VII

  Calithra spread her arms wide. “Welcome to the Hollow!”

  “I’m sure you’re dying to reunite with that fierce creature of yours.” Prince Vaelis said.

  I looked at him over my shoulder. The shadows falling across his face and the light striking it had achieved such a perfect, razor-sharp balance that his expression seemed deliberately concealed behind a veil of distance. On the other hand, I was sure that the uneasiness I felt was visibly reflected on my face.

  Cain said, “She’s a killer. She killed the seven elves who tried to train her.”

  “Seven, approximately,” Droven added. “She may have turned some of them to ash entirely.”

  I didn’t take my eyes off Vaelis’s gray gaze. “Take me to her.”

  Mad Ilmestys lay chained at every joint in a dungeon-like cave, far from the other dragons. She roared, spewing fire between her sharp teeth, and thrashed about, rocking the cave like a cradle. She was an uncontrollable, rebellious creature. I was terrified because the magnificent, monstrous form she had taken was so different from the last time I had seen her.

  Prince Vaelis watched me with such intense focus that it made me uneasy. He seemed to measure my hesitant steps as I approached the dragon—the tension in my muscles, even my held breath.

  “Ilmestys!” I called with all my strength.

  That was when she stopped roaring.

  I saw the exact moment Ilmestys’s coal-black eyes recognized me. The threatening atmosphere that had filled the cave seconds before dissolved into sudden calm. As Ilmestys slowly bent down to sniff me, I reached out and placed my hand on her enormous nose. “I thought I had lost you.”

  The sulfur-scented smoke that drifted from her nostrils burned my throat. Then she closed her eyes and lowered her head in acceptance.

  For the first time in days, I felt like I could truly breathe. She was here, safe and sound, and still mine. The pride of being accepted by a dragon and the relief of finding Ilmetys nearly made my knees buckle.

  The tight band that had coiled around my chest finally loosened, leaving behind a trembling warmth that spread through my limbs. I had not realized how deeply the fear had rooted itself inside me until that very moment.

  The irritating smirk on Cain’s face gave way to shock. Calithra’s pupils had shrunk, her muscles tense. Droven’s voice cracked with disbelief. “So it really is yours, huh?”

  But the expression on Prince Vaelis’s face was something entirely different from surprise or fear. He looked dangerously exhilarated. A small smile played on his pale lips, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

  “Yes,” I replied. “Now answer me. What is all this about? These dragons…”

  “They are being trained for war,” the prince finished. “You, too, will train this creature as a weapon. As our greatest weapon.”

  I swallowed hard, the tension in my muscles turning painful. Without removing my hand from Ilmestys’s damp nose—as if it were my only anchor—I turned to Vaelis. “Why would I do that?”

  Vaelis began to approach me with heavy steps. “Don’t you want freedom, Varrendalian?” The last word rolled off his tongue with implication, hanging between us. “Don’t you want revenge for your people? Even now, doesn’t a part of you burn to kill me?”

  Every word that came out of Vaelis’s mouth sliced through the air like a blade. I hissed through clenched teeth. He was right—and it affected me more than he realized.

  “Don’t you long to dethrone the king?” Vaelis was now close enough that I could feel the cold emanating from his body. “I can see the fire in your eyes, Asterin Eloyne. I know it has never gone out. You and I—we are the same.”

  “Don’t compare me to yourself,” I said, jaw stiffening. Ilmestys’s skin twitched beneath my hand, as if sensing a threat. A weapon. Vaelis was right. Ilmestys must be the deadliest weapon of all. I kept my hand on her, holding her under control.

  Vaelis’s eyes drifted to my hand for a moment, then the smile on his flawlessly shaped lips widened. “Perhaps I was mistaken about you burning with the desire to kill me.” He tilted his head. “Or maybe you changed your mind.”

  “Don’t push your luck,” I said. Whenever I showed the slightest hesitation, Vaelis seized it instantly. A thin wisp of smoke escaped between Ilmestys’s teeth. “Speak plainly.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Faced with Ilmestys’s warning, Vaelis raised his hands as if in surrender, but he did not step back. He still stood close enough for me to catch the scent of pine resin clinging to him. “If my brother takes the crown, this will continue,” he said. Though his voice had softened, the seething anger beneath it was unmistakable.

  Calithra spoke. “It will get much worse. I know Prince Tharen well. I know what he is capable of.”

  “The coronation ceremony will be in six months,” Cain said.

  Droven finished, “That’s when we will attack.”

  “Wait,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. Their reckless words raced through my mind. “You’re going to start a revolt with dragons?”

  “Dragons are unconventional weapons. We’ll catch them off guard,” Calithra explained. “We have to make sure Vaelis wears that crown.”

  I took a deep breath. “So what happens next?”

  “When I take the throne,” Vaelis said, “I will eradicate Gloomwood.”

  Something snapped inside me. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you and I, Asterin—we are the same.”

