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G ent ! As genuinely happy as I am to see the other Divhs, my heart and soul leap in unison to see my great green-and-silver goliath standing fully upright, looking around with what I now understand to be a nearsightedness that renders all men and women into a blur—except for me.

Because of our bond, Gent could find me anywhere.

And he would, too. That kind of complete loyalty shakes me.

I wonder if any man has ever seen me so clearly, or would fight through worlds to find me.

I pray to the Light that Gent always will.

He’s almost at eye level, the size of three First Houses stacked on top of each other, fully five times the size of my own manor house back in the mountains.

Horns sprout from his head and shoulders, and his enormous forearms are slightly too long for the rest of his body, serving to tilt him forward whether he is sitting or standing.

His hide is covered in thick green scales now shot with silver, and fingers and toes are tipped with enormous ebony claws.

He sees me, and his delighted howl cry echoes in my brain, though he makes no move toward me. Instead, he looks back, squinting at the two other monsters alongside him, and then up to the sky.

Fortiss’s and Nazar’s Divhs are doing the same, but I take the moment to admire them before trying to see what they’re looking for.

Nazar’s Divh is a glorious creature that’s almost as large as Gent.

With the white plumed head of an eagle, his body transforms into the powerful figure of a midnight blue winged lion, complete with gold beak and gold-tipped paws.

Beside him, the deep blue Szonja levitates easily above the earth, her newly healed wing fluttering in a slow, steady cadence as she snakes her head around, searching the heavens.

She’s perhaps two thirds the size of Gent, small for the Divh of a first-blooded and firstborn warrior, but her size is also her strength.

She’s incredibly fast, and one of the few full dragons that fought in the Tournament of Gold.

There were several winged lizards, and a number of winged snakes, but the sinuous long-limbed, long-tailed beauty in front of me is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Tennet is clearly surprised by it too. He takes a quick step forward, his mouth agape, and then a rush of wind blows into us, so strong we stumble back. A new monster has joined the conclave of Divhs.

“ Light ,” whispers Fortiss, and I can’t help but share his surprise.

His voice is barely a breath, but it strikes something deep inside me.

We’re all staring at the same miracle, but I know, somehow, that Fortiss sees it the way I do—not just as a threat or advantage, but as something sacred. And this Divh is truly sacred.

A second dragon, this one almost the exact replica of Szonja, levitates behind the group, burnished gold even in the half-light of the moon.

He’s bigger than Szonja but not by much, still well smaller than Gent and Wrath, Nazar’s beautiful Divh.

This new dragon twists and turns on himself with sinuous precision, sliding forward, then beating his powerful wings to keep him apart from the others.

Szonja for her part hisses at him, blinks out, then appears again on the other side of Gent, placing the two more familiar Divhs between her and the interloper.

The dragons posture like kings, and I feel the same tension humming between Fortiss and Tennet. They aren’t enemies—at least not yet—but there’s something primal rising here, visceral and real, a storm spinning up all around us.

For the moment, I’m in the center of that storm…but I’m not at its mercy.

At least not yet.

Nazar speaks first. “There’s nothing in the annals of the houses that indicates the Twelfth House Divh is a golden dragon. When did the shift occur?”

Tennet grimaces. “When I was banded a year ago. Before, our Divh was a falcon, still golden, but not scaled and tailed. My father took it as a sign that our fortunes were improving, but also as a warning that our fortunes needed to improve. Another reason why we weren’t in any hurry to introduce our Divh to anyone. ”

He swings around to glare at Fortiss. “And I wasn’t planning on doing so tonight, for the record. How is it you summoned all our Divhs so easily?”

“I didn’t,” Fortiss says, but too quickly, I think.

I think again about his deep study of Rihad’s books and wonder just how far down that path he has gone.

“I asked for the introduction, and either you or your Divh was willing to go through with it. Though mine is somewhat less sure, as it turns out.”

“You’ve always had a dragon?” Tennet asks, turning his attention back to where Szonja is soaring high against the stars. “I was expecting a scorpion.”

