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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

PYRAH

I pace the cave restlessly, my bare feet sliding across cool coins. The emptiness without Rook feels like a physical wound. When Lark materializes through her portal, I rush forward, desperate for news.

But one look at her face stops me cold. Something's wrong. The silvery sheen of her skin seems different, threaded with thin golden lines that catch the firelight.

"What happened?" My throat tightens.

Lark's fingers trace the metallic patterns spreading across her collarbone. "Zin cursed me. When I confronted her about Rook..." Her voice cracks. "She bound our life-forces together with aellurium magic."

The word makes my skin crawl. Memories of cold chains flash through my mind—feelings of being trapped, helpless, forced into human form. "Aellurium?" My hands clench into fists.

"It's fusing with my skin." Lark pulls back her sleeve, revealing more golden veins spreading like a parasitic web. "I can feel her now, in my blood. In my thoughts."

Bile rises in my throat. The metal that took my freedom, now corrupting Lark from within. "We have to break this curse."

"I can't."

"All aellurium should be destroyed, buried in the deepest ocean trench where no one can ever use it to control another being again."

"I wish it were that simple." Lark's red eyes shine with unshed tears. "But our lives are linked now. If Zin dies, I die. If I die, she dies."

"She had no right! To take your choice away like that..." The violation of it makes my blood boil. No one should have that power over another.

Lark touches my arm gently. "We will find a way. But first, we need to save Rook."

I nod, but the sight of those golden lines spreading across her silver skin fills me with rage and horror. Aellurium—the metal of slavery and stolen consent. Now it has claimed someone else I care about.

I move to the cave entrance, tracking Scaldric's golden form through gaps in the clouds. "He's been circling for hours, waiting for me to break cover." My fingers trace the invisible barrier of Lark's protection spell. "Like a vulture."

"The enchanted mist is holding." Lark joins me, the golden lines on her skin catching the dim light. "He can't penetrate it."

"What if we didn't hide?" I turn to face her.

"Could you cast something to knock him from the sky?

Trap him like..." The memory hits me with physical force.

"Like when Zin froze my wings midflight.

I remember the ice spreading, the helpless plummet.

" My hands shake. "We could use her own tactics against Scaldric. "

Lark's red eyes narrow as she considers. "It's possible. I know similar spells that could ground him. But..." She touches one of the aellurium veins spreading across her neck. "Taking on a golden dragon directly would be incredibly dangerous. Even with magic."

"I'm tired of cowering while others hunt us." The words come out as a growl.

"Rook would want us to stay hidden to keep you safe." Lark's voice softens. "Going on the offensive now, while you're unable to shift?—"

"Don't remind me." I wrap my arms around myself, hating this vulnerable human form. "But we can't just wait here forever while Rook suffers in that dungeon."

Another shadow passes overhead. Scaldric's wings block out the sun for a moment, and I feel the weight of his presence even through the magical barrier.

"We could try," Lark admits. "But if anything went wrong, if the spell failed..." She leaves the rest unspoken.

"He won't kill me." I trace the curve of my neck where his claiming bite once marked me. "That's not what he wants."

Lark's expression darkens. "There are worse things than death, Pyrah." Her fingers brush the golden lines spreading across her skin. "Trust me."

The weight of her words settles in my stomach like lead. Images flash through my mind—Scaldric's possessive grip, his attempts to force me to submit to him, the way he spoke of me like property to be claimed.

"I know what he would do." My voice comes out hoarse. "Lock me away in some mountain lair. Force more claiming bites. Try to breed me until..." I wrap my arms around myself, fighting back nausea.

"He's obsessed." Lark moves closer to me. "The way he hunts you, circles endlessly. This isn't just about dragon territory or mating rights anymore."

"No." The word tastes bitter. "It's about control. Punishment for daring to choose my own mate." I think of Rook's gentle touches, so different from Scaldric's crushing grip. "He would make me watch while he killed Rook. Then keep me chained in aellurium forever."

"Like a trophy." Lark's red eyes flash with understanding. "A reminder to other female dragons who might defy tradition."

My hands clench into fists. "I would rather die fighting than let him cage me again."

"He wouldn't let you die."

The truth of her words hits me like a physical blow.

I sink down against the cave wall, caught between my need to fight and the reality of our situation.

Scaldric wouldn't grant me the mercy of death.

He would ensure I lived a long life of captivity and violation, all while Rook rotted in the queen's dungeon.

"We need to find Rook." I press my palm against the cave wall, drawing strength from the solid stone. "The Forgotten Tower could be another of Zin's lies."

Lark nods, the golden lines on her skin catching firelight. "She has always played games within games. Even when we were..." She trails off, lost in memories I can't read.

"What about the curse binding you together?" My fingers trace patterns in the dust, trying to work through the puzzle. "Can't you sense where she is, what she's doing?"

"It doesn't work like that." Lark touches one of the metallic veins. "I feel her life-force, her magic. But not her thoughts or location."

"Then we're still blind. Still trapped while..." My throat chokes.

"There might be another way." Lark's red eyes gleam. "The queen would want to keep him close, under her direct control. The Forgotten Tower is too remote, too obvious."

"The castle dungeons?"

"Deeper." Lark's voice drops to a whisper. "There are secret chambers beneath Netherhaven. Places where my mother was kept, where the king..." She stops, shoulders tensing.

The pieces click together. "That's where they would hide a captured prince. Close enough for the queen to torment him personally."

"And far from prying eyes." Lark's hands clench. "Where screams echo through stone and never reach the surface."

My blood runs cold at her words, at the personal knowledge behind them. But at least now we have a real target, not just Zin's misdirection.

