched next to me, feeling it as well assomething slid easily through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there.
Someone.
“Again?” Benedict and I shouted out in unison, though with two completely different tones. Benedict’s was broken and ragged, and mine was loud with excitement and joy.
A hiss traveled through the crowd.
Shadows swooped overhead: fast, graceful, deliberate. Two shapes dropped from the sky, landing silently in the clearing. Twofemaledraken, pale as moonstone, with iridescent scales shining white the whole way down their bodies. I eyed their wings, also white.
Unmated females.
They slammed down hard into the ground, landing in a crouch and straightening with two wicked grins.
“DOWN, ALL OF YOU!” Benedict roared.
The females both had eyes like old moss and were as tall as Benedict.No, as tall as Canavar.They looked cut from the same mold as him at least, muscled and thick, strong and fierce with eyes sharp enough to cut through steel.
Every male draken twitched, stuck on their bellies.
Nerissa pushed through the crowd.
“MY DAUGHTERS,” she bellowed, racing up to them and seizing them in a giant hug.
The two females—clearly sisters—smirked in unison, entirely unbothered by having just bypassed the wards like slipping through a curtain.
One flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. “Mother. You left the door open.”
“We let ourselves in,” another added smugly. “You went weeks without a word. Very unlike you.”
“Vanca and Nava,” Nerissa introduced, nodding at the taller one and then the shorter one.
Vanca pointed at Benedict. “And who’s the angry one? He smells like he swallowed a lightning bolt.”
