Page 58 of Saving Her Dragon

Saving Her Dragon

Sydney closed her eyes. Inhaling deeply, she held her breath to the count of three, then slowly exhaled.

She prepared herself for a violent descent. She expected a blinding flash of agony, the sensation of falling into a bottomless chasm, or the sudden, suffocating pressure of Dark Sorcery tearing at her soul.

Instead, she felt Garrett.

The immediate reality of him rushed over her senses like a warm wave. The familiar scent of leather, pine, and summer rain filled her lungs. His deep heartbeat reverberated against her palm, and the Mating Bond wrapped around her consciousness with an intense, physical weight. It no longer felt like an abstract spiritual link.

It felt like living armor, bright and unyielding.

Right beside her, the primal presence of Drakara, one of the Original Dragon Queen Twins, flared to life. Kara’s voice was a steady, golden echo in the dark. “Stay with me, my girl.”

“Always,” Sydney whispered back.

The bedroom faded away.

The transition wasn't cinematic or loud. One breath, Sydney was sitting on the cotton mattress, her forehead pressed against her Mate's skin. The next, the air turned freezing, heavy, and thick with the ageless smell of old earth and stagnant water.

The soft sheets beneath her knees were replaced by jagged, uneven stone. There was no bright sun shining through freshly laundered curtains. Everything was dark and dank and disgusting.

Opening her eyes, Sydney drew in a sharp pocket of air as she got to her feet and her boots settled onto the freezing ground. She had officially breached the Threshold. For the first time, she was staring directly at the architecture they had tracked through Han’s fractured memories.

The space was immense, an endless cavern of absolute, velvety shadow where the sky should have been. A ring of five massive, towering pillars of ancient, weathered stone rose from the damp earth. They looked like prehistoric monoliths, their surfaces scarred by centuries of teeth and claws.

Bathed in the silver, spectral glow of an unseen moon, the five points of light burned brilliantly around the perimeter. They cast long, skeletal shadows across the chamber like fingers forever reaching for something just out of reach.

The Silk Blue: Pulsing with a sharp, electric intensity that vibrated against her own skin.

The Red-Gold: A heavy, molten heat radiating from Alastair's line.

The Black-and-Silver: A deep, shadow-like flame anchored to Ginnie's necromancy.

The Brass–Gold: A steady, solid light reflecting Grey’s bloodline.

The Lavender-White: A low, frantic pulse humming in perfect rhythm with Garrett's heart.

Directly in the center of the ring stood the destination. An enormous, monolithic stone door. Its surface seamless and dark as obsidian, the structure dominated the landscape like a tombstone.

Sydney’s tactical awareness picked up on the anomaly instantly.

Garrett wasn't there.

Turning her head, her eyes scanned the empty spaces between the pillars. Behind her, she could still feel the external parameters of the world. The lifeline tether Ginnie had meticulously anchored to her physical ankle was a thin, warm, golden thread stretching back into the Darkness– alive and intact. She could feel the heat of Kara’s Dragon Fire humming behind her ribs.

But… the space where her Mate should have been standing within the circle was a complete, terrifying void. A cold spike of panic hit her stomach, sharper than any Demonic malice.

"Garrett?" she called out, her voice sounding small and flat against the heavy stone.

There was no answer. Only the hollow echo of her own ragged breathing.

“Do not call with your voice, my girl,” Kara commanded softly, her golden eyes flashing within their shared consciousness. “A thief does not answer to a shout. Use the blood. Use the bond.”

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sydney closed her eyes as she shut out the towering stones. Gathering her awareness, she reached past the architecture and threw her energy down the oldest, deepest channel she possessed… Garrett.

Deep behind the obsidian stone of the door, a faint, erratic pulse responded. A weak, desperate tremor of lavender-white light reached for her... Garrett.

Opening her eyes, Sydney marched directly toward the monolithic door. As she moved, the five pillars reacted violently to her presence. The red, black, and brass flames flickered, but the blue stone erupted. The silky-blue fire shot upward, a brilliant, blinding geyser of power that illuminated the entire cavern in a cold, electric hue.