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Vorago. The word was a command. It was easy now to imagine Nyxaris as he’d once been. A leader of dragons. A terror in battle. You will answer me. That is an order.

I flew harder, flapping my wings, staying in the cloud cover but flying low, closer to the roiling sea below. But it wasn’t enough. It was my first fucking flight. I was a novice; Nyxaris was an expert. I could hear him behind me, wings beating. He was catching up.

Then … pain. Stabbing through my head. Screeching like a crow.

The screeching was real, I realized. The pain and the screeching were one and the same. I tried to shut it out, but it was no use. I couldn’t cover my ears, couldn’t close out the sound. It pierced through my mind as easily as Nyxaris’s had. The screeching faded. A word took shape. One single word.

Nyxaris, it called to me. The voice was plaintive. Keening. Unnatural.

A chill went through me. Fuck. I knew who this was. What this was: Molindra.

Nyxaris, answer me.

Not Nyxaris, I grunted, pushing the words out of my mind.

Behind me, the sound of Nyxaris’s wings were fading. Was he feeling this pain, too? I hoped so. I beat my wings faster. He was distracted. This was my chance. After a few moments of silence, I risked a glance back. Nothing. Nyxaris had been swallowed up in the clouds.

He’d either lost me or changed direction. Or been in too much pain to continue his pursuit.

I flew on, already exhausted, wishing my first flight was at an end. But there were hours to go before nightfall. And when I got back to Bloodwing, simply shedding this body wasn’t going to be enough. I couldn’t just keep hiding, not when I knew this could happen again.

Not when there was no safe place to go. Not within Blood-wing’s walls or outside of them where Nyxaris could find me. I had to deal with this—whatever it was. I had bury it so deep no one could ever find it.

And I knew where I had to start.

CHAPTER 10

FLORENCE

I fell to the floor, sweat pouring down my face.

“Florence!”

Dimly, I could hear my mother’s voice.

Pain. Overwhelming pain. Physical, yes, but emotional, too. Sorrow and horror mingled together. Tears ran down my face. No, this was wrong. This. This should not be. Nyxaris, I tried to scream. But the word caught, tangling in my mind, wrapped in the web of pain.

We paid the price. And a great one it was. Did we pay it for nothing? Nyxaris’s voice was urgent. Tell me, Molindra.

Nyxaris, I tried again. Pain. Unrelenting pain.

“Florence!” My mother’s voice was urgent, panicked. “What’s wrong? Tell me what’s happening.”

I tried to push myself up, palms flat on the floor, but it was no use. My wrists wobbled. Gasping, I fell forward, whimpering.

Who has done this to you? a voice demanded. Nyxaris, but he wasn’t speaking to me.

Tell me, Molindra. How has this happened? What have they done to you?

He was speaking to someone else. I wracked my mind. The Dragon Court. The third stone dragon, the golden one—the Luminthar of House Orphos. The one Lunaya, Marcus, and Catherine had ridden away.

Could dragons talk to one another? Of course, they must be able to. If Nyxaris could talk to a weak and foolish human like me, surely he must be able to speak to another dragon.

I knew Molindra was gone, but the details were hazy. I’d been unconscious when it had all happened. Through the pain, I felt a prick of recognition. I’d shut everyone out. I hadn’t even asked. I’d only cared about what had happened to me.

The Veil.

My blood ran cold. The voice was neither mine nor Nyxaris’s.