Page 6 of A Court of Darkness and Dragons

A roar sounded behind me, hers, but deeper, older. It shook the stones beneath my feet.

But their dragon does not.

The monstrous thing reared back, wings arcing like a crescent moon ready to strike.

Look for the beast who doesn’t bleed.

Then it lunged, and I snapped back into my body, chest heaving, sweat sliding down my spine like ice.

The room was still. Too still.

The fire crackled in the hearth. My hands were shaking.

Kaelith was silent now.

But the echo of her warning coiled in my ribs like a curse.

The beast who doesn’t bleed.

Zander’s hands gripped my shoulders, shaking me hard enough to rattle the air from my lungs. “Ashe—what just happened?”

I blinked, the firelight behind him flickering as if it were still catching up to reality. My mouth was dry, and my heartbeat hadn’t stopped pounding since the vision ended. “Kaelith,” I breathed. “She—she shared a vision.”

His expression darkened. “What kind of vision?”

I swallowed. “There were no people. No soldiers. No riders. Just… burning towers. Warriath was shattered. And this—this thing moving through the smoke. It may have been a dragon once, but…” My voice faltered. “But it wasn’t anymore. It was something else. Something corrupted. It smiled at me, Zander.”

His brows drew tight. “Visions only show possible futures,” he said firmly, though the tension in his jaw said he wasn’t as confident as he sounded.

“Yeah, well, this one pretty much predicted the end of dragons and humanity.” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to suppress the tremble still rolling through my limbs. “Kaelith said the traitor hides in plain sight. But their dragon doesn’t. She said—‘Look for the beast who doesn’t bleed.’”

Zander’s grip on my arms eased, but he didn’t let go. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t come to pass,” he promised, eyes burning with something severe. Resolve. Fear. Fury. All of it. “We always do.”

I nodded, trying to calm my mind, slow my breathing. Breathe, Ashe. Just breathe. But the memory of that creature’s eyes—those twin suns of ruin—was still etched behind my lids like a scar.

And then⁠—

A knock.

Sharp. Twice. Then silence.

I flinched so hard I nearly stumbled.

Zander glanced at the door, then at me. “That’ll be Cade.”

I wasn’t ready. But it didn’t matter.

Whatever was coming… was already here.

The door creaked open, and Cade strolled in as if he had nowhere better to be, cool, collected, irritatingly unfazed. His tunic was half-unbuttoned, his shoulder plates still dusted from a recent ride, and he moved with that lazy arrogance that made my fists twitch.

He barely glanced at me. “You’re still alive. Good to see.”

I stared at him, silent.

Kaelith’s vision burned behind my eyes, the blackened skies, the dragons twisted into something monstrous. I couldn’t shake the image, and now here was Cade, swaggering in with his charming smirk and unreadable eyes.

I didn’t blink. “Cade,” I said evenly. “How were you able to betray Zander and not have Voth barbecue your ass?”