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The Avari House Leader’s shoulders shook.

“I’ll run after you,” I vowed. “I swear, I’ll do it. I’ll get a horse. I’ll walk if I have to. I’ll follow you on my own.” I took a deep breath. “But I am not leaving your side tonight.”

He closed his eyes. “Fine.” One word. But it was enough. Everything about this man was more than enough.

We ran down the stairs side by side, hands barely touching. And that was enough, too.

CHAPTER 34

FLORENCE

The city was burning. I had a dragon, and Veilmar was on fire. I had a dragon, and I was standing here, safe and sound, while Veilmar burned. Around me, students were crying. Kage and Regan brushed past. They were leaving. I had no idea what their plan was, but at least they were moving. They were trying.

Nyxaris! You saw this. You knew. Why didn’t you stop him?

The dragon answered at once, voice glacier-cold. I guard my rider. I am not the protector of a hive of highblood scum.

There are blightborn in Veilmar, thousands of them! And children! Tears were running down my cheeks. My fists thudded against my thighs helplessly.

Long ago I ceased to weigh the value of your human cities or your human lives. He sounded remote, or as if he were purposely trying not to care about what I was telling him.

I felt Medra’s hand slip into mine. She was weeping, too. Tears that left red tracks through the slash marks on her cheeks. She watched me, saying nothing.

Little children. Babies, I whispered. Do their lives really mean nothing to you? I wish I could say the same. It must be easier to not care. But I do, Nyxaris. They mean a great deal to me. Silence fell. I closed my eyes, filled with the most terrible sense of disappointment. If he wouldn’t help me, we would be lost.

Long ago, I began to feel something for the humans’ plight. I cared beyond all reason, all wisdom. Nyxaris’s voice was bitter.

What do you mean?

For centuries, I lived as their teeth, as the highbloods’ claws. I slew whoever they named. It was I who was the destroyer of cities. I who slaughtered little babes in their beds.

I was trembling. That’s not the Nyxaris I know.You aren’t like that anymore.

No? You think me safe? You think me gentle? I was their enforcer. Their fangs. And then …

And then? I ventured.

I lost my rider to their cruelty. Another pause. Molindra, she came to me. Offered me a chance to mend what I had helped destroy. I surrendered my spirit. Chose the stone so I could … atone.

The vision of Nyxaris willingly letting himself be bound shattered me.

You sacrificed yourself, I whispered. That doesn’t sound like a heart-less monster to me.

Nyxaris was quiet for what felt like eternity. Then, If I fly, I risk losing you, as once I lost her.

You won’t lose me, I whispered. And we have no choice. This is what we were meant to do. If we don’t try to stop him, where will it end? I swallowed. I’m not brave. I never wanted this.

You are everything you need to be. You are my rider.

If I am your rider, then we have to try. This is what we were brought together to do. You sacrificed yourself once because you knew it was the right thing to do. Help me now. Help me stop Blake.

Blake? Nyxaris growled. That beast is not your friend’s mate.

My eyes widened. What do you mean? But Medra said …

That is Vorago, he snarled.

Medra stared at me as my expression changed.