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A test of worthiness, one might say.

The dragon flew in great wide circles over the jagged peaks, and I forced myself to look down if only to see where we might land.

I took a moment to gather myself, using my hands to brush away the stray bits of ash and debris that had invaded my eyes. As I slowly opened them, I squinted down at the majestic mountains below.

In the distance, looming over the landscape like a titan, was an enormous volcano. Its fiery red and orange hues reflected off the surrounding terrain, creating an otherworldly glow. The ground rumbled beneath us, a constant reminder of its power and unpredictability.

It wasn’t difficult to see why anyone would choose to worship the Source even now when it had done so much inadvertent harm to so many. Nor was it hard to understand why the gods might have forged such a place. It was lovely and terrifying at once. Glittering and deadly.

We swooped low over the smoking mountain and as the smoke wafted over us, I felt the prickle of magic that flicked against my senses.

“What if it warps us?” I asked.

“It only warps the powerless, love,” Ambrose said from where he sat behind me. “You’ve seen how the Source works before. It’s both a magnet and a power supply. It wants to find hosts, but if the body can’t tolerate that much magic the person becomes afflicted.”

I sincerely hoped that meant our dragon would be immune as well, and dug my nails into my palms as we swooped lower and lower.

“There’s nowhere for him to land,” Bael bemoaned.

He was right. The dragon couldn’t very well perch over the volcano, and he was so large there weren’t places he could land safely.

“Have him land on that ridge,” Scion said, pointing toward a plateau some one-hundred yards down from the summit. “We can walk from there.”

“Climb,” I corrected him. “The rock is steep, If we fall…”

“I don’t believe we will,” Ambrose said confidently.

“Do you know that for certain?”

He kept his mouth shut, and I knew with a sinking feeling that meant he didn’t want to lie.

The dragon landed with a whoosh,and we all slid off its back onto the rocky ground.

The air was impossibly thick, the heat so strong it felt like a physical presence. Like wading through smoke and water. If this was what it felt like here, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like once we reached the top and were able to look down into the bubbling pools of molten magic.

Again, my dreams pricked at the back of my mind. Plaguing me.

I felt as if I’d been here before. Felt I’d done this before.

As with so many of my dreams which later came true, or had some strange message embedded into my subconscious, I felt sure the vision I’d had while dying meant something. I just didn’t know what.

“Shall we go?” Bael asked nervously.

I looked around at him. His usually smiling face was grave. He looked like he might like to grab me and bolt all the way back to valley below.

I put a hand on his chest. “Just think,” I said with a joking smile. “In a couple of hours we can complete our bond.”

He looked at me very seriously. “If this is what we have to do to complete it, I don’t need to. I love you enough as it is. I’ll go back to Underneath, or?—”

He broke off as I kissed him.

There was just something about Bael that made everything seem possible. Safer.

With him, I could join the Wilde hunts and survive because he’d kill anyone who hurt me. Of course I loved all my mates equally, but there would always be something about knowing Bael was the first to really see me. The first to think I might be worth something.

I pulled back from the kiss and he looked a bit dazed. Still, that panic in his eyes had lessened. He took a large step back. “It’ll be easier to walk up this in my other form, and easier to drag you out of there if something goes wrong.”

I nodded, watching as he shifted into the enormous lion. He was so big that he was still nearly as tall as I was while on four paws, and I petted his nose when he walked up to nuzzle against my shoulder.