46. Kaisner
KAISNER
C haos erupts as Nikolaas and I tear through the defenses, magic and gunfire alike ricocheting off our scales. My eyes scan the buildings, frantic, searching for any sign of Clarissa.
Then, as though answering an unspoken prayer, I hear her voice in my mind.
“Kai? Is that you?”
Relief floods me, so overwhelming it’s almost painful. “I’m here, baby girl,” I project, hoping she can grasp the depth of my love, my determination. “Nikolaas is with me. We’re getting you out.”
Through our bond, I sense her—her location. A windowless room at the heart of the compound. With a roar, I change direction, plowing through walls and guards in my desperation to reach her.
Nikolaas provides cover, his bursts of flame keeping the bulk of the Mahindra forces at bay. But I can’t focus on anything but her.
Smoke billows in the distance—sharp, acrid, tinged with the scent of burning metal and something more sinister—scorched magic. I can smell blood beneath it. I can hear the crackle of wards being shattered under brute force.
The Mahindra compound looms ahead like a festering wound in the middle of the forest, hidden beneath layers of illusion and glamour. But those spells are useless now.
I slice through the sky with my wings stretched wide, each beat sending shockwaves that ripple down through the trees. Below, Mahindra’s guards scatter as roaches, their magic useless against the fury I bring. They weren’t expecting a dragon. Certainly not two.
Nikolaas flies ahead, his golden scales gleaming. He dives with deadly precision, strafing the perimeter in calculated bursts of fire—targeting weapon caches, guard towers, anything that could slow us down. This was supposed to be a strike-and-rescue. Distraction, not destruction.
But then I see it—how his fire lingers, how he doubles back to obliterate a watchtower that was already crumbling. Power surges from him, relentless, uncontrollable, growing hotter by the minute.
Nik’s not just destroying. He’s incinerating.
He’s off plan.
I snarl low in my throat.
He lands with a roar and launches himself through the eastern wall of the compound, tearing through an entire barracks with the force of his impact. Stone, steel, bodies—all of it erupts into a blaze of fire. His dragon is free. Unbound.
So, this is it. The Draken Curse. The whispered flaw that could lead to his fall.
I can’t worry about that now. Clarissa’s heartbeat pulses through our bond—weak but steady. Still here. Still alive. And close.
I zero in, cutting through the smoke like a blade. The compound is a maze of hidden rooms and corridors, but I’ve studied the plans. I know exactly where they’d keep her.
I find the building. The last one still standing.
With a snarl, I beat my wings and dive.
The roof rips apart beneath my talons. Reinforced beams snap like twigs under the force of my attack. Rubble and dust rain down into the room below—and through it all, I see her.
Clarissa.
Disheveled. Pale. Eyes wide in shock.
But alive.
Her arms lift weakly, reaching for me through the falling ash. “Kai!”
Her voice spears straight through me—raw, hoarse. My name on her lips is a prayer and a lifeline.
I land in the debris and shift instantly—my dragon form folding into my human shape in a burst of searing heat. Flesh replaces scales, but my obsidian wings remain, sheltering her from the world as I fall to my knees beside her.
She’s crumpled in the corner, bruises blooming along her jaw, hair tangled. I pull her into my arms, holding her close. She’s warm. Real. Breathing. The feel of her against my chest nearly brings me to tears.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, my voice breaking, “You’re safe now. I’m taking you home.”
Looking at her, limp but alive, I understand the truth that remade me: I was born in darkness, raised in shadow, forged in fire—but she, she taught me how to fly.
I kiss her forehead, her hair, her temple—over and over, desperately soaking in the essence of her. The bond thrums between us, faint but unbroken.
Outside, the compound quakes again—an explosion echoes nearby. Nikolaas roars in the distance, shaking the earth. I sense the heat of his rampage climbing like a fever. We’re not out of danger yet.
We need to move.
I cradle her face, gently, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Clarissa, do you trust me?”
She nods without hesitation, her voice rough but clear. “Always.”
With that, I shift again, careful to keep her close, holding her against me as I take flight.
We burst from the building, Clarissa secure in my grasp.
She curls against me instinctively, her heartbeat steady against my chest. Nikolaas soars ahead, a golden inferno against the dark sky that turns the treeline into molten ruin.
His wings slice through the smoke, fire spilling from his jaws in blinding arcs.
He’s not targeting strategic positions anymore.
He’s cleansing the entire forest of Mahindra taint.
Below, the compound is nothing but a charred ruin.
I grit my teeth, flaring my wings as we rise higher. “Enough,” I snap, projecting my thoughts to Nikolaas. “They’re gone. Pull back.”
But he doesn’t answer. Or won’t. His dragon is in full berserker mode now, leaving a path of devastation in its wake—charred earth, shattered towers, smoke coiling skyward in mourning spirals. The gold in his scales still glows with anger.
I let out a sharp cry—a burst of draconic sound only he can hear. Nikolaas finally notices. He jerks in mid-air, wheeling to my side, eyes burning with residual fury.
“Enough,” I growl again, my voice a thunderclap in the wind as I lock eyes with Nikolaas across the rising thermal. “She’s safe. It’s done.”
For a breathless instant, his wings falter mid-beat. Then, slowly, reluctantly, he begins to ascend beside me—his fire dimming, though not extinguished. He’s not ready to stand down. Not fully.
And neither am I when I see him.
Viktor Mahindra.
Amid the smoldering wreckage of his stronghold, he stands—blood streaking his temple, flanked by two wounded men. They’re cloaked in enchantments, flickering like torn veils in the smoke. His stance is defiant.
He’s daring us to finish what we started.
My dragon stirs inside me, wings snapping wider. Fire builds in my chest, a vow. One blast, it whispers. One well-placed strike and we could end him. End this. Burn the rot from its root.
But then I feel her.
Clarissa stirs faintly in my hold, her fingers curling against my scales like a whisper. Her heartbeat flutters—unsteady but strong.
I look back at Viktor, his defiant silhouette standing among ash and ruin, taunting me.
Not today, I tell the beast inside. He’s not worth risking her.
With a growl, I wrench my gaze from him, fire still thrumming in my chest. Later, I promise. Later, when she’s safe and whole, I will come back. I will finish this.
Nikolaas catches the direction of my stare. His fury flares anew, and for a moment, I think he’ll turn and descend—to deliver the killing blow I’m resisting. But I snap my wings wide in warning and bare my fangs. “ No.”
His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t argue. He knows the risk. She comes first.
Together, we rise.
The canopy shrinks beneath us, nothing but fractured treetops and smoking ruin. The compound is gone—just a scar on the forest floor. The wind bites cold at this altitude, but I feel only the warmth of her pressed to my chest.
Clarissa stirs again, her cheek brushing the curve of my scales. Her voice doesn’t form words, but I hear her spirit reaching out to me through the bond, even if dim. Even broken, she’s with me.
And that’s what matters.
What remains now is awe—sharp-edged and humbling. We came for rescue.
Nikolaas brought retribution. But I… I chose restraint. I chose her.
We burst above the clouds, veiled by mist and sky and enchantment. I cloak us with old magic—stealth and silence woven into the air. Below us, the world still burns, but we rise untouched.
Clarissa is safe.
She’s in my arms, where she belongs.
And though Viktor Mahindra may walk away today, he will not forget the day two dragons blackened his sanctuary and stole back what was never his to take.
I swear it—on fang, on flame, on the bond I share with her—I will never let her go again.
Not while I breathe.
Not while I burn.