We fall into silence. The kind that’s heavy. Breathless. The kind that knows what’s coming.
I start to shiver.
“Neris,”I whisper inside my mind.“In case I don’t get to say it again… I love you.”
“I love you too, Kass,”she murmurs back.“Not holding my breath, but hey… we do have a habit of surviving the impossible.”
Her tone tries for light. It fails. She’s shaking too.
Just a few minutes later, the world moves.
The ground trembles beneath us, a low rumble building into a boom that echoes through the trees. Smoke spirals into the sky, thick and black.
Sin exhales. “That’s definitely a signal.”
We don’t wait.
Within seconds, I’m airborne — clutching white scales and trying not to fall to my death.
Sin’s dragon form is massive. Wings like torn parchment, muscles shifting beneath glittering scales. I cling to his mane with one hand, the other holding his sword, too big and heavy to keep it straight.
The moment we cross the garden wall, I release a war cry and hell erupts.
Screams. Fire. Chaos.
Sin roars — a sound ripped from the darkest of nightmares — and unleashes a black blaze so hot it melts through stone like butter. The very air ripples with his fury. Trees bow beneath his wings. Shrubs ignite. Glass shatters.
We cut through the air like a blade, a glowing arc of ash and terror straight toward the center of the garden.
That’s where I see them.
Draven and Amira stand in the ruins of what used to be a ceremonial gazebo — now charred wood and shattered stone.
Amira is pacing, panicked, eyes wild.
But Draven… He doesn’t move. Doesn’t even twitch. His eyes glow a dead, angry red. Hollow. Soulless. Like he’s already halfway gone.
The red-headed witch materializes behind him — piecing herself together from his shadow, her hand gripping the leash around his neck like he’s her pet. I hate her. I hate her so fucking much.
Just off to the side, leaning lazily against a tree, stands Sinalyn. Sin’s mate. Watching everything unfold with glee and… smiling like a lunatic.
I narrow my eyes. This ends today.
For all shifter kind. For the entire Kingdom of Yelora. For the world.
But most of all — for my fucking mate.
Chapter 17
Kassira
Sin’s dragon crashes into the garden with the force of a natural disaster — wings slicing through air, claws cracking the earth beneath him. The ground shakes. Trees bow. His roar splits the sky open, daring anyone to come closer. No one does.
Everyone’s already fled. Everyone but the warriors. The ones still under the King’s Command.
“Throw the Shadow Fire!” Sinalyn screams from the edge of the chaos, pointing straight at her mother and sister. “It won’t hurt the King!”
“What do you think you’re doing, you miserable little worm?” Amira screeches at her.
