Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kaelith’s tail split with a sickening, fluid sound, like bone and steel being sheared apart and reborn all at once. A second scythe unfurled beside the first, curved and deadly, glowing faintly with a violet sheen that shimmered like lightning through smoke.
Silence rippled through the Ascension Grounds.
And then, panic.
The guild members stumbled backward, weapons half-raised, but no one dared get too close. Even Iron Fang, smug and unshakable, looked ready to bolt.
Hein took a step forward, low and unhurried, a soft rumble in his chest. He was trying to calm her.
But Kaelith turned her head, and those blazing eyes narrowed before she exhaled.
Flames poured from her mouth like liquid rage, licking the sky, forcing Hein to veer off and land with a grunt. He didn’t challenge her. He wouldn’t. Because she wasn’t just posturing anymore.
She was done hiding.
Done pretending she was anything less than what she was always meant to be.
A beast born of chaos and purpose.
The major stumbled back two steps, his face pale and ashen, his hand trembling at his side. “By the gods…” he whispered, but it was swallowed by the gasps and shouts from behind him.
Palace guards spilled from the castle, swords drawn, shields raised—but froze mid-charge the second they saw her.
Kaelith, the largest in the Thrall, now stood with two tails, each ending in wicked, mirrored scythes. She didn’t roar again; she didn’t need to. She simply lifted her wings and looked at them, her shadow stretching long across the stones like a warning written in flame.
Back. Away.
And they did.
My knees buckled.
The ground tilted, and I barely caught myself.
My vision blurred at the edges, and I sucked in a breath—no, several shallow ones—because Kaelith wasn’t just evolving.
She was feeding.
Off me.
My magic. My core. My everything.
Kaelith… stop…
She didn’t respond.
I could feel her in my veins, her fire burning through me like molten Stormlight, and I realized with bone-deep certainty—
She hadn’t just chosen to show them who she was.
She’d chosen to become what they feared.
And I didn’t know if I had the strength to stop her.
“You’re killing her. Rein it in, now!” Zander’s voice cracked like a whip across the Ascension Grounds.
The words punched through the haze.
Kaelith’s head snapped toward him, smoke curling from her nostrils in a warning. Her eyes blazed, molten violet with fury and something else—something wounded. She growled low and deep, a sound that vibrated through the marrow of my bones.
But Hein stepped forward.
This time, he wasn’t backing down.
He came to stand beside Zander, his massive silver bulk grounded and sure, his presence a wall of steel and restraint. His wings flared wide, and a single guttural huff rumbled from his chest, not a challenge, but a demand.
That’s enough.
Kaelith’s eyes shifted. From Hein, to Zander, then finally… to me.
My body was shaking. My breath barely coming. My magic felt like it had been wrung out of me like a cloth soaked in flame. I forced myself to meet her gaze, even as my knees began to buckle beneath me.
She blinked.
Once.
And something in her expression fractured. The fierce glow in her eyes dulled, her wings dipped ever so slightly. She looked surprised.
As if she hadn’t realized.
As if she hadn’t known what she was doing to me.
Her magic recoiled from mine like a tide yanked back by the moon. The tether that had burned white-hot moments ago suddenly quieted—dimmed to a soft thrum in the back of my chest.
Ashe…
Her voice in my mind was tentative, uncertain. There was no pride in it. No fury. Only confusion. Regret.
I took a shaky breath, dropping to one knee and planting my hand on the stone, grounding myself as the spinning world began to slow.
“I’m okay,” I rasped, more to Kaelith than anyone else.
Zander was already at my side, his hand bracing my arm, his expression torn between rage and worry. “She didn’t know,” I said softly. “She didn’t mean to.”
“She nearly drained you dry,” he snapped, his voice shaking.
Kaelith lowered her head, her enormous form crouching just enough that her snout hovered near mine.
I will not let it happen again, she whispered.
And I believed her.
Because her fire wasn’t meant to burn me.
It was meant to protect me.
Siergen’s steps were nearly silent, but the weight of his presence drew my gaze before he even reached me. The other guild members were still huddled at the far edge of the Ascension Grounds, whispering like frightened sheep beneath the watchful eyes of dragons.
He stopped just a few paces away, his red scales glinting with the subtle glow of lingering embers. Kaelith did not understand the bond you and she share, he said, his voice brushing gently against my mind. It is new to her.
