That realization landed harder than the first strike. That knowledge could only have come from someone who had watched me long enough to map my instincts.
I forced distance with fire. The heat slammed into the far wall hard enough to shake sigils loose. The wards that protected this chamber screamed as they destabilized. One assassin took the impact and rolled through it. The other closed the gap immediately. A weighted chain snapped around my side and bit deep where my scales thinned.
Pain registered, but I set it aside as the chamber started coming apart. Stone cracked. Dust poured from the ceiling. The space was too small for my wings, too unstable for my mass. My attackers stayed close on purpose, forcing me to fight, folded in on myself.
Behind me, Artemis made a startled sound. Every priority reordered itself in that instant. The fight ceased being about survival or secrecy. It became singular.
One assassin shifted his stance. His next movement would take him past my shoulder instead of into me.
Toward her.
I crossed the space without thought. Talons found purchase, and I ended it quickly. There was no room for restraint with her here. When it was done, I turned my head to confirm her position.
She was still behind me.
I reached for her mind, keeping the connection narrow and controlled. “Turn around. Staywhere you are.”
She complied immediately and acted as if my voice was something she could safely rely on.
My wings scraped stone as I adjusted. The chamber had been built for humans, not for dragons my size. The remaining attackers knew it. They pressed inward, forcing compact movements, denying me leverage, denying me height.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted a smaller figure. It wasn’t one of the original two. The figure was faster and leaner.
I didn’t have time to track it.
The second assassin struck while my focus was split.
Claws slid between my scales along my ribs and found a seam I couldn’t guard in this space. Pain tore through muscle and deeper still. I absorbed it and twisted, angling my body so Artemis wouldn’t see the damage.
A support beam gave way overhead. Stone dropped near her position, shattering one of the crates. Artifacts spilled across the chamber, scattering underfoot.
She moved toward the journals.
She grabbed the one we’d been studying without pausing, shoved it into her bag, then kicked a fallen panel into place to shield what remained. No hesitation. No wasted motion. Competence under fire. Pattern recognition applied instantly.
Good girl.
The remaining assassin circled, his wings tucked, weight low. He watched my footwork, my tail, the timing of my turns. He waited for the step I always took when compensating for injury.
I altered it.
Fire gathered in his throat.
“Arthur!” Her voice cut clean through the noise. “Left. Now.”
Every instinct resisted. The floor there was fractured. The angle exposed my injured side. My wing would scrape stone.
I moved anyway.
The assassin lunged for the opening I had just abandoned. Another support beam gave way above him. The stone crashed down with brutal force, pinning him beneath it before he could react.
I used the momentum of the turn and drove my shoulder into him, crushing what remained of his guard as the pillar collapsed fully.
She had seen the stress lines. The failing load.
I hadn’t.
After that, I stopped questioning. When she spoke, I moved. When she pointed, I committed. My size stopped working against me and started working for us. The fight shifted, not because I gained strength, but because I was no longer trying to manage it alone.