Fortiss’s lips twist. “Well, I’m not Rihad’s son, so he retains his scorpion…or at least he did. I don’t know enough about the Divhs’ plane to understand the images they show me.”

“Wait—what images?”

Tennet’s newest question barely registers in my mind as I’m distracted by the brief bursts of fire that still arc up from the coliseum well behind our mighty Divhs.

I can almost hear the sound of cheers and imagine Caleb’s successful training lifting the spirits and the confidence of the newly banded soldiers.

Then my gaze lifts to the moonlit plain that stretches far to the west, and something catches my eye.

A cloud almost, a stain across the moon-brightened sky.

Like a low-moving cape or cluster of birds.

But it’s too thick, too dark to be birds.

Almost like a swarm, really. Almost like?—

“What’s that?” Tennet asks sharply, and I know he sees it too. Fortiss glances up, then jerks back. “Szonja!”

In my mind’s eye I feel Gent turn, sense him peering hard, but he can’t pierce the darkness with his limited eyesight.

I reach out to the other Divhs and realize that while their sight is solid in the daytime, they too are having a hard time tracking the thick wave of something that’s spinning across the sky.

“They can’t see!” I blurt. “They can’t see. Gent !”

My beautiful Divh rotates back towards us, his arms sweeping out, and he lurches toward the First House as I take off across the platform.

“Talia! What are you doing ?” Tennet’s cry sounds genuinely terrified.

“They can’t see well on this plane! You have to help them!

” I repeat, then I have no more time for words.

Instead, I leap into the sky, barely clearing the edge of the overlook before Gent snatches me out of the air.

Our minds touch, and he understands what must be done.

Because of course he understands. He holds me up, clutched in his paw like a torch, and I lean forward and urge him to run.

Something is coming out of the west, ready to attack.

“Wrath!”

Nazar calls out the name of his Divh, and I hear Fortiss and Tennet cry out as well. I urge Gent forward, but this creature is coming from the sky—the sky! Gent may be immense, but he can only defend the coliseum from this attack, he can’t go on the offensive.

Fortunately, I know three other Divhs who can.

Szonja . Fortiss’s beautiful dragon is the only Divh I’ve deeply connected with before, and her mind is open to me and to the dark sky.

I open my eyes wide and will her to see what I see and understand it more than I can, but instead she’s focusing on the First House—and Fortiss, who is standing with his arms outstretched, as if he can somehow guide his Divh from the sidelines.

Szonja ! I plead, urging her down, but another creature erupts in front of me, racing at Gent so quickly my mighty goliath wheels around, flinging me into the air.

A streak of gold flashes past, then back again, and suddenly I’m hauled up so hard I think my neck may break.

My arms and legs flail wildly and Gent howls in… laughter?

My Divh is laughing at me?

“Blood and stone!” I screech, spinning around and craning my head up, up—and I realize I’m pinned up against the muzzle of Tennet’s golden beast, his teeth clamped tightly through my cape.

His name shimmers through my mind as fast as a shooting star— Ayne —and then he rockets toward the overlook where Tennet stands, still looking stupefied.

Only then do I know what to do. “Jump on!” I scream as we make a passing run, but Tennet scrambles back and out of our way. “Come on—we don’t have time !”

The second pass he’s almost able to connect, and then with the third, he flings himself off the overlook and crashes into me. The two of us wrap around each other tight as Ayne wings off across the open plain.

“He needs you to see with any detail! To see ?—”

The wind rips the words from my mouth and as I twist around, I see Gent pounding across the grassy plains, his hand stretched out.

Too late I realize what he and Ayne have planned, and I scream as Ayne opens his powerful jaws and both Tennet and I plummet down, down—abruptly landing in Gent’s meaty paw.

He dumps us both in his left then plucks up Tennet like he’s a fig dangling from a low-hanging branch, then turns back to where Ayne is beating his wings in place.

I catch only a glimpse of Tennet’s starkly terrified face as Gent lays him atop Ayne’s ridged neck—and then the golden dragon is streaking off again.

Fortiss’s voice sounds in my mind as Gent turns back toward the coliseum.

“I can see more from down here—show me what you see.”