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Ryatuv grunts, but Z’leni looks skeptical. He points off in a direction, but if it’s because he knows where we’re going or if he just wants to move I’m not sure. One way or another I don’t have a brighter idea.

I take one last look down into the glowing crevasse and for a moment it’s as if I can see the Paluga. Stirring below the molten rock as it shifts and swirls. My stomach clenches tight and I tear my eyes away, fighting the urge to run.

The Paluga is real. And it’s waking.

Urr’ki, Zmaj, human—we’re all fucked. In every possible sense of the word.

Z’leni leads the way and Ryatuv falls in behind me. They are constantly scanning, looking for any possible threats but it seems as if no one and no thing wants to make their home this close to the fire god sleeping below.

We travel in uneasy silence until we find another tunnel and leave the forgotten city behind. When the air has cooled to something more bearable, I ask for a break. I’m exhausted and all my aches and pains are killing me.

We sit to rest. I press my back against cool stone and close my eyes. My thoughts spiral around the Paluga, the war, and then inevitably, around the two men at my sides.

Z’leni’s thigh brushes mine as he shifts to sit closer. Ryatuv doesn’t move away when my shoulder presses lightly against his. I feel both their heat and their tension. The space between us is charged. This isn’t just survival. It hasn’t been for a while now. Z’leni turns, his voice low.

“I meant what I said earlier. About you being brave.”

I open my eyes. “I didn’t feel brave.”

“You don’t have to feel it to be it,” he says, his gaze locked on mine.

“You kept going when most would have broken. That matters,” Ryatuv says, quietly.

The way he says it, it’s not flattery. It’s reverent. And terrifying. Because I’m not used to being seen like this. I look between them, the weight of everything unsaid pulling at my chest.

“There’s something between us,” I say finally. “All of us.”

They’re silent for a beat too long.

“I don’t know what it means,” I add quickly. “I’m not asking for… anything. I just… I can’t pretend I don’t feel it.”

“Neither can I,” Z’leni whispers as he leans slightly closer.

Ryatuv says nothing at first. But then he shifts closer, his cool scales pressing along my side in sharp contrast to Z’leni’s warmth.

“It doesn’t have to make sense right now. What matters is that we survive. Together,” Ryatuv says.

“Together,” I say, releasing a shaky breath.

A tremor shakes the ground. The tunnel groans as dust rains down from above. The Paluga is stirring. Z’leni rises first.

“We have to move. We need to reach the Zmaj.”

“We’ll make them listen. Show them the truth,” Ryatuv says, grabbing my hand without hesitation.

And somehow, I believe him. I don’t know what we’re walking into. War. Revolution. Fire and ruin. But I have two warriors beside me, and the beginnings of something powerful in my heart.

Love? Maybe. Or maybe it’s something even deeper.

Hope.

29

RANI

“My Queen.”

I startle awake, heart hammering, still in a half-dream state. I jump at the sound and hit my head on the stone of the cubby that serves as a bed. I yelp in surprise and pain. Memories of hands grabbing me in the middle of the night and dragging me away were strong but are fading.