Read Chapter 13: The Second Turn

The forest swallowed them before the first bell of dawn. Cedric's one night had dwindled to hours, and Elara had spent them all in furious preparation—packing the ledger against her ribs, the vial of bond tonic empty in her pocket, and Kael's whispered directions to the northern valleys burning in her mind.

"You're sure about this?" Kael asked for the third time, pushing aside a curtain of hanging moss. His bow was slung across his back, an arrow already nocked out of habit. "Sindra root only grows in the deep groves. We'll be exposed for half a day's ride."

"Ignis can't wait half a day." Elara kept her voice low, stepping over a fallen trunk slick with dew. "The tonic stabilized him, but it wasn't enough. The leather's poison is still in his blood. If I don't find the root—"

"Then we find it fast." Kael's hand shot out, halting her. He tilted his head, listening. The forest had gone quiet. No birds. No wind through the canopy.

Elara's heart hammered. "Guards?"

"Maybe." He scanned the treeline, jaw tight. "Or maybe nothing. The academy doesn't patrol this deep—hunting territory, too far from the walls. But Voss has been jumpy since the Locked Tower."

The words hung between them. Since you broke in. Since you stole the ledger. Elara pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the book's spine through her tunic. She hadn't shown Kael the contents, only the shape of her plan. He'd agreed without asking to see it. That trust sat heavy on her.

They moved deeper, the canopy thickening until the morning light filtered down in green-gold coins. Elara's boots sank into soft loam, and the smell of earth and pine filled her lungs. She'd spent her childhood in stables, not forests, but something about this place felt familiar in a way she couldn't name. Ancient. Watching.

"There." Kael pointed to a cluster of low plants near a stream bed, their leaves a distinctive silver-green that seemed to shimmer in the dim light. "Sindra. The root runs deep, so we'll need to dig carefully—"

An arrow thudded into the tree inches from his head.

Kael shoved Elara sideways, drawing his bow in the same motion. "Go! Now!"

But there was nowhere to go. Guards erupted from the undergrowth in a ring around them—six, eight, a dozen, their armor dulled with forest paint, crossbows leveled. Sergeant Maren stepped forward, her face unreadable beneath a scarred helm.

"Elara of the stables. Kael of the hunt." Her voice carried no malice, only duty. "By order of Lady Voss, you are arrested for treason, theft of Academy property, and consorting with a rogue dragon."

"The dragon is sick because of her!" Elara's hand went to the knife at her belt, though she knew it was useless. "The leather in the saddles is poisoned. She's killing them to keep control—"

Sergeant Maren's expression flickered. Just for a moment. Then her crossbow swung up, trained at Elara's chest. "Lower your weapon. Both of you. Now."

Kael's bowstring was drawn to his cheek, arrow aimed at Maren's throat. His breath came steady. "Elara, when I say run—"

"You'll die," Maren said flatly. "And so will she. Put it down."

They stood frozen in the still air. Elara could feel the ledger burning against her skin, a weight of proof that meant nothing if she died here. If Ignis died alone in the infirmary, waiting for a cure that never came.

Kael lowered his bow.

The guards moved fast. Elara had no time to resist before rough hands wrenched her arms behind her back, binding her wrists with cord that bit into the flesh. Beside her, Kael grunted as a guard's fist connected with his jaw, and he crumpled to his knees, blood staining his lip.

"Kael!"

"Shut up." The guard holding her yanked her upright, and she stumbled. Another guard kicked Kael's fallen bow into the undergrowth. They wrenched him to his feet, his arm twisted behind him at an angle that made him hiss through his teeth.

Maren walked toward Elara, stopping just before her. "The ledger. Where is it?"

Elara met her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Maren's gaze dropped to Elara's chest, where the book's shape pressed visibly against her tunic. She sighed, almost regretful. "Search her."

Hands groped at her clothing, tore the ledger free. Elara thrashed, but the guards held her firm as Maren flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning the damning entries. The dated orders. Lady Voss's signature. The careful bureaucratic trail of murder.

Maren closed the book. "Take them back."

The ride to the academy was a blur of pain and humiliation. Elara was slung over a horse's back like a sack of grain, wrists still bound, while Kael stumbled along on foot beside the guards, one eye swollen shut, his arm cradled against his chest. He didn't speak. She didn't know what to say.

Word spread fast. By the time they were dragged through the main gates, a crowd had gathered—students, servants, riders with their dragons watching from the rooftops. Cedric stood at the edge of the crowd, his face pale, his hands clenched at his sides. He did not meet her eyes.

Voss was waiting in the courtyard.

She stood on the steps of the great hall, radiant in her authority, silver hair coiled beneath a circlet of darkened iron. The fires of the courtyard braziers threw her shadow long across the stones. When she saw the ledger in Sergeant Maren's hands, she smiled.

"Thank you, Sergeant." Voss descended the steps slowly, her boots clicking against the worn stone. She stopped before Elara, close enough that Elara could smell her perfume—something sweet and cloying, like dying flowers. "I had hoped you would prove more resourceful. But I suppose even stray dogs run out of luck."

"Everyone saw it," Elara said, her voice raw. "The ledger. Your signature. They'll know what you did to the dragons—"

"The ledger is a forgery," Voss said calmly. "Created by a traitor who sought to undermine the Academy's sacred work. A traitor who broke into restricted archives, stole from the Locked Tower, and attempted to poison the bond between rider and dragon with lies." She turned to address the watching crowd. "Elara of the stables and Kael of the hunt stand accused of high treason against the Crown and the Academy. The sentence is death."

A murmur rippled through the crowd. Elara's heart stopped.

"You can't," she breathed. "Ignis—"

"Your dragon will be re-bonded to a worthy rider," Voss said. "Or put down, if he proves as tainted as his mistress. Either way, the Academy will endure. It always has."

She gestured, and the guards began dragging Elara and Kael toward the dungeon stairs. Kael stumbled, nearly fell, and a guard kicked him forward. Elara caught his eye, and something passed between them—a spark of fury that had not yet extinguished.

This was not the end.

She would not let it be the end.

The iron door slammed shut behind them, and the world went dark.