Chapter 36
REGAN
Kage’s wolf burst through Bloodwing’s gates like a winter storm made flesh.
It had been the work of a moment. One second, Kage stood before me, a highblood man.
The next, he was a silvergray wolf, the size of a carriage horse.
He’d hardly spoken to me since we’d left the tower.
But now he crouched low enough for me to climb up.
I sat astride, hardly believing where I was.
A wolf was like a dragon in one regard: It had no reins, no saddle.
I couldn’t even imagine suggesting such things.
So instead, my fingers sank deep into the rough scruff at his shoulders, and my thighs pressed onto his back, as his muscles pounded beneath me.
We hit the causeway leading towards the city at a dead run.
Already, blightborn refugees clogged the road.
Families dragging worn carpet bags and heavy trunks.
Mothers clutching wailing infants, and fathers holding children by the hand.
One woman drove a wagon, one side of her face horrifically burned.
Behind her crouched twenty or more terrified-looking children, many of whom were also burned and bleeding.
Kage barreled through the crowd. Some people screamed at the sight of him.
They were heading to Bloodwing, I realized.
Four gates lay on each side of the city, one led to the three causeways connecting the mainland to the Sanctum, the Black Keep, and Bloodwing.
I looked across the water and in the distance saw the causeway to the Sanctum was similarly clogged.
Only the bridge to the Black Keep was empty.
I glanced behind me at Bloodwing’s red facade, wondering what kind of reception they’d be greeted with when they got there. For a moment, I thought of sliding off Kage’s back and returning to the school.Without me, what would the Bloodguard do to these people?
Someone else would step up, I reminded myself. They already were. Someone far more capable than I—Rodriguez, Pendragon, even Visha. They’d welcome these people. They’d shield them.
Guilt pricked inside my chest as a woman passing by saw my face. She gasped and pulled back, holding her baby to her breast in fear. These people weren’t merely afraid of Kage. They knew me. It was my face they were afraid of.
I twisted, looking back at her as we crossed over to the mainland, longing to shout apologies.
Knowing my voice would be lost on the wind—and that it was useless.
A lump was in my throat. It was hard to fight the urge to dismount.
To help lift a fallen child. To lead the people to the school and fling open the doors.
To apologize for what my archon had wrought.
But what blightborn in their right mind would accept my apology?
We passed another group of refugees. They darted to the side, recoiling from the wolf and me.
Kage must have sensed my regret, his ears flattened as if to say he understood.
Then a growl rumbled up my legs—a warning to stay alert.
I faced forwards as we approached the city.
If I never came back from this, I decided, then at least I would fall trying to stop Viktor from ever returning, too.
If I could do that, then Persis would truly be safe.
Maybe this was the only way he ever would.
Veilmar loomed, a city painted in shades of flame.
Above the rooftops, a terrible duel was being waged.
Nyxaris’s obsidian scales sped across the sky.
I watched as the Duskdrake drove the Inferni back with bursts of fire.
From this distance, I couldn’t see Florence.
Was she still clinging to Nyxaris’s back, or had Blake’s dragon thrown her to the ground?
The red dragon fought like a terrible god, screaming and swooping through the sky.
I watched in horror as the Inferni descended, plunging through a crowd of panicked people, and tossing some up into his jaws before speeding upwards again.
Splatters of blood rained down. I imagined I could hear the crunch of bones, and my stomach heaved.
How could this beast be the Blake Drakharrow I knew? How could this have happened to him?
We were inside the city now. Kage raced on.
Around us, stores where I’d once shopped for clothes and trinkets were now piles of gray rubble.
We passed a shop still standing. I glimpsed my reflection in the shattered front window: a highblood girl with blood on her forehead, silver hair streaming as she held onto a wolf’s back.
My father would say what I was doing was madness, sheer folly.
That I was betraying our family. So why did it feel like destiny?
Kage picked up his pace, leaping over piles of debris, every stride jolting through my spine.
We passed a street full of highblood mansions, each one toppled to the side like books fallen over on a shelf.
A burning rafter crashed down in a spray of sparks.
Kage leaped to avoid it. I leaned down, pressing my cheek to the heat of his neck and closing my eyes.
His breath came in savage gusts. A low thunder rumbling from his chest.
We turned, taking a corner at a breakneck pace, and raced onto Bloodwine Square—or what was left of it.
The street was the pinnacle of Veilmar highblood society.
Now only a few of its lavish manors remained standing.
The Avari compound was at the center of palatial dwellings, a grand and luxurious white marble mansion.
