And they all died because I killed one venin.

That’s what Liam was trying to tell me. When a dragon dies, so does its rider. But apparently when a venin dies, so do the wyvern they created. All of them. That’s how we can save everyone on this battlefield.

There are two riders among the horde Xaden is holding back.

“We have to take out the riders,” I whisper.

“Yes,” Tairn agrees, following my thoughts. “Excellent idea.”

“You’re willing to gamble your life on it?” If I’m wrong, we’re both dead, and so are Xaden and Sgaeyl.

“I will bet my life on you as I have from the first day,” he says, banking to fly back to the valley as the other dragons rush with their riders to follow us, no doubt following Tairn’s command. Only Garrick and his Brown Scorpiontail are ahead of us, flying low and fast toward Xaden. “Three of the venin are dead, but one is—”

I watch in horror as a venin with a staff as tall as he is strides out of the darkness, his menacing gaze locked on Xaden.

“To the left!” I scream at Xaden.

Sgaeyl spins and blasts fire at the venin, but he doesn’t so much as pause.

Garrick leans from his seat and flings a dagger, but before it can reach the venin, the robed figure slams his staff into the ground and disappears like he was never there in the first place.

He moved. But to where?

“The hell?” I shout into the wind.

“A general can recognize another general, and that’s their leader,” Tairn says.

The Sage?

“I can’t hold them back much longer!” Xaden yells, his arms shaking so hard, it looks like his body is tearing itself apart at the very seams as we rush toward the mouth of the valley.

“New plan,” I tell Xaden as Tairn pushes himself to the max. “I need you to let the shadows fall.”

“WHAT?” He’s already wavering; I can see it by the straining shapes against his shadows, wyvern desperate to push their way through.

“So much suffering.” The hurt in Andarna’s voice jars me.

I whip my head back toward the trading post and catch the glint of gold. My heart seizes. “No! It’s not safe for you here!”

“You need me!” she yells.

“Please hide. One of us has to survive this,” I tell her as Tairn flies past Xaden and Sgaeyl.

“Xaden, you have to drop the shadows. It’s the only way.”

“Tairn!” Sgaeyl shouts, fear edging her tone in a way I’ve never heard.

“Don’t ask that of me.” Even Xaden’s voice shakes. Those shadows are coming down whether or not he wants them to. He’s approaching burnout.

“If you’ve ever trusted me, Xaden, I need you to do it now,” I use his earlier words, barely breathing through the searing pain in my side. He’ll lose himself to burnout if he doesn’t trust me.

“Fuck!” In a blink, the wall of shadow falls, and the wyvern fly toward us with terrifying speed. If I can’t do this, no one will survive. There are too many of them.

“Spot the more powerful rider, Tairn.” It’s the best bet. The only bet.

We’re a minute away from a collision.

“Once I’ve taken the rider out, that only leaves one, Xaden. Just kill that one and the rest of the wyvern will fall.”

“I’m coming.”

But I’ll get there first. Tairn is faster than Sgaeyl. “You saved us by holding them back this long.”

When he starts to respond, I slam my shield down, blocking him out to concentrate.

Tairn’s head swivels left and right, searching, and I break apart the last of my Archives walls, keeping one foot firmly on that marble floor.

“There,” Tairn says, his head turned to the right. “That one.”

At the corner of the flying horde is a seated venin, crimson veins streaking his temples and traveling down his cheeks.

“You’re sure?” I ask.

“Positive.”

Blue fire erupts from the horde, and I barely draw breath before a torrent of shadows rises from the edges of the valley, snuffing out the flame.

Power ripples in my bones, vibrating my very being with the amount of energy I’m forcing my body to contain.

“Tell me your plan isn’t to try and jump on the wyvern’s back?” Tairn asks as my breath hitches. Just a few more seconds and we’ll be close enough.

“I don’t have to,” I tell him. “Didn’t you hear what the venin said? I can command the sky to surrender all its power, but I’m going to need every ounce of yours to do it.” I unleash my signet and strike once, missing the wyvern, then again, missing once more.

They’re almost on us as I strike again and again, pushing myself to the limit as Xaden smothers the blue flames before they have a chance to burn me alive.

I can’t aim. I’m not ready. Maybe if I had another year or two to practice, but not now. “I need more, Tairn!”

“You will burn out, Silver One!” he growls, dodging a flame Xaden misses. “You already walk the edge.”

My arms shake as I lift them again. “This is the only way I can save them. I can save Sgaeyl. You just have to decide to live, Tairn. Even if I don’t.”

“I will not watch another rider die because they do not know their own limitations. One more strike could be your last. I feel your waning strength.”

“I know exactly what I’m capable of,” I promise as energy fills my body once again, and my heart jolts, struggling to find the right rhythm. Hot. I’m so damned hot, I feel like I could burst into flame myself. I’ve taken too much power. “I’m not Naolin.”

Fear threatens to consume me as the venin rides at us, close enough that I can see his snarling mouth, but it’s not my terror. It’s Tairn’s.

“Let me help!” Andarna shouts, and my heart swells even as it stutters from the energy flowing through my veins. I don’t have time to look to see where she is—I only hope she’s still in the outpost.