protest, but I was already running toward the clearing. I saw Rowan sprawled on the ground in front of the massive dragon, moving in agony but unburned. The wildweaver’s right hand aimed at Rowan, holding him with mind-bending magic, just as he had held Rory Rey on the bridge beyond the veil.
“Stop!” I screamed with all my lungs.
The wildweaver's eyes snapped to me, followed by his dragon’s green eyes. But he didn’t lower his hand.
“You want me. Let him go,” I said, stepping forward.
“The princess herself. I expected you after toying with your friends. I knew you’d come,” the parasite said, voice giddy, still gripping Rowan’s mind.
“I am almost there,” I heard Lorik’s voice again in my head. But I ignored it, as I did before. I had been imagining his voice in my head since the Dragontail trials started last night. And especially now, I couldn’t afford distractions.
The wildweaver kept mind-bending Rowan, so I sent a burst of fire magic toward the dragon and its master while rushing to my friend. My attack forced the wildweaver to turnhis attention from Rowan to me, finally releasing Rowan from his mental grip.
I dropped beside Rowan, urgency ripping through me as I cast a fire dome around us. He seemed physically unharmed after a quick frantic scan, but as I caught sight of his face, eyes wide, tears tracing paths down his cheeks against the fiery-lit sky. I saw true terror. The parasite’s mind tricks had frozen him from the inside out.
“Can you move, Rowan?”
Rowan nodded, not meeting my gaze. “Go, Rowan. My flames will cover you.”
He nodded again, shaky and pale. As we rose together, I surged the fire dome into a wall of flame, my final protection between Rowan and certain death. My chest burned with anxiety as he ran, never looking at me, disappearing into the sequoias. I prayed he would make it.
I pushed the wall of fire toward the dragon and its rider, but it did no damage. When the flames faded, both sets of green eyes stared at me, unharmed and waiting.
“Stall, as I get your friends to safety,” Lorik’s voice resonated again in my head, louder this time. I didn’t understand what was happening. But something deep inside me told me to trust that voice, so I did as he said.
“I thought your master didn’t want me dead, yet here you are, terrorizing my friends and killing one of us,” I confronted the wildweaver, voice firm and steady.
“I told you I didn’t agree with my master,” The wildweaver grinned as he lowered himself from the dragon onto the ground. He was taller than me, with firm muscles, wearing his black leather and his black horned mask like armor. “I amdoing what’s best for my people. Killing you will be exactly what we need. The island of Rionis, without a Solenhart heir, will crumble. In fact, it almost did when you became Dragontail, but your mother was brilliant and prevented the fall of the Solenhart era for now.”
Camelia had to be right, the wildweaver knew too much about me, the island, and the court. There had to be spies here, and those spies had let him in. The most terrifying part was that the spy must have connections and power to alter the Auroric Veil, which no dragon had ever breached before.
“If I surrender, will you stop the killing?”
“No,” he responded dry and hard. “Killing you will be just the beginning.”
“You want the island’s heart,” I said, flames rising from my hands. “You won’t have it.” The wildweaver let a loud and wicked laugh out.
“You have no magical traces. And your faction magic cannot defeat me. How do you plan to survive?”
My heart pounded. This parasite knew my powers and weaknesses too well. Still, I held firm.
“Your mind games don’t work on me,” I said, my voice edged and unblinking, even to myself.
“Hang tight, I am almost there. Your friends are safe,” Lorik’s voice sounded in my head.
Instinctively, I moved my head quickly to either side to look for him, but he wasn’t around me. My eyes snapped again to the wildweaver, who was examining me with amusement.
“Interesting,” he purred, arching a brow. He moved closer, eager to study me.
Fire grew larger in my hands. The wildweaver chuckled as magma flew from his hands towards me. Wildweavers could conjure the same magic his dragon had. So, of course, this parasite could wield magma as the crimson creature next to us. My fire would not be an ideal shield for magma, yet I was going to try.
By instinct, I was about to create a dome of fire around myself when Lorik suddenly portaled beside me. He raised a shield of shadow in front of us, blocking both sight and attack from the enemy.
“You’re here,” I breathed, confusion etched on my face, mouth ajar as the world burned.
How had he found me? Had I imagined his voice, or was it real? He couldn’t enter my mind. I was immune to his magic. Wasn’t I?
“I know you have questions,” he said, his lips not moving like when we were in the arena before the dragontail trials started. “But we have no time. Your friends are safe. Now we need to immobilize the dragon, don’t kill her. You know how, Thea.”