  I frowned. Everyone knew that no race other than humans possessed the ability to lie. Still, we could twist words, leave certain parts unsaid. But Vaelis spoke with absolute clarity, without a flicker of hesitation. Eredicate Gloomwood? That meant restoring the freedom the half-bloods had lost. I remembered how terrified Nerissa was of spending her entire life without ever leaving Varrendale. Even though Finnor seemed content with his lot, I knew the sorrow he carried would occasionally surface in his voice.

  I clenched my fist. Could this really be possible? In any case, not seizing such an opportunity would be tantamount to betraying Nerissa, Finnor, and the rest of Varrendale.

  “All right,” I said. “But I have one condition.”

  “I’m listening,” Vaelis replied. He had finally taken a few steps back.

  I extended my hand toward the prince. “Give me your blood.”

  The expression that crossed Vaelis’s face was one of utter shock—the kind I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it. It appeared and vanished within a second, but that shadow of horror had already fallen across his bright features. “Don’t ask for things you know are impossible.”

  I exhaled slowly and pointed at Calithra, Cain, and Droven with open defiance. “Because of those fools, my whip burned to ashes. And I can’t forge a new one without your blood.”

  Vaelis glanced over his shoulder at Calithra, who merely shrugged. After a sigh, he turned back to me. “I won’t give you my blood. Find another way.”

  Before I could protest, Vaelis said, “Tell Asterin everything she needs to know,” and walked away, dragging his blue mantle behind him.

  ***

  “How can he expect me to train a dragon without my whip?” Lying on the couch in the Passage and staring at the ceiling, I couldn’t help but complain to Calithra and the others. “He has more blood than he knows what to do with, yet he won’t give me even a few drops. Asshole…”

  “He’s a prince, Asterin. His blood is the blood of the King.” Calithra’s voice sounded weary. “All right, it was my mistake, so I’ll take care of it.”

  When Droven entered carrying four goblets of beer, I sat up and crossed my legs. “So be it,” I said, taking the goblet he offered me. “All right, let me see if I understand correctly. The plan is to attack with the dragons on the day of the coronation, overthrow Tharen, and put Vaelis on the throne. And then Gloomwood will fade into history.” As I said the last sentence, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. “And what you want me to do is turn Ilmestys into an undefeatable creature before the coronation ceremony.”

  Calithra took a long sip from her cup and nodded.

  After everyone had been lost in their own thoughts for a while, I was the one who broke the silence. “How did you manage to capture Ilmestys?” I clenched my jaw, remembering the night I lost her.

  “Capture her?” Calithra sighed heavily. “She was the one who found us.”

  Dragons lived in herds, and it was only natural for an ordinary dragon to fly to an area densely populated by its own kind. But Ilmestys was no ordinary dragon. “She’s a Nightfall,” I said, before filling my mouth with beer foam. “Nightfall dragons prefer solitude.”

  “She is now the last remaining Nightfall dragon,” Calithra said. She didn’t take her red-brown eyes off the cup in her lap.

  For a moment, I opened and closed my mouth at Calithra’s sorrowful expression. “What?”

  “There is a vast communication network among dragons,” Droven explained. “They pass important news to one another. Just like Ilmestys receiving word that the last representative of her kind—other than herself—had died.”

  I remembered Ilmestys’s frantic flapping of wings, her deafening roar, and that ebony-colored rage that blinded the eyes. Droven’s words weighed on my shoulders like a physical burden. “But how is that possible…?”

  “His name was Morvex,” Calithra said. “He was killed by the Ashvael Clan.”

  I clenched my teeth. The Ashvael Elves were a small but highly effective clan settled along the northern ocean coast, known for hunting dragons. They had developed a special enchantment for that purpose, and when it was used on weapons, a dragon separated from its herd had no chance.

  “He was a dragon who loved his freedom and adored hunting in the ocean,” Calithra continued. “I took him there on a Full Moon night, thinking the Ashvael Clan would be inactive. That’s when we were attacked.”

  I frowned. The chains I used in Varrendale were also reinforced with the Ashvael enchantment, but under the weakening light of the full moon, they snapped like rotten ropes. “That’s impossible,” I muttered. “The Ashvael enchantment, like all enchantments, cannot withstand the full moon.”

  “That’s the terrifying part,” Calithra said. She held her cup so tightly I could see the tremor in her muscles. “Their spells had completely weakened. What killed Morvex was the spear that struck him—designed to be as deadly as possible.”

  A pang tightened in my chest. In a low voice, I said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Cain nodded toward Calithra. “Vaelis nearly killed her because she lost Morvex,” he said. “Finding Ilmestys before the royal family did was a miracle.”

  Before the royal family.

  I clenched my teeth. The way they spoke about all this so matter-of-factly made it seem as though Vaelis did not come from the very heart of that family. I must have set my cup down harder than I intended, because all eyes in the room suddenly turned to me.

  I paused for a moment. The strange feeling Vaelis’s words in the Hollow had stirred within me returned.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “After all, Ilmestys is here now.”