Page 67 of The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny)

“What message? That we can’t control our pets?”

“That we’re too powerful to need to.”

He considered this. “I hate when you make sense.”

“I know.” I reached up to wipe a smudge of ash from his cheek.

Kazimir approached Nyx, who lowered her head to his level in what could almost be described as contrition. But her eyes glittered with mischief.

“Listen carefully,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “You will not breathe fire on my ship again. You will not disrupt my crew. You will obey Arabella without question. And when we reach the God Spire, you will remain hidden unless we call for you. Break any of these rules, and I will personally ensure you spend the rest of your very long life eating nothing but the blandest fish in the deepest, darkest cave I can find. Are. We. Clear?”

Nyx blinked her silver eyes slowly, then deliberately exhaled a small puff of smoke directly into Kazimir’s face.

He didn’t even flinch. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

Behind us, Sebastian had found a bucket to be sick in—we weren’t even flying yet—while Griffin rattled off calculations about weight distribution and magical resonance. Nyx preened, smug as any cat who’d gotten the cream.

Or dragon who’d gotten her way through arson.

“Excuse me, Lord Blackrose?” Griffin asked. “Should I reinforce the hull’s protective matrix to account for dragon-adjacent thermal fluctuations?”

Kazimir closed his eyes, looking like he was praying for patience. “Yes, Griffin. Do that. Do it quietly. Do it without exploding anything.”

“Of course! I’ll just need some silver wire, a focusing crystal, and—oh, is that a perpetual motion engine? How fascinating!” He was already wandering toward the stern, where several important-looking mechanical components were housed.

“Thorne,” Kazimir said without opening his eyes.

“On it.” The security chief was already following Griffin, one hand hovering near the enchanter’s collar like he was ready to physically restrain him from touching anything vital.

The ship lurched beneath our feet as the anchor chains retracted with a thunderous clank. Nyx, still looking entirely too pleased with herself, settled at the bow like some bizarre figurehead, wings tucked against her sides.

“Prepare for ascension!” Captain Brecca called again. She hadn’t batted an eye at the dragon staying on board. Apparently, serving the Dark Lord meant adapting to chaos.

The crystals embedded in the deck flared to life, pulsing with blue-white power that spread through intricate rune patterns carved into the wood. The ship trembled, and I instinctively grabbed the railing as we began to rise.

“The harmonics are incredible,” Griffin whispered. His gangly form was sprawled on the deck, ear pressed to the wood, long fingers splayed as if trying to absorb the magic through his skin. “It’s like the ship is singing. The resonance frequency must be calibrated to the fifth harmonic of—”

“Griffin,” Kazimir snapped.

The enchanter scrambled to his feet, adjusting his glasses which had gone askew. “I’m merely observing. The way the crystals channel ambient magical energy through the—”

“Quietly,” Kaz said.

Griffin nodded enthusiastically, then immediately began muttering calculations under his breath, his amber eyes wide with delight as he scurried to the nearest crystal to examine it more closely.

The Sky Serpent rose higher, and my stomach dropped as the harbor shrank beneath us. The ships looked like children’s toys, the people mere specks. The city of Azroth’s Claw was a gleaming crescent around the natural harbor. From this height, I could see the fortifications that ringed the outer edges.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, leaning into Kaz as we watched the city fall away.

Sebastian staggered to the railing beside us, his face a concerning shade of green. “The ground… so far.” He swallowed hard, clutching the wood like it was the only thing keeping him from floating away.

“You’re not even rhyming anymore,” I observed. “Progress.”

He shot me a miserable look. “The terror has temporarily overwhelmed the curse.” A small, purple flower bloomed from the wooden railing where his fingers gripped it. “Though apparently not my magic.”

The ship leveled out as we cleared the coastal cliffs, the sea stretching endlessly before us.