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The shuffling of our boots sounded as we landed on a beach no more than thirty yards from the nearest building.

My eyes scanned the island, the candlelight in the windows scattering the hills flickered in the wind as I watched everyone scatter up the beach, slipping between buildings and into the shadows.

I took a step forward and Landers gripped my hand, pulling me back.

“Wait,” he hissed his voice low. The wind shifted as he said the word and every light on the island went out and the entire camp fell into utter silence.

The blood in my veins chilled.

There is another dragon here, I can sense it.

You mean Landers? I asked down the fastening as I glanced up at Nithra.

No child, there is a third.

A shiver trickled down my spine, and as I turned my gaze back to the desolate camp, two large dragon eyes atop the hill furthest from us slid open and pierced through the darkness.

A guttural roar ripped through the silence, shaking the ground beneath our feet as the massive dragon unfurled its wings. Scales the color of burnished copper glinted in the moonlight as it launched itself from its perch.

Chaos erupted.

Figures poured out from the buildings, their auras pulsing with that sickly green and black magic. The living dead. And among them, the necromancers controlling their every move.

“Move!” Landers screamed, shoving me to the side as a stream of fire ripped from the dragon’s maw. The heat seared my skin as I hit the ground, rolling to my feet.

My heart thundered in my chest as Nithra let out an answering snarl and pushed from the ground with such force the beat of her wings pushed me backward.

She met the other dragon head-on, their jaws snapping and claws tearing as they grappled in midair.

Fire streamed from their mouths, scorching the buildings below as screams began pouring from the camp.

My eyes were glued to Nithra, fear pumping through every vein as I watched them colliding in the air, their bellows shaking the very foundation of the island.

Landers’s hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me into motion, our feet pounding against sand as we sprinted to the nearest building.

Ata jumped from a roof at the same time we rounded the corner into a narrow alleyway between two buildings, landing only feet from us.

Her eyes were frenzied, her body and face covered in blood as she panted.

My pulse rang between my ears as I met Landers’s gaze. “It was a trap,” I said, my eyes flashing to Ata then back to him. “They knew we were coming.”

Ata cursed under her breath. “We need to find the others and get the fuck out of here. Now.”

Another roar broke out above us, fire scorching and catching everything around us aflame as we ducked away from it.

A flicker of movement caught my eye and I whirled. Shadows began to bleed from every one of my pores, drenching me in darkness as I opened my palms, letting the Death Magic slip from my body.

Figures slid into the alley on either side of us, trapping us as our backs pressed against each other. Landers drew his sword, violet tendrils of magic climbing and cracking around its blade as Ata pulled her bow string tight, nocking an arrow into place.

“You take the dead. I’ll kill the living.” A snarl tore from Ata’s lips on the tail of her words as she loosed her arrow. It careened through the air, landing in the center of a necromancer’s skull.

And then they charged us.

A surge of raw power leapt from my palms, violently ripping the life force from every living dead that lunged for us.

Ata’s bow sang as she unleashed arrow after arrow, each one finding its mark and taking down every necromancer that neared us in a single shot as Landers’s blade sliced through flesh and bone, decapitated heads rolling off the bodies as they collapsed at our feet.

The air was thick with the metallic stench of blood and the scent of decay as the bodies piled up around us in a gruesome display of carnage.

The last of the living dead surrounding us fell as my hands ripped the death magic from its body, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. Nithra screeched above us, their giant bodies colliding with the buildings, sending granite and limestone flying in every direction.

I heard it then, her scream down the fastening—the pain she was enduring from her own battle in the skies.

My eyes shot frantically to Landers. “Nithra.”

I had already begun running, climbing over the bodies we had cut down as I sprinted to the heart of the island. Landers and Ata were on my heels as I let magic explode from my body, obliterating anything that got in my way.

I would not let her die .

We rounded a corner and skidded to a halt.

A hoard of the living dead blocked our path—Andrues, Wren, and Dukovich caught in the middle of their ranks. Another cry of pain sounded down the fastening as my eyes darted between Nithra and the scene in front of us.

I had an impossible choice to make.

Landers gripped my shoulders, spinning me to face him.

“Go,” he ordered. “Get to Nithra and find Gimara.”

“I can’t leave—” I started as he cut me off with a commanding look.

“Your dragon needs you.” His expression softened for a heartbeat. “I will find you, I promise.”

I hesitated for only a second more before nodding and sprinting toward the battling dragons. I could hear the clash of blades and the twang of Ata’s bow behind me as I ran, but I didn’t look back—I couldn’t.

Nithra needed me.

Rubble and flames littered my path, the heat stinging my skin as my feet flew over the blood-soaked ground. I leaped over smoldering timber, my heart in my throat as Nithra let out another agonized screech.

I burst into the central square just as Nithra and the dragon tumbled from the sky.

Their bodies slammed into the ground and the earth beneath my feet shuddered at the force.

They were a tangle of claws and teeth, their scales slick with blood as they tore at each other.

I watched in horror as the copper dragon clasped its talons into her, pinning her to the ground as blood seeped from the gashes beneath her scales.

“Nithra!” I screamed, my voice raw with desperation.

She wrenched her head toward me, her golden eyes wild with pain and fury. In that moment of distraction, the other dragon lunged, its jaws clamping around Nithra’s throat. A roar of agony ripped from her as blood poured from the wound, staining her iridescent scales crimson.

Rage consumed me at the sound of her screams, a blinding white-hot fury that set my veins alight with power. My body began to glow from the magic coursing under my skin as wings erupted from my back.

I took a single step forward, my hands opening at my sides as white tendrils began to snake around my fingers.

“Get. Off. My. Dragon.” The words were a snarl as they ripped from my throat and the creature turned its massive head to face me, its talons replacing the teeth it had clamped around Nithra’s neck.

I could feel the vibration of the dragon’s low growl through the ground as it fixed its glowing eyes on me. Nithra thrashed beneath its grip, her own blood pooling around her. The sight of it fueled the inferno of rage burning through me.

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.