INICIAR SESIÓNFrom her place on the ceiling, Freya watched the arm transform. 'He... Oscar can transform too?'She held out one of her forelegs and examined it closely. It was unmistakably a dragon's claw. But Oscar's was larger and black. It radiated a cold, razor-sharp presence. It was nothing like her own, which glowed with a warm, bright yellow. His claw was so enormous that it dwarfed her entire body.For a brief moment, Freya felt unsettled about her place in the order of things. Then another emotion quietly replaced it: relief.If Oscar could transform as well, then she was not alone. And if Oscar could become a dragon, could the other sisters transform too?She stopped herself. She and Oscar shared no blood. Her transformation had come from the dragon in her dream, that enormous, ferocious creature she had trapped within it.That meant Oscar's transformation had come from somewhere else entirely.Were they the same kind? Was the dragon she had fought in her dream anything like whatever
Freya had only ever seen markings like that on elderly people. They called them age spots. As the skin's metabolism slowed, melanin settled near the surface.Oscar was only eighteen years old. How could his metabolism already be doing that?She did not realize she was crying until a tear slipped down her cheek and landed on the surgeon's hands."Wipe my face. Can't you see I'm sweating?"The attending surgeon assumed it was his own perspiration and barked at the nearest assistant, who hurried over to dab his forehead.Then he looked back at the wound. "Wait. Is this the suture line I just placed?"He frowned. If he remembered correctly, the tissue margins had been badly compromised. The exposed edges had turned necrotic, the kind of damage that made precise alignment almost impossible.He had been forced to separate viable tissue from dead tissue because stitching dead tissue to living tissue would only lead to rejection and prevent healing.However, the wound in front of him n
Freya went rigid. Every limb locked in place. The cold that swept through her was worse than the shock of seeing herself in a mirror for the first time.Oscar had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and then the family had thrown him out.She thought about the condition of the villa, and everything suddenly fell into place. It was no wonder Rebecca had been targeting the sisters. There was far more to it than Freya had realized.The sisters had driven out a Draconox Archon who already knew he was dying.Of course he had come back for them. How could he not?Guilt settled over Freya with crushing weight.When someone stood at death's door, even the worst among them was remembered for the good they once did. And Oscar had never been anything but good to them.She felt complicit, like one of the people who had put him in this position. She had only agreed with Amara's decision. She had only raised her hand. Yet, in that moment, it felt as though she had cast the deciding vote o
"You know how it is. A person's life might stretch to 70 or 80 years, but the moments that truly matter, the ones that stay with you, are only a handful."Your brother was an Archon of the Draconox Order. Everything he did during those years was witnessed. It meant something. His life was short, yes, but he lived more fully than most people do in eighty years."Rebecca cried even harder. Celeste's words sounded exactly like something someone would say at a funeral. Was Oscar really beyond saving?Neither of them noticed what clung to the ceiling just outside the emergency room doors. A small yellow dragon hung there, watching.'Oscar is a Draconox Archon? He has a terminal illness? He's not going to live past 25?' Freya could not make sense of it. 'When did any of this happen? Before he was driven out of the family? Or after?'It had to be after. While he had been living with them, he had been full of energy. He had never shown a single sign that anything was wrong. He could not h
Rebecca stood in Silverton First Hospital, tears streaming down her face as sobs wracked her body. "How did this happen? How did this happen?"The moment she saw him, she could not bring herself to believe her eyes.Was that Oscar?He looked like a man on the brink of death. He had only just turned 21, yet the person lying before her looked older than her grandfather.His hair had thinned. His skin had turned gray and papery. One of his arms was gone.George stood beside her, consumed with guilt. "It's my fault. My fault. I heard something upstairs and didn't think anything of it. But someone got into Oscar's room and cut off his arm. The strange thing is, there were no signs of a struggle. He couldn't have done it to himself. Or... could he?"George kept returning to the same impossible question as he watched helplessly while Oscar was wheeled into the emergency unit."It's my fault. Why was I wasting time chasing after the Chamberlain sisters? Why should I care what happens to
"I have to still be dreaming. There is no other explanation for any of this."Freya considered slipping back into the dream, back to that other place.Then she thought of the yellow dragon that had invaded her mind. It looked nothing like this. It was enormous, overwhelming, bearing down on her entire dream world with the weight of something ancient and furious."No. I'm not going back there." She gave her small body a shake, launched herself into the air, and looped around the room.Then something felt off. She slowed to a stop.This was the Chamberlain villa. Why did it look like a dump?She drifted from room to room. Every one of them had been reduced to a wreck. Only Arthur's room remained untouched, with everything exactly where it belonged.A quiet panic tightened in her chest."Where are my sisters? Where is everyone?"Anyone who had seen her on stage would have thought she was composed, cool, and untouchable. In private, she had always been the most dependent of them all
'How did Amara end up siding with Jason and turning on Irene?' Giana wondered.Giana nodded. "Fine. Mountain and sea it is.""Yes!"They shook on it, packed their bags in good spirits, and went to bed.Just as sleep began to take hold, Irene's eyes opened. "Wait, Giana. If we leave, what happens
The park Oscar had in mind sat beside an old residential block. The moment Rebecca stepped in, she understood why he said the Chamberlains would never go there.The buildings were worn down. The layout made no sense. The paths were cracked and uneven.Only a handful of people lingered nearby. Elde
The moment Amara stepped out of the venue, she exuded a chilly aura. "Find out who put Rebecca Miller in that chair. Use whatever means necessary."Did anyone truly think she was calm? She had been slapped in front of that many people. She had endured it for the sake of the family. That was the onl
Rebecca arrived at school intending to sit through class and study. She had not expected Oscar to send her in like this.The moment she stepped through the gates, the scene resembled a celebrity arrival on campus. Bodyguards cleared a path ahead while a makeup artist followed behind, touching up he







