Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
The next morning arrived cold and bright, as if the skies had no idea someone might die beneath them.
I met Zander and my squad on the Ascension Grounds just after dawn, the training fields glazed with a thin veil of dew. My breath misted in the air, but my palms were already slick with sweat.
Zander was there before us, arms crossed, speaking quietly to one of the guards before his eyes flicked to me. His gaze held the weight of everything unsaid from the night before, plans whispered in the dark, desperate strategies, the trembling truth between our kisses.
He’d given me every idea he could. How to garner Kaelith’s trust. How to move without magic. How to survive even if she refused me again.
I had slipped back to my barracks early in the morning, padding barefoot and sore through stone hallways, the taste of Zander still clinging to my lips. No one said anything. Not even Riven, who met my eyes briefly but just handed me my boots in silence.
Jax and Ferrula were already outside when I arrived, side by side, near the weapons racks, their shoulders brushing like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I caught the small smile Ferrula gave him and felt a surprising twist of relief.
At least someone was getting something good out of this mess.
We all assembled quickly, tension crackling through the air like flint, ready to catch.
Major Ledor stepped forward, his red-trimmed cloak snapping in the wind as he surveyed the gathered squads. His gaze swept over us once, then over the gathered ranks behind Crownwatch, Stormforge, Warborn.
“You are dismissed,” he said.
They didn’t hesitate.
Crownwatch was gone first, their disciplined formation vanishing into the castle. Stormforge followed, glancing back at us with the grim curiosity of those who already knew what was coming. Even Warborn didn’t linger.
But Remy didn’t move.
And neither did Zander.
The major’s eyes lingered on them with unspoken meaning, but he said nothing. A silent truce.
Then he turned back to the center of the Ascension Grounds, where I stood with my squad at my back.
“There will be a trial by combat,” he announced, his voice cutting through the morning air like a blade. “The rider of Iron Fang, Perin Cochne, has called for a sanctioned duel. And Prospect Ashe Rebec of the Fourth Guild has been named as his opponent.”
The words landed like thunder.
Even knowing they were coming, they still made my pulse spike.
A duel.
Not training. No instruction. Trial by combat.
I stared ahead, jaw clenched, and tried not to let my knees buckle. Tried not to look for Kaelith across the skies.
Because if she didn’t come—
I would be facing this alone.
Major Ledor stepped forward, his boots echoing on the stone with each deliberate step. The wind caught the edge of his crimson-lined cloak as he stood at the center of the Ascension Grounds, hands clasped behind his back like a man delivering a eulogy.
His voice was calm—too calm.
“The duel will be held in two parts,” he announced, gaze sweeping over the assembled riders. “First, an aerial trial. You and your dragon will engage using all sanctioned airborne and magical abilities.”
My heart pounded so hard I could barely hear him.
“You will be judged by your ability to outmaneuver, survive, and counter. The aerial portion ends only when one of you is forced to land… or falls. The aerial portion will take place over the ocean.”
Zander stiffened beside Remy, his fists clenched at his sides. I could feel the tension rolling off him like thunder before the strike.
Major Ledor’s eyes cut to me next, unblinking. “Following the flight, you will dismount. If you are still standing, you will face your opponent in physical combat.”
I swallowed hard.
Two trials.
One designed to break me before I even touched the ground.
“If you struggle in the air,” the major added, his voice sharp, “you’ll be too exhausted to fight. That is the point. This is not training. This is not a show. There are few rules in this duel.”
His gaze narrowed like he could see right through me.
“Simply survive.”
My fingers curled into fists.
Simply survive.
But with Kaelith still silent… and Perin anchored…
Survival felt like a luxury I hadn’t earned.
Kaelith.
Nothing.
The name echoed in my head like a prayer thrown into a storm—no answer, no warmth, just the cold stretch of silence that had followed me for days. My magic stirred restlessly beneath my skin, wild and anchorless. I clenched my jaw and stepped into the center of the Ascension Grounds.
The wind shifted.
A ripple of murmurs spread through the watching squads as the air shimmered with heat, then Kaelith broke through the clouds like a falling star, her massive purple wings carving the sky in wide, angry arcs.
She landed hard, stone scraping beneath her talons.
My heart stuttered. She didn’t look at me. Didn’t speak to me. But she had come.
That was all I had to hold on to.
