The Dragon Slayer's Queen
The world outside the spiral is gone. There’s only the circle and the storm.
Zayla stands at the center, the ground beneath her stripped raw by wind and power. Her hands are ringed in violet fire, fingers splayed, every nerve alive with the memory of her own bones breaking and rebuilding. Beside her—no, behind her, because Ari insists on a formation—Bella shudders with cold so intense it eats the sound out of the air. Scales creep along Bella’s forearms and up her neck, dark and bright by turns. For a half-breath, Zayla is terrified of her, and then the fear passes; Bella is family, whatever else she might become.