“I know.” My voice was hoarse, my throat raw from the surge of power that had almost consumed me.
Most dragons fuel their riders’ magic, he continued, stepping closer, his tail flicking across the stone. But a Shiftling… must take power from their rider to alter their appearance. At least in the evolution stage of their development.
I blinked, trying to absorb what that meant, my body still trembling with exhaustion. “She needs me… to change forms?”
For now, yes. In time, she will stabilize and be able to make that transformation on her own.
“She never changed because…” I swallowed, understanding dawning like cold lightning in my veins. “She didn’t have a rider.”
Not one she was compatible with, Siergen said, his tone pointed but evasive.
Not one she’d chosen. Not one who could anchor her.
I stared at Kaelith, the impossible glow of her twin-scythe tails curling protectively around her body. She looked nothing like the dragon who once refused to even acknowledge me.
Zander knelt beside me, his hand brushing against my back. “Are you alright?”
I turned to him, the weight of Kaelith’s magic still humming in my bones. “I think so,” I whispered. “But she needs me more than I realized.”
His brow furrowed. “And if she needs too much?”
I met his gaze. “Then I’ll give her what I can. She chose me.”
Zander’s eyes moved toward Kaelith, then back to mine, something stormy and reverent settling in his expression. “Then so will I.”
Major Ledor approached with heavy steps, but it wasn’t me he was watching.
His eyes were locked on Kaelith as if she were a living prophecy made flesh.
Her twin tails twitched lazily behind her, blades gleaming with residual flame.
The guild hadn’t moved any closer; no one dared, but their murmurs carried, rising like the start of a storm.
“She is a Shiftling,” he said, voice quiet but tight with restrained awe.
I nodded once. “But her transformation is in its infancy.”
The major’s brow furrowed, a bead of sweat slipping down his temple despite the cool air. “How is that possible? The Unifier was the last Shiftling recorded in the royal logs. No others survived the fall.”
“She is his clutchmate,” I said evenly. “His sister.”
The words fell like stones into a silent pond.
Gasps and broken whispers rippled through the watching crowd. I could see heads turning, jaws slack. Several cadets crossed their arms as if warding off disbelief, while others simply gawked at the glowing, twin-tailed dragon who stared back with all the calm of a storm waiting to break.
Major Ledor’s jaw clenched. “This is… unprecedented.”
Kaelith’s mind brushed mine with the heat of wild violet fire, her voice a low murmur of amusement. They have no right to question me.
I didn’t respond. I didn’t have to. The proof was standing behind me, larger than life, and I was done hiding who she was. Who we were.
Zander stepped up beside me, his shoulders squared. “Then it’s time to figure out what this means, for all of us.”
And across the Ascension Grounds, I saw it in the eyes of the riders, the commanders, even the distant palace guards.
Everything had just changed.
The horn blasted through the air—sharp, discordant, final.
Every rider stiffened. Dragons turned their heads, nostrils flaring at the sudden call. And then, like a slow-moving shadow bleeding into sunlight, Theron exited the castle.
His robes were darker than usual, trimmed in glinting gold thread, but his eyes—his eyes locked straight on Kaelith’s twin tails. I saw the way his jaw clenched, how the muscles in his neck pulled taut with every step.
He slowed as he reached the edge of the Ascension Grounds. Kaelith’s scythes gleamed in the sun, twin crescents of death coiled behind her, her wings only partially folded. Hein stood beside her, a silent wall of muscle and gleaming silver scale, as if daring Theron to make the wrong move.
Without a word, Theron lifted a hand and motioned toward Zander.
Zander’s shoulders tensed beside me, but he exhaled through his nose and strode forward.
I watched them, my heart thudding with every step Zander took toward his brother.
Theron leaned in when he reached him, and the two began to speak in clipped tones.
I couldn’t hear the words, but I didn’t need to.
Zander’s head shook. Theron’s hands sliced through the air, impatient, furious.
And when Zander stepped closer, his voice raising just enough that I could catch the edge of a syllable, Theron snapped his mouth shut and spun on his heel.
He didn’t look back.
He stalked toward the podium, cloak flaring behind him like a warning banner. Every rider fell silent as he ascended the steps and turned to face us. His eyes were hard. Calculated.
Kaelith growled beside me, her heat rising up like a tide.
I finally stood, my knees protesting, but my spine straightened. Whatever this was… it wasn’t going to be good.