ANMELDENARAHEEN
Gildeon’s body was already stretched to its limits. If she didn’t act soon, he would be in real danger.
Yadira and Eitan supported her decision. It was Kohina, surprisingly, who opposed her plan to shut down the Prisoner Sigil, arguing that this was not what Gildeon would have wanted.
“He put himself in that situation so you wouldn’t end up in Zephyr’s hands,” Kohina added.
“And if he dies, I won&rs
ARAHEENHer mother had warned her about this. If Zephyr ever forced his way through the sigil, there was only one measure left. It would cost her. She had prayed she would never have to pay it.But right now, there was no other choice.She drew the sigil needle and cut it across the mark hidden on her forearm. The air around her turned sharp and bitter, cold rising fast enough to sting her lungs. Her Awakened core shuddered inside her, then broke loose in violent pulses. Ribbons of teal light tore out of her body in hard, whipping bursts and shot toward Zephyr. They wrapped him from throat to ankle, binding his arms, his chest, his legs, locking him in place like chains forged from raw will.Zephyr’s indigo eyes lit up. His face pulled tight with strain, every line in it hard and furious. Indigo fire bled across his skin as power surged off him in waves, battering against her restraints. He tried to tear through them by force.
ARAHEENThe girl could not have been older than six or seven.Her being here still made no sense to Araheen, though at this point the whole operation had become strange enough that she should have stopped expecting sense from it.“Where’s Zephyr?” she asked.“I can’t let you hurt him.”The child stood her ground when she said it. Small body. Steady eyes. No fear in the words.“Why?” Araheen asked. “Who is he to you?”The girl said nothing.Araheen stepped closer and crouched in front of her. “Little girl, I don’t know who you are, but Zephyr is dangerous,” she explained. “He means to hurt people. He means to tear apart the balance of the natural world. I’m here to stop him.”The girl tipped her head. “He isn’t a bad person.”“How can you say that?”“I know it.&
ARAHEENHer heart lurched the instant Zephyr went still and dropped.“It’s time,” she said quietly.The moment she urged her eagle mount downward, Feviel followed.Araheen caught sight of Gildeon diving too, a black shape cutting through smoke and open air. Below them, Zephyr still had enough strength left to bend the wind around himself, slowing the fall just enough to keep it from breaking him on impact. He hit the rubble-strewn courtyard hard, but not hard enough to die. When Araheen saw him clearly, he was on his knees, sitting back on his heels, arms hanging limp at his sides, head bowed so low the curtain of indigo hair hid most of his face.Gildeon landed in a violent crouch, clawed hand already lifting, ready to tear Zephyr apart. Araheen jumped from her mount before it had fully descended. Air rushed past her as she dropped the last few feet and caught Gildeon by his steaming arm. She stopped him just as
GILDEONAnother sphere. Then two. Then five.They burst from the fog at shifting angles—some high, some low, others vanishing and reappearing through warped currents of steam. Gildeon dodged what he could, hurling his bulk sideways through shattered towers and open sky, but even he couldn’t avoid them all.One struck his shoulder and locked every muscle along that side of his body into a savage convulsion.Another slammed into his ribs and drove white-hot agony through his spine.A third exploded against the membrane of his wing, jolting the entire limb hard enough to throw off his balance.Electricity crawled beneath his scales like living knives.He surged upward to escape the trap.The storm answered.Above him, the unnatural clouds split apart and speared lightning downward in a single blinding strike.It hit him across the back.The force drove throu
GILDEONThe battle above the citadel had turned the sky into a slaughterhouse.Stone towers split apart under the force of it. Steel arches screamed as they tore free from their anchors and plunged into the inferno below. Roofs collapsed. Balconies folded inward. Entire sections of the upper citadel sheared away through smoke and sparks, crashing into courtyards already buried beneath rubble.Fire crawled across shattered walls and licked along beams blackened by dragonfire. Far below, servant sylphs fled in panicked waves toward the outer edges of the citadel, throwing themselves through broken gates and crumbling colonnades before the next collapse buried them alive.And through all of it, Gildeon flew in his dragon form like a living siege engine.He dominated the sky—massive, black-and-gold scales flashing beneath the ruin-lit clouds, each one veined with thin streams of steam bleeding from the fissures between them. Heat
ARAHEENFor two seconds, Theobald just stared.The shock on his face caught her off guard. She had never taken him for a man who cared deeply for anyone beyond his mother and sister. For one brief, stupid beat, she felt sorry for him. If she lost Gildeon without warning, something inside her would die with him.Then Theobald’s mouth flattened. The muscles in his jaw locked so hard they twitched. The surprise burned out of his eyes and left something darker behind—cold, hard, murderously clear. He bared his teeth, let out a low, animal sound, and drove his sword in a brutal sideways cut that sheared through her creature’s hind leg at the joint. Bone cracked. The beast shrieked so sharply it split the air.Pain ripped through Araheen with it.Her knees almost buckled, but the Awakened power raging in her blood took the edge off, turning agony into a hot, manageable throb. She gritted her teeth.Theobald didn&
ARAHNick led her into a chamber with white brick walls, each one painted with intricate sigils. Overhead, constellations were etched into the ceiling, glowing softly like they were alive. The floor was an illusion—one moment it felt like walking on a sea of clouds,
GILDEONHe stared at the floor, exhaling a heavy sigh. Just when he thought the Old Man couldn’t sink lower, he was hearing this. His jaw tightened. Haemos, torturing his own people now? The seers were harmless and devoted. Without them, the salamanders wouldn’t have survi
ARAHThe first thing she revealed was her memory in the Crescent Tower... how her father had tortured Aktaeon and Nalini, all to force them to give up the Dragon’s location. Recounting it had been just as hard as remembering the state Siegfrid and Irmeena were in when they
GILDEONThe day had dragged on endlessly, and he’d never felt so worn out from living like a human. These past few days, it was as if the weight of the world pressed on his shoulders. He was drained, both physically and mentally. Something felt wrong. Was it because he’d b







