Page 12 of A Court of Darkness and Dragons

I looked up sharply. “I can’t feel him.”

Kaelith’s pupils narrowed. My link to the others is faint. Faint, but still there. She lifted her head, her thoughts sharpening. I’ll try to reach Hein through our mate bond. It’s deeper. He may feel me, even from this distance.

I swallowed hard. “Kaelith… what happened back there?” My voice cracked despite myself. “That wasn’t just magical backlash.”

She didn’t answer immediately. Her great head turned toward the veil, nostrils flaring as she sniffed the air again.

It was a strike, she said finally. Like being hit with every part of your magic at once, and then having it stolen. She looked back at me. I’ve flown through arcane storms. Survived fae blight and blood tempests. This—her wings twitched again—this was worse. I was anchored to you when it hit. It tried to separate us. Tried to unravel us.

My stomach knotted. “It nearly did.”

She exhaled slowly, the heat brushing my face like a warning. This veil… it feeds on something. I don’t think it’s just a magical prison. It’s alive in its own way. Reactive.

“Then how do we break it?”

Kaelith’s eyes shimmered with fractured light. There are a few ways, she said carefully. None of them are safe.

I leaned forward. “Tell me.”

Find the anchor. She gestured toward the base of the smoky shimmer. Whoever cast this, weakened or not, left a tether. A spell like this always has a center. A heart. If we find it and disrupt it, the barrier may collapse.

I nodded slowly. “And the other options?”

You use Severeth’s mark again. But this time… intentionally. Let the wild magic take shape. Guide it rather than resist it.

I stared at the silver brand glowing faintly on my skin. “That almost destroyed me.”

Yes, she said. It may again.

My jaw tightened. “And the third?”

Kaelith didn’t speak at first. Her eyes flicked to the sky, toward where Warriath lay beyond the horizon.

We wait. Call the others. Try again together. Dragon fire. Fae magic. Our bond. Maybe all of it combined can unravel the weave.

I exhaled hard, standing slowly, blade still gripped in my hand.

The veil rippled again.

Behind it, I swore I saw a flicker of red. Just for a moment.

“I don’t think we have time to wait.”

The mark on my shoulder still pulsed. Like an echo waiting to be answered.

I stared at the veil, jaw tight, breath ragged. The red shimmer I’d seen within had vanished, but I knew what I saw. Siergen was in there. Trapped. Alone. Maybe dying.

I touched the silver mark with my other hand and let my power rise again, hesitating only for a heartbeat.

Then I stepped forward.

“Kaelith,” I said quietly, “I’m going to use it.”

I’m not sure that is the best recourse. Her answer came immediately. It nearly unmade you.

“But it reacted to the barrier. That wasn’t a coincidence. It’s connected somehow. Severeth gave it to me for a reason—maybe this was it.”

She didn’t answer. Her hesitation was answer enough.