Page 37 of Realms of Swords and Storms (Empire of Vengeance #3)

I was changed. I felt as though I had died and been reborn.

Fundamentally altered down to my bones. As we stood in the moonlit olive grove, the aftershocks of transformation still rippling through my body, I flexed my hands—just ordinary human hands now, not the massive talons they had been minutes before.

Yet they didn't feel ordinary. Nothing did.

The night air against my skin seemed more vivid, carrying scents I'd never noticed before—the sweet decay of fallen olives, the mineral tang of distant water, the distinct musk of Sirrax beside me.

My hearing had sharpened too, picking up the soft rustling of small creatures in the underbrush, the whisper of Livia's breath, the distant cry of a night bird that somehow I knew was a hunting owl.

“How do you feel?" Livia asked, her voice gentle as she helped me slip my tunic back on.

"Alive," I answered, the word inadequate but the closest I could find. "More alive than I've ever been."

She smiled, her face luminous in the moonlight. The way she looked at me now—with wonder and pride and something deeper—made my chest tighten with emotion.

"The first shift changes," Sirrax said, watching me with knowing golden eyes. "Not just body. Mind too. Spirit."

He was right. The fear and self-loathing that had haunted me for weeks were gone, replaced by a strange sense of completeness. The dragon form wasn't something separate from me, something to be feared or suppressed. It was me—another aspect of myself I'd never known existed.

"That feeling," I said slowly, trying to articulate the change, "that overwhelming compulsion that used to come over me, that felt like I was losing control... it's gone."

Sirrax nodded. "Fear caused fight. Made change violent. Now accept, now balance."

I stretched, feeling the new strength flowing through my muscles. Not the desperate, brutal power of transformation that had frightened me before, but something steadier, deeper—a primal vitality that connected me to something ancient and profound.

"I feel less human," I admitted, glancing at Livia, worried how she might take this confession. "But not in a bad way. More like... I've expanded beyond what I thought I was."

"Because true self more than human," Sirrax said simply. "Human part, yes. But Talfen part too. Both real. Both you."

Livia took my hand, her fingers interlacing with mine. "Does it frighten you?" she asked, her eyes searching my face.

I considered the question carefully. "No," I said finally, somewhat surprised at my own answer.

"It should, shouldn't it? I just turned into a massive dragon, flew through the night sky, hunted and killed with my bare—well, not hands exactly.

But no, I'm not frightened. I feel... powerful.

Centred. Like I've found a part of myself I didn't know was missing. "

The smile that spread across her face was radiant. "Good," she said firmly. "Because that's exactly what happened. You're whole now, Tarshi. Accepting both sides of your nature."

"The Empire spent centuries making Talfen fear themselves," Sirrax added, his broken speech somehow more poignant for its simplicity. "Fear leads to control. Accept self, find freedom."

Freedom. Yes, that was part of what I felt—a liberation from the chains of fear and ignorance that had bound me.

The memory of flight was still vivid in my mind—the rush of wind across my scales, the power of my wings cutting through the air, the world spread out beneath me in silver and shadow.

Nothing in my human experience had prepared me for that sensation of absolute freedom.

"What now?" I asked, looking between them. "Where do we go from here?"

Sirrax's golden eyes gleamed in the moonlight, something ancient and primal in his gaze. "Now claim mate," he said, his voice deepening. "Strengthen bond."

I blinked, not entirely sure I understood his meaning. "Claim...?"

"He means me," Livia clarified, a flush rising to her cheeks despite her matter-of-fact tone.

Heat rushed through me at her words, a different kind of primal urge rising to replace the hunger for flight. I looked at Sirrax, suddenly aware of the complex dynamics between us. "But you and Livia are already..."

"Bonded, yes," he nodded. "She my mate. You her mate. Makes us..." He paused, searching for the right word in his limited human vocabulary. "Connected. Not rivals. Shared strength."

"So what does this... claiming entail?" I asked, my voice rougher than I intended.

Sirrax smiled, the expression transforming his austere features into something almost mischievous. "Chase," he said simply. "Hunt. Catch."

My pulse quickened at his words, images flashing through my mind that sent heat coursing through my veins. Livia's breath caught audibly, her pupils dilating as she looked between us.

