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“Aye,” he said quietly.

I blinked. “Was that a, yes?”

“It was not a no.”

“I’ll take it.”

“You will stay behind me.”

“Dream bigger, Dead Guy.”

Guy groaned. “This is going to be exhausting.”

Bernie looked at him. “You married me.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

Guy glanced at Knox, then at me, then wisely said nothing.

Smart Dragon.

I shrugged into my jacket, checked the pockets out of habit, and found one lint-covered peppermint, a guitar pick, and absolutely zero useful weaponry.

“Perfect,” I muttered. “Armed with breath mints and good vibes.”

Knox opened the front door. Cold desert air slipped into the house.

Beyond the porch, Arrhythmia stretched beneath the night like a secret the world had tried very hard to forget. The Wards flickered in the distance– faint, purple, and far too aware.

Knox stepped outside first. I followed. Behind us, Guy’s voice came low and deadly. “Knox.”

Knox stopped but did not turn around.

“Don’t make me lose you twice.”

For a moment, the old house held its breath. Then Knox looked over his shoulder at his brother. “You won’t.”

It was not a promise he could guarantee. But it was one he meant with everything left in him.

I stepped onto the porch beside Knox, close enough that my shoulder almost brushed his arm. I didn’t touch him. Not yet. But the air between us hummed with that strange, impossible awareness neither of us was ready to name too loudly.

Together, we started down the steps. The tether went quiet. Too quiet.

I felt the absence before I saw it. My Alicorn Sight still shimmered at the edge of my vision, enough to read the world in threads and pulses. The ugly black and red line from Knox’s Hellmark had dimmed until it was barely visible.

For half a second, hope sparked in my chest. Maybe my presence was already confusing it. Maybe getting away from Guy’s house had disrupted whatever route it had been testing.

Maybe…

The Hellmark pulsed once.

I stopped dead.

Knox turned instantly. “What?”

I couldn’t answer. Because the tether wasn’t searching. It wasn’t tasting the Wards or pinging the ambient Magic or scratching at Guy’s Dragon-threaded lock. It had gone still for another reason entirely.