She nodded solemnly, then held up her pinky. “Promise.”
I stared. “What is that?”
“A promise finger.”
I held out a claw. She wrapped her tiny finger around it, sealing something far deeper than she knew.
“Now you go hunt,” she said, patting my hand with authority. “I’ll be right here. Not moving. Not ever forever ever.”
I didn’t like how much relief that gave me. I shifted slightly, letting my wings loosen, then slipped silently into the trees. The northern woods were rich with prey—boar, goat, hare—but I needed something larger. Something that would warm her from the inside out.
I scented the air, and paused.
Another scent carried to me, faint and distant. Barely noticeable as the wind shifted.
Draken. No, drakens.Several.
Tracking us.
My lips peeled back in a snarl.
Two other drakens had joined the red one—their scents unfamiliar but strong. My pulse quickened. For the firsttime in years, excitement warmed my blood. Not fear, but with the opportunity brought by fresh blood and new opponents.
More drakens. More bloodlines. More pieces of a world that had tried to pretend I didn’t belong to.
It would be foolish to kill an animal here; it would only leave behind a trail the drakens could follow. I gathered nuts and berries instead, and other things that wouldn’t truly sustain a draken but would do for now. For her.
I made my way back.
“Veskor?” Perri called softly from behind the rocks.
I whipped my head back.
She peeked at me through her blanket, shivering but smiling. “You were gone a long time.”
I sighed and it was an unclenched, broken thing. “I told you to stay hidden.”
“I did. See?” She proudly pointed at the exact patch of ground where she wasnothiding. “It’s fine,” she added. “You came back.”
My chest tightened painfully.
Yes, I had.
Because something in me had changed the moment her small fingers grabbed mine on that volcano ledge, something ancient and instinctive had snapped into place.
I scooped her up and wrapped her in my wings.
“We have to move,” I muttered.
“OK!” she chirped, unbothered. “Adventure!”
I didn’t correct her.
The mountains rose ahead like jagged black teeth slicing the sky. No witches, no wolves, and nothing but snow and stone and things older than memory.
She pointed at the tallest peak. “Are we going up there?”
“Yes.”