Perin’s red Swift, Coldrath soared above us seconds later. The dragon was smaller than Kaelith, sleeker, wings designed for speed and short bursts of precision flight. He circled once, then landed with grace, talons scraping the stone as if marking his territory.
Perin turned to face me. The sneer on his face was smug, his eyes burning with that quiet, poisonous arrogance I remembered too well.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
He knew I wasn’t anchored.
And judging by the ease with which he moved, the quiet confidence, the glint in his eye—he was.
I swallowed hard.
As a Tendon Reaver, his magic didn’t need full contact to be dangerous. He could tear the strength from your limbs with a brush. Snap muscles. Shred your control. And now that Coldrath had accepted him fully?
He had more ways than ever to kill me slowly.
I mounted Kaelith with shaking hands and secured the rope around her neck. Her body vibrated with power beneath me, a silent storm waiting to break—but still no voice in my mind. Still no comfort.
She crouched low.
On the other side of the grounds, Perin mounted Coldrath in one fluid motion, not even glancing at me now. He didn’t need to.
He thought he’d won.
Major Kaler raised his voice over the wind. “Riders, to your towers. Prospect Rebec, you will take the Northeast. Cadet Cochne, you will start at the Northwest.”
My gut twisted. The major knew Perin was anchored, and he had still allowed this duel.
Zander’s eyes found mine across the courtyard. He gave the smallest nod.
I nudged Kaelith’s side lightly, and she surged forward, wings flaring wide as we lifted into the air.
The Northeast Tower loomed ahead, cold and tall, the wind howling around its peak. I landed hard on the platform and turned Kaelith toward the open skies.
Opposite us, Perin landed atop the opposite spire, sitting tall in his saddle.
We waited.
The sky stretched between us like a blade about to fall.
The horn ripped through the air, loud and final.
Kaelith launched into the sky like a bolt of amethyst lightning, wings snapping wide with enough force to rattle the tower beneath us.
The wind howled against my face as we soared upward, straight into the open blue where Perin and Coldrath came streaking toward us like a red arrow loosed from a bow.
They were fast.
Too fast.
Zander hadn’t been exaggerating. Coldrath flew like a Swift, darting through the air with impossibly tight turns and quick descents. But Kaelith wasn’t built for finesse.
She was built to dominate.
We climbed higher. Perin twisted to our left, trying to gain position, but Kaelith shifted her wings, folding them briefly before flaring out again, rolling beneath Coldrath with ease. She didn’t need my commands. She moved like she was born for this.
And she was.
Outmaneuver him, I begged silently.
And she did.
Twice she pulled ahead, circling above to cut him off before he could regain altitude. When Coldrath tried to rise again, Kaelith slammed a wall of pressure down on the current, forcing him lower. But Perin didn’t panic. He just grinned.
And then he struck.
A pulse of raw power coiled through the air, red and violent and honed. It wasn’t wind or flame, but something more invasive. Something wrong.
It wrapped around me before I could blink, and every tendon in my arms and legs seized. My fingers curled involuntarily around the rope. My legs locked tight against Kaelith’s body, as if they were trying to fold in on themselves.
I cried out, but it was fleeting.
The magic passed like a whip of barbed wire across my nerves. Sharp. Hot. Gone.
He didn’t touch you, I reminded myself. He can’t touch you in the air.
But gods help anyone he does.
Kaelith snarled, wings pulsing harder. My magic surged, rising from deep inside, angry, wild, but mine. I shoved it outward, the power spilling over my limbs like armor. My tendons loosened, and the tension in my body snapped back into place with a jolt of pain that made me grit my teeth.
You’re not taking me down that easily.
Kaelith banked, our shadow streaking across the clouds like a warning. And this time, we flew straight toward him.
The air screamed around me, my body locked in the rhythm of Kaelith’s wings, but my magic, gods, my magic surged.
Unbidden. Uncontrolled. Wild.
It snapped free from the center of my chest like a tether had been cut, a cyclone of raw energy that coiled through my veins and exploded outward before I could rein it in. Kaelith jerked midair, startled, as the surrounding wind bent and twisted into something violent.
“No—” I gasped, too late.
The blast hit Coldrath like a hammer from the heavens.
A vicious undercurrent of wind slammed into the red Swift’s underbelly, hurling him off course.
He shrieked, wings flailing, and I watched in horror as his sleek form spiraled downward, spinning dangerously close to the jagged black rocks that bordered the edge of the cliffs.
My heart stopped.
No, no, no—