Page 82

The dragon was a vision of terrifying, divine majesty. Its scales a pearlescent white, gleaming with the ethereal radiance of pure moonlight. Every movement of its elegant body sent ripples of silver and prismatic light dancing across its hide, illuminating glowing sigils etched into its scales—symbols of purity, ancient law, and absolute divine power. Its wings were vast, semi-translucent sails of pale ivory that beat against the air with rhythmic thrumming, and its eyes were pools of solid gold that held no malice, only an ancient omniscience.

The Celestryx landed on the edge of the precipice with a weightless grace that defied its colossal size.

The High Priestess sat straight-backed upon the pearlescent saddle, her ceremonial white robes immaculate, her woven silver veil fluttering wildly in the mountain wind. She did not look at the blood on our faces. She did not acknowledge the nine bruised, broken survivors who had clawed their way through her island’s hellscape.

The Celestryx let out a low, melodic call. A sound like a silver bell ringing over a frozen lake. It vibrated straight through the stone beneath our boots, settling into the marrow of our bones.

The High Priestess raised her thin, skeletal arm, pointing a single finger directly out into the empty, thousand-foot drop over the valley.

She spoke no introductory speech. She offered no final prayers to the moons. She gave the nine remaining candidates the ultimate command of the trial:

“LEAP.”

A suffocating silence fell over the edge of the cliff.

There were no harnesses. There were no ropes. There was no guarantee that a dragon was waiting in the clouds below to catch a falling body. The final test of the Drakoryn Trial was a brutal filter of faith and willpower: you jumped into the void, or you were executed on the stone.

Before anyone else could hesitate, Kaelor Ashborne stepped forward.

Of course he would go first.

I hope he fucking hits bottom.

Please let him hit the fucking bottom.

Surely, he isn’t worthy of a dragon.

A cold, arrogant smirk twisted his pale face. He threw a single, mocking glance back at me, raised his arms like a bird opening its wings, and stepped casually off the edge of the precipice into thin air.

He plummeted straight down into the swirling mist, his body vanishing into the abyss.

For three terrifying seconds, there was only the sound of the wind. Then, a deafening, terrifying roar split the clouds below.

Rising out of the crimson fog like a nightmare forged in a volcano came a Vorlith.

The beast was a colossal titan of pure destruction. Its massive scales were a deep blood-crimson, glowing from within like molten rock, and its broad, horned skull dropped trails of fire as it carved through the sky. The Vorlith swooped upward, its massive, winged body intercepting Kaelor’s falling frame mid-air. Kaelor slammed into its spine, his fingers locking around the scales as the crimson titan let out a stream of fire hot enough to melt stone, banking sharply toward the eastern peaks.

Kaelor was claimed.

Fuck.

A vicious dragon for a vicious male.

Beside me, Dax swallowed hard, his face turning ashen grey as he looked down into the void. He tried to flex his left hand, but his dislocated, freshly set shoulder trembled violently, his fingers stiff, bloody, and entirely devoid of strength.

“I can’t grip, Taur,” Dax whispered, his voice cracking with a rare thread of panic. He looked at me, his green eyes bloodshot and terrified. “My hand... it’s dead. The second I hit the spine of a flyer at that speed, my fingers are going to slip. I’m going to fall right off.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. He was right. The force of a dragon catching a free-falling body out of the sky was a brutal, bone-snapping impact. If he couldn’t close his left hand around the scale ridges, the momentum would throw him straight off the beast’s back to his death.

“No,” I growled, panic sharpening my mind into a razor-sharp blade. “No, you’re not dying here.”

I won’t let you die. Not today.

“Tauriel, there’s no time—”

“Shut up and hold still!”

I reached up, grabbing the collar of the heavy leather jacket I wore. I sank my fingers into the frayed seam at the shoulder, pulled on my dormant Fae strength, and violently ripped the entire left sleeve completely off the jacket.