"Chase?" she repeated, her voice slightly breathless.

Sirrax nodded, turning to her with predatory focus. "You run. We hunt. Ancient way. Shows strength, cunning. Worthy mates catch worthy female."

"And if I don't want to be caught?" she challenged, though the flush on her cheeks and the quickening of her breath betrayed her interest.

"Then not caught," Sirrax shrugged. "Simple. But think you want." His golden eyes held hers knowingly. "Think you curious. Want see what new mate can do. What both mates can do. Together."

The air between us seemed to thicken, charged with something elemental that had nothing to do with transformation and everything to do with the primal connection between us. I found myself moving closer to Livia, drawn by an instinct older than thought.

"Is this what you want?" I asked her softly, needing to be certain despite the pull of these new instincts.

Her eyes met mine, clear and unwavering. "Yes," she said simply. "I want to see what you've become. What we can be together." She glanced at Sirrax, including him in her answer. "All of us."

The affirmation sent a surge of possessive desire through me, so powerful it was almost dizzying. Not jealousy—strangely, I felt no jealousy at all regarding her connection to Sirrax—but a fierce, protective need to claim her as mine, to prove my worth as her mate.

"How does this work?" I asked, my voice hardly recognizable to my own ears.

"Simple," Sirrax said, stepping back to give her space. "She runs. We wait. Then hunt."

Livia's eyes gleamed with excitement, a wild, adventurous light I'd seen before in the arena when she faced a particularly challenging opponent. "Any rules?" she asked, already backing away from us.

"Stay in grove," Sirrax instructed. "No climbing trees. Beyond that..." He shrugged, a surprisingly human gesture. "Cunning allowed. Stealth allowed. All senses fair."

She nodded, her gaze lingering on mine for a moment, something heated and challenging in her expression. Then she turned and darted between the ancient olive trees, her form quickly swallowed by the shadows.

"Now wait," Sirrax said, closing his eyes. "Slowly. Give fair chance."

I closed my eyes as well, forcing myself to wait despite the urgent desire to pursue her immediately.

It seemed to take an eternity, my newly enhanced senses straining to track her progress through the grove—the soft pad of her footsteps growing more distant, the rustle of leaves as she passed, the faint trace of her scent carried on the night air.

My body responded to these inputs with an intensity that was almost painful—muscles tensing, heart accelerating, blood heating in my veins.

By the time Sirrax spoke again, I was clenching my fists to keep from bolting after her.

"Now," Sirrax finally said, his eyes snapping open. He looked at me, that predatory focus now evident in his stance. "Hunt together," he suggested. "Show mate strength of both. Impress more."

The idea appealed to something deep within me, some instinct that recognized the value of cooperative hunting. I nodded. "Together, then. How do we do this?"

"You take east," he directed, already moving westward. "I circle north. Drive toward centre." He gestured to a small clearing visible between the trees. "Herd like prey. Not let escape."

The word 'prey' sent a shiver through me—not of revulsion but of dark excitement.

I knew Livia was my equal, a warrior in her own right, yet in this ritual she had assumed a different role.

She was the quarry, and I was the hunter.

The knowledge stirred something ancient and powerful within me, a part of my nature I had never acknowledged before tonight.

Without further discussion, I moved toward the eastern edge of the grove, my footsteps nearly silent on the leaf-strewn ground.

The human part of me marvelled at this new stealth, at how instinctively I placed each foot to avoid twigs that might snap, at how I unconsciously modulated my breathing to remain silent.

But the Talfen part—the part that had soared through night skies on massive wings—recognized these skills as birthright, as natural as flight itself.

The moonlight filtered through the ancient olive trees, creating a patchwork of silver and shadow that would have been disorienting to my human eyes.

But my transformed senses processed the contrasts with ease, picking out subtle movements, differentiating between the rustling of leaves in the breeze and the deliberate disturbance caused by a human's passage.

I caught her scent on the air—a complex mixture of familiar notes that made my pulse quicken.

Sweat, skin, the lingering sweetness of the perfumed oil she used in her hair.

But there was something more now, something my heightened senses detected beneath these familiar markers—the subtle chemical signature of arousal.

She was excited by this chase, this ritual.

The knowledge made heat pool low in my belly, made my movements more focused, more predatory.