"We can't trust anything she tells us." I push away from the wall, new determination flowing through me. "But we can trust what we know of our enemies. The queen's pride, her need for control..."

"She would want him where she could gloat." Lark's expression hardens. "Where she could break him slowly, personally."

The thought makes my dragon blood boil, but I force the rage down. We need clear heads now. Strategy, not blind fury.

"Wait." Lark gasps. "This curse works both ways."

"What do you mean?"

"Zin thinks she's clever, binding us together. But she forgot what I am." Lark's red eyes gleam with dark promise. "A succubus can enter dreams, slip into minds like smoke through a keyhole. And now that we're linked..." She taps her temple. "There's nothing she can do to keep me out."

My heart pounds faster. "You can see inside her head?"

"Better. I can walk through her dreams, peel back every lie, every secret." Lark's broken horn catches the light as she straightens. "No matter how strong her magical shields are, she can't block me now. The curse made sure of that."

"So, we can find out if Rook is really in the Forgotten Tower." The hope rising in my chest feels dangerous, but I can't stop it.

"Exactly." Lark traces one of the golden lines on her arm. "Tonight when she sleeps, I will slip into her mind. She won't be able to hide the truth from me."

"How soon?"

"Dawn is coming. Zin will have to rest eventually." Lark's smile turns predatory. "And when she does, I will be waiting. She thinks she knows what it means to be haunted? I will show her true nightmares."

The vengeful edge in her voice should frighten me. Instead, it feels right. After what Zin did to Lark, to Rook, she deserves whatever horrors await in her dreams.

I lie in my cave, hating this weakness, this womanly frailty that keeps me trapped in flesh and bone. The bleeding has slowed but still persists, a constant reminder of my current powerlessness. My dragonfire stays locked away, unreachable.

"Come on," I mutter, flexing my fingers. Not even a spark emerges. The cave walls mock my earthbound state.

I pace the length of my cave, counting steps to keep my mind occupied. One, two, three... My muscles coil with unused energy. Twenty steps to the back wall. Twenty steps to the entrance. The monotony drives me mad.

A pebble skitters across the floor as I kick it. In my true form, I could reduce this whole mountain to rubble. Instead, I'm stuck here, bleeding, waiting for my body to remember its truth.

I press my palm against the rough stone wall, trying to draw strength from the mountain itself. Dragons are creatures of patience, my mother used to say. But I have never mastered that skill. Every fiber of my being screams to take flight, to hunt, to fight.

I slide down the wall, wrapping my arms around my knees. My body feels like a cage of flesh, worse than any aellurium chain. At least that I could rage against. This requires a different kind of strength—the strength to endure, to wait.

I close my eyes, focusing on my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Searching for that spark of dragon magic that usually burns so bright within me. It's there, just beyond reach, like starlight glimpsed through storm clouds.

Just a little longer, I think.

Finally, finally , the bleeding stops. A wild hope rises in my chest.

I reach inside myself, searching for that familiar spark of dragon magic. There, like an ember waiting to ignite, my power hides deep within my body. I grasp it with my mind, letting the heat flow through my veins.

The transformation ripples across my skin. Bones shift and stretch, muscles expand, and scales emerge, gleaming crimson. Joy surges through me as my wings unfurl, brushing the cave ceiling. I am myself again. Whole. Complete.

A rumbling purr builds in my chest. I flex my claws against the stone floor, relishing their sharp strength.

My tail sweeps behind me, perfectly balanced.

Every sensation feels heightened after being trapped in human form—the air currents dance across my scales, the subtle vibrations in the rock hum beneath my feet.

Tears spring to my eyes, steaming, nearly boiling in my dragon form.

I was never truly weak. Even in human shape, dragonfire burned in my soul.

I spread my wings wider, feeling the pull of the heavens.

Battle sings in my blood. I am no helpless maiden to be protected, no prize to be claimed.

I am a force of nature, as wild and fierce as the mountains themselves.

My fire builds, ready to be unleashed. I am exactly what I was meant to be—neither human nor beast but something greater than both. Something that bridges earth and air, flesh and flame.

I crouch at the cliff's edge in my dragon form, watching Scaldric's golden scales flash in the sunlight as he circles above. My claws dig into the rock, leaving deep gouges. Every instinct screams at me to take flight, to meet him in battle.

Through gaps in Lark's enchanted mist, I track his movements. Back and forth, back and forth, he’s like a pendulum marking time. He knows I'm here. His roars of frustration echo across the valley, making the water ripple in the nameless lake.

My wings twitch with the urge to fight. I could match him flame for flame, claw for claw. But Rook's life hangs in the balance. If I reveal myself now, before Lark can find him through Zin's dreams, Queen Dulcamara might?—

I shake my head, dislodging that thought before it can take root. The rock beneath my claws crumbles as I grip it tighter. I destroy the brink of the cliff instead of destroying him.

"Soon," I growl, smoke curling from my nostrils. "Soon I will tear your golden wings to shreds."

But not yet. I must be patient, must wait for Lark to uncover the truth. My fire burns hot in my chest, begging for release, but I swallow it back. There will be time enough for battle once we know where Rook is truly imprisoned.

I coil my tail beneath me and resign myself to waiting. Though restraint runs counter to dragon nature, I will conquer it for Rook's sake. We locate him first. Then we wage war.

I will wait with patient violence.

Scaldric's shadow passes overhead again. I crouch on the cliff, my muscles tensing, though the mist keeps me hidden. His frustrated roar splits the air—he knows I'm near, but he can't pinpoint my location through Lark's magic.

Let him hunt. Let him drain his power with his futile patrol while we prepare. When we strike, I will teach him the difference between a dragon ruled by greed and one driven by devotion.