Dannik was calling for me…but it was like another realm. I was lost. I could wander for centuries and never be found here. But the fog was weaving into my lungs. A poison.

Then behind me, his voice came.

“Are you afraid, aralye?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Good,” he said, stepping in front of me. I could make out his face in the mist, the only face I could see, and suddenly he felt like an unyielding pillar as chaos erupted around us. “Since your father will not answer, I will give you the same choice I gave him.”

“Please stop this,” I pleaded, thinking about Dannik. My sisters. No one knew how long the red fog took to poison the body. Some succumbed to it in moments, others days. I didn’t want to take the risk. “Please!”

“The heartstone or you. Make your choice.”

“Me,” I cried out immediately. “I will go with you! Stop this!”

Sarkin called out, “Faryn.”

Another gust came. I blinked and before my eyes, the red fog disappeared in an instant. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the loose swords hanging from the guards’ grip, I saw my father slowly rising from the ground and Dannik with rage in his eyes, pinned on Sarkin. Lakkis’s sobs filled the quiet as her mother tried to calm her. My stepmother’s jaw was set tight though she seemed less shaken than anyone. I’d always admired that about her—her ability to weather any storm and still remain steadfast. It was one of the reasons my father had made her his queen, though he’d loved another at the time.

“Klara,” Dannik said. “Nik.”

“I’ll go with you,” I repeated, forcing my gaze away from my brother’s eyes.

“With one condition,” came Sarkin’s voice, oddly detached, as his arm clamped down on my forearm, pulling me forward. I had hardly caught my breath as he said, “Zaridan must approve of you first.”

My feet stumbled underneath me as we broke through the line of riders at the edge of the clearing, who parted for us. And then Sarkin pushed me forward and I skittered to a halt before his dragon.

My breath whooshed from my lungs as her low rumble of a growl met my ears. I slowly craned my neck back to meet her eyes, and time seemed to stop. Her power was awe inspiring…and I knew, with utmost certainty, that she could kill me in an instant. In the gleam of her black scales, I could almost make out my reflection.

“If she doesn’t kill you where you stand, you will live,” came Sarkin’s voice, soft as silk though it nipped at my spine like the edge of a blade. A chorus of low laughs came from his riders.

Zaridan slowly lowered her head until our eyes were nearly level. I could smell her—earthy like the wildlands after a storm. Of underground rivers in deep caverns and of damp, black soil. Her horned head was five times as large as my entire body, and when she exhaled a warm huff, my hair blew back from my face, exposing my scar.

“And if you live, Klara of Rath Serok and Rath Drokka,” Sarkin continued, his voice sharpening, “then I will make you my wife.”

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Chapter 4KLARA

Like a shadow of the night, Zaridan moved. She prowled closer, surprisingly graceful for a creature so large. The weight of her limbs shook the earth, small little quakes that ratcheted up my heartbeat.

When I’d woken this morning, I hadn’t thought it was a possibility that I could die this night. But looking into the golden, glowing orbs of a dragon’s eyes, feeling the heat radiating off of her like a furnace, and inhaling the warm air of her breaths, the space between us shared…now it was a very high possibility. Perhaps even likely.

“Klara, get back,” I heard Dannik order in a voice he very rarely used. The voice of a king, unyielding and cold.

“To interfere would mean your life, Dakkari,” came a female’s voice, one of Sarkin’s riders. Zaridan whipped her head to regard my brother, a warning growl rumbling in her throat. Behind her, a mighty tail, spiked like a sword, thumped into the ground, making me jump.

Panic flooded me.

“Stay away. Trust in me, Dannik,” I called out, my voice shaking, my hand trembling when I raised it. I couldn’t see my brother, but at my voice, Zaridan slowly returned her focus to me, and I felt some of my nerves leave. I took a step forward. Then another. Then another, drawing myself away from the others, from my family.

I continued walking until Zaridan was at my back and the night was swallowing me up. I felt her begin to prowl behind me, sniffing the air, the sounds of her scales rustling together like leaves in the harvest season as they blew violently with the winds.

My heart was a caged little monster, beating against bones. I thought of the archives, of the smell of parchment. I thought of the wildlands, those moments of quiet when I snuck through the gates, when I could be free, when I knew no one was watching, no one was whispering, when I felt like I could breathe.

I let out a sharp exhale just as the dragon at my back did, so hot it felt like fire, and the scar down my face throbbed as I gritted my teeth.

“Why did you do this to me?” I whispered to her.

Another rough exhale.

Zaridan shook the earth as she circled. As she passed at my side, I regarded her. The long muscled sleekness of her body was like a serpent’s, her obsidian scales gleaming even in darkness. An unyielding harness was strapped to her body, secured in the notches of the joints of her wings. It was decorated in silver, eye catching yet well worn.

Behind me, I heard footsteps. He’d followed. When Sarkin’s own heat was at my back, I felt him wrap his hand just underneath my throat, his grip loose. He tilted my chin back.

“Look into her eyes so she might see you, aralye,” he commanded me. He smelled like her, I realized. Of beautiful earth. “So she might know you again.”

Again? I thought, the world swirling.

My eyes connected with Zaridan’s. I saw the black pupils narrow until they became like slits. The gold in her eyes danced like flames, and I felt Sarkin’s thumb caress the spot on my neck where my heartbeat was thumping wildly. Over and over, back and forth.

Then something strange happened. The repetitive brush of his calloused thumb made my heartbeat slow. I began to time my breaths with his touch as Zaridan studied me, as she thumped the ground with her limbs and tail. I sensed the restlessness building in her, a ball of energy that was beginning to grow. I saw her scales begin to move, creating a rustling murmur that sounded almost like a voice.

No, a song.

A beautiful, ethereal song.

Behind me, Sarkin murmured, “Sy’asha.”

There was quiet awe in his tone.

I felt a calmness descend through my body. The smell of her and Sarkin, the light wind of the wildlands stroking through my hair like fingers, winds that my ancestors had once felt drift over their own cheeks, and the sound of that song filling me…this moment felt like a piece of fate slotting into place.

I didn’t understand it. It felt so pure, so destined that I felt palpable fear take root in my chest, gripping me tight. I began to realize that I knew nothing at all.

Zaridan reared her head back, but instead of unleashing the red fog, she roared to the night sky, so loud and thunderous that it shook my bones. For a moment, the night seemed to blacken further, and I wondered if even the stars were trying to hide from such a fearsome creature.

Sarkin released me. He circled me just as Zaridan had done, and when he stood in front of me, all I saw was him and looming golden eyes of the shadowed dragon behind him.

His hand brushed my hair back. I felt him trace the curling edges of the scar on my face.

I couldn’t read the reticent expression on his face. It was both perplexed yet resigned.