Only now, jagged ribs of marble sat where the compound used to be.
In the center lay a crater, surrounded by smoldering wreckage.
Kage stopped so suddenly that I fell forward against his shoulders with a gasp.
He threw back his head and howled, pacing towards the crater’s edge, tail lashing.
“They might not have been here,” I whispered. “Perhaps they’ve all fled. They might have escaped.”
The wolf’s answer was a raw snarl.
“Kage,” I breathed, laying a hand upon his neck. “Look.”
Above, the two dragons had been clashing against a background of stars. Now I watched as the Inferni sped away from the city, the dragon’s pace slower than before. He angled out towards the open sea without turning back. Could this possibly be over?
“Nyxaris must have driven him off.” Relief flooded through me.
But Kage clearly did not share the same sentiment. With a growl, he bounded forward, clearly furious at the thought that Blake might be getting away and intent on revenge.
“Wait,” I cried, my fear spiking. If we chased after Blake now, we’d never find Viktor. Kage seemed to sense my panic and skidded to a halt just in time.
“Kage, look!” I shouted, pointing upwards.
A new silhouette tore through the sky like a jet of blood: a second Inferni. But this one’s wings were veined with black. I didn’t have to guess where the second dragon had come from or who it was. I could feel my archon’s malice rolling off it.
“Viktor,” I whispered. I stared at the blackened veins. Was this the same kind of corruption that had infected highbloods?
Kage held very still, his ears laid flat.
The sight of the tainted Inferni filled me with dread.
Whatever happened, I knew one thing: I wasn’t going back to the Black Keep.
I would never lie on my back for Viktor again.
I would never again do his bidding in a vain quest for power. That Regan died tonight.
“Please. Viktor is the one behind this. Whatever Blake has done, Viktor is truly to blame. We have to stay. We have to help stop this.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I won’t be dragged back to him. I’d rather die.” I paused, my voice choking. “If we can stop him, then my brother …”
The wolf turned his head, amber eyes looking back into mine with gentle understanding.
Then his muzzle brushed my thigh. He bounded forward.
We climbed shattered terraces, leaping over fallen rooftops, making our way higher and higher until I realized where Kage was going: the Peacebringer’s Hill.
It was the highest ground in Veilmar. He ran up the hilltop, claws scrabbling over grass.
Usually the hill was a parklike place, full of people.
Now it was deserted. The green slopes stretched out, broken only by cob-blestone paths and cultivated gardens.
It seemed as if it was one of the few places in the city that remained unscathed.
From atop the perch of the hill, we watched a new battle play out as Viktor’s darker, red dragon flew after Nyxaris, cruelty and corruption in every beat of his wings.
The Duskdrake streamed across the heavens to meet him, jaws spreading wide, his fire burning so hot it appeared white.
He wasn’t taking any of Viktor’s bullshit.
Florence’s dragon seemed intent on annihilating my archon—and I found myself holding my breath, silently cheering them on.
Torrents of fire hit Viktor like a siege, flames splashing against the Inferni’s chest and lighting up his scarlet scales.
We could hear the Inferni’s shrieks from where we stood.
I sucked in a breath as Viktor dove straight for Nyxaris’s throat.
For a moment the two dragons thrashed together, their bodies intertwined, and I thought the battle was over, that Nyxaris couldn’t withstand the onslaught.
Then I saw a crossbow bolt glimmer in between blasts of fire.
One little silver pinprick arced upward—hammering straight into Viktor’s chest.
“Florence!” My face was wet. Beneath me, Kage’s hackles bristled with anticipation.
I dug my fingers into his soft scruff, feeling every thrum within his chest. Above, Nyxaris exhaled in a molten wall of fire.
The flames rolled over Viktor, clinging and chewing through scale and flesh.
The red dragon thrashed, beating at the flames, but I could see it was no use.
A huge, ragged hole was blooming in the center of one wing.
“Fall, you bastard,” I whispered, my palms tingling against Kage’s fur. “Burn and fall.”
Viktor roared, and I shivered. His dragon tail whipped, his ruined wing convulsing and shriveling in on itself. Then, in a rush of smoke and embers, the Inferni began to drop. He pitched down, nose first, spiraling once, twice, flames streaming from his wounds like a corrupted falling star.
My eyes widened. “Kage!”
The trajectory of his fall was clear—Viktor would land at the bottom of the hill, no more than a hundred paces down the slope from us.
The great silver wolf spun, paws skidding on loose stones in his eagerness. We bolted down the hillside towards the descending dragon.