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The dragon released Nithra, turning fully to face me. Its lips curled back in a snarl, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth still dripping with Nithra’s blood. Smoke curled from its nostrils as it took a heavy step toward me, the island quaking under its weight.

I held my ground, magic surging through every cell of my body.

The dragon lunged, jaws snapping as flames poured from its maw. And as I threw my shadows and magic out to shield me from the fire raging toward me, a roar so loud that buildings crumbled, pierced through the air.

My eyes snapped toward the sound to see a monstrous dragon with emerald scales collide into the beast in front of me, its enormous jaw clamping around the copper dragon’s throat and dragging it away from us.

Run, Darkness,Landers’s voice sounded down the fastening as my eyes connected with the dragon.

It was him.

Nithra rose to her feet and I ran for her, my hands landing on each side of her snout as my eyes frantically ran over her wounds.

I will heal. We must go, child. The others need us,Nithra said down the fastening. Her voice was strained, laced with pain as it echoed through my mind.

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. “You’re hurt, you can’t fly like this.”

I can and I will. Get on.It was a command as she dipped her shoulder to the ground.

A low groan rumbled through her body as I hoisted myself onto her back, her blood sticky against my skin. My heart thundered in my chest as I wrapped my shadows around her and she unfurled her wings. With one beat, we launched into the air, the wind whipping past us as we soared over the burning camp.

My eyes scanned the chaos below, searching for any sign of the others. Smoke billowed into the night sky, obscuring the island from view. Nithra dipped lower into the haze and then I saw them—Andrues, Wren, and Dukovich, still fighting off the hoard of living dead.

Nithra banked sharply, tucking her wings as she dove toward the fray. We landed with an earth-shaking thud and Nithra’s tail lashed out, sweeping dozens of corpses aside as I leapt from her back. Magic was already coalescing around my hands as I sprinted toward the fight, ducking and swerving through magic and steel as it collided around me.

“Cin!” Mara cried out, desperation and fear warring in her voice. Relief crashed through me at the sound of it and my head snapped toward the direction it flowed from. She was still alive.

I unleashed a blast of power, black and green magic leveling the rotting corpses as the unnatural light faded from their eyes.

“We cannot keep this up much longer!” Mara shouted as we cut through the hoard to get to each other. Blood streaked her face as her panicked eyes locked on mine. My shadow shot around her just as an ear-splitting explosion rocked the island, the ground cracking underneath us.

I spun around to see the copper dragon crash into the earth, hills and the last of the buildings crumbling under the weight of it, sending rubble flying in all directions. Landers landed atop of it, talons tearing scales off its body as he released a roar that made the ground below us crack further. My heart seized in my chest at the sound.

I tried to reach for him down the fastening, tried to find the thread he had pulled to speak with me before but it was gone. His words rang in my head like alarm bells as his head turned toward us.

If I let go of that control, I could kill you.

We needed to leave. We needed to leave,now.

My head snapped back to Mara to see her eyes widen with fear as she watched Landers stalk toward us.

“Get the others and get to Nithra,” I commanded. She nodded, sprinting away from me without hesitation.

I turned back to face Landers, my heart pounding as his glowing gaze locked onto mine. His emerald and onyx scales glistened with blood, his eyes wild and feral as he advanced. There was no recognition in them, only the glint of a predator stalking its prey.

Every instinct screamed at me to run, but I couldn’t leave him.

I had to reach him.

“Landers,” I called out as he prowled closer. Firelight glinted off of his sales, muscles rippling beneath armored skin as the heat of his breath washed over me. “It’s me. It’s Hyacinth.” My voice trembled as I said the words, tears cutting through the blood and dirt caking my face.

He snarled, smoke curling from his nostrils as he took another step toward me, his talons gouging deep furrows into the earth.

“You know me,” I pleaded, fear clawing through my veins as my voice cracked. “I’m your wife. You would never hurt me, remember?”

A deafening roar slid from his throat in response. The ground quaked as I stumbled back, barely keeping my footing.

“Landers, please! You have to stop!” I screamed, as fire expelled from his lungs. Shadows exploded from my body, colliding with the flames as I flew backward, slamming into a pile of rubble and corpses. Pain lanced through me as I struggled to catch my breath, stars dancing across my vision.