Read Chapter 27: The Missing Rider's Secret

The infirmary smelled of burnt herbs and something metallic that Elara had learned, over the past days, to identify as dragon blood. She lay on her cot, watching the ceiling, and tried not to think about the hollow space where Ignis used to be.

Aldric found her like that. He limped through the rows of wounded riders, his weathered face grim, and pulled a stool to her bedside. He didn't speak at first. Just sat, letting the silence stretch until Elara turned her head.

"There's something you need to know," he said.

Elara laughed, a dry, broken sound. "At this point, what could possibly be worse?"

Aldric's jaw tightened. "The summit isn't just a ward anchor. It's a nesting ground."

She blinked. "What?"

"The ancient dragons built it. Before they vanished, before the bonds were forged, before any of this—they made the summit as a sanctuary. A place where their young could hatch in safety, away from the wars below." He paused, rubbing a hand over his stubbled chin. "There's an egg there. A queen's egg. It's been dormant for centuries, waiting for a rider worthy of its bloodline."

Elara sat up slowly, her ribs protesting. "You're saying there's another dragon. A queen."

"Not just another dragon," Aldric said. "The last of a line that predates every bond we know. If a queen hatches and bonds, she can reforge the connections that were broken. Every severed bond, every fading rider—she can restore them all. The ritual you started could be finished properly, not with death, but with rebirth."

Elara's heart hammered. "Then why are we sitting here?"

"Because the egg is protected." Aldric's voice dropped. "The barrier around it isn't a ward in the traditional sense. It's older. It reads the heart of whoever approaches. Only a true dragon-hearted person can pass through. Anyone else—" He shook his head. "The last three riders who tried, centuries ago, never came back. The barrier didn't kill them. It just... unmade them. Stripped away everything that wasn't genuine."

Sera appeared in the doorway, her sleeves rolled to her elbows, blood still under her fingernails. She'd been tending to riders all night. She looked at Aldric, then at Elara, and her face went pale.

"You're telling her about the egg."

"She needs to know."

Sera crossed the room, dropping onto the edge of Elara's cot. "The egg has to be approached willingly. Freely. And the moment you step inside the barrier, there's no turning back. If it judges you unworthy, you won't get a second chance."

Elara looked at her hands. The white mark from the ward still glowed faintly beneath her skin, like a vein of moonlight trapped just below the surface. "What does dragon-hearted even mean?"

Aldric leaned forward. "It means your first instinct isn't survival. It isn't power. It isn't revenge. It means that when the barrier looks at you, it sees someone who loves dragons more than they love themselves. Who would give up their own life, their own bond, their own future—if it meant the dragons lived."

Elara thought of Ignis. Of the moment she'd severed their bond, the tearing sensation that had ripped through her chest, the way she'd felt his confusion and pain and then the sudden, terrifying freedom. She thought of how she'd done it anyway. Because she'd known, deep down, that it was the only way.

She swung her legs off the cot.

"I'll go."

Sera grabbed her arm. "Elara, you're barely healed. You can barely walk to the latrine without collapsing."

"I'm not saying I'm ready now," Elara said. "I'm saying I'll do it. When I'm strong enough to climb."

Aldric studied her for a long moment. "You understand what you're offering? If you pass the barrier, the egg will hatch. A queen dragon will bind to you. And that bond—" He hesitated. "It won't be like the others. It won't be chosen and then broken. A queen's bond is absolute. If you take it, you'll never be free of her. And she'll never be free of you. Not even death splits a queen's bond."

Elara's throat tightened. "But it would save the others."

"It would save them all," Aldric confirmed. "Every fading rider. Every dragon that still clings to life. The bond network would be rebuilt from the queen outward, stronger than before. But you'd be at its center. Forever."

Sera squeezed Elara's hand. "You don't have to decide now. We have time. The fortnight's not up yet."

"No," Elara said quietly. "We don't. Every day we wait, another rider fades. Another dragon dies. I saw their faces out there." She gestured toward the infirmary's main hall, where the wounded and the grieving lay side by side. "I did this to them. I have to fix it."

Cedric appeared in the doorway, his arm still bound in a sling, his face pale but determined. He'd overheard enough. "If you're going, I'm going."

"You can barely hold a sword," Elara said.

"I can still carry a pack. And I can still watch your back." He crossed to her, dropping a hand on her shoulder. "You're not doing this alone."

Elara looked at him, at Sera, at Aldric. These people who had followed her into the mountain, who had fought beside her, who had watched her sever the most precious thing she had and then stayed anyway.

"There's one more problem," Aldric said. "The summit is warded against everything except the blood of its makers. The egg's barrier aside, the path itself is closed. If we want to get you to that egg, we need to open the way. And the only key is dragon fire. Pure, untainted dragon fire."

Sera frowned. "Ignis is the only dragon we know who's free. Every other dragon is bonded, dying, or gone."

Elara's chest ached at the name. "Ignis flew south. The proving ground, you said. Somewhere beyond any bond call."

"Aye." Aldric's voice was heavy. "The proving ground is a place where wild dragons go to test themselves. It's never been navigated by a human rider. The way is treacherous—mountain passes that shift, valleys that come alive with old magic, hunters who've made their living trapping free dragons. It's not a journey for the injured."

Elara met his eyes. "Then I'll heal on the way."

Aldric held her gaze, and something flickered in his expression. Respect, maybe. Or concern. "You're asking to walk into the proving ground with nothing but hope and a half-healed body, to find a dragon who chose to leave you, and ask him to come back."

"I'm not asking him to come back," Elara said. "I'm asking him to do what's right. Even if it means he doesn't choose me again." She swallowed. "Even if it means I find him and he looks at me like a stranger. I need to try."

The room fell quiet. Outside, the wind picked up, rattling the infirmary's shutters. Someone in the main hall cried out in their sleep—a rider dreaming of a dragon they'd lost.

Sera stood. "I'll start packing. Supplies, medicine, warm clothes. We'll need to move fast if we're going to reach the proving ground before the fortnight's end."

"And I'll talk to the surviving riders," Cedric said. "Some of them might want to help. Even just to guide us through the lower passes."

Aldric rose, his old joints creaking. "I'll draw you a map. The proving ground wasn't built for humans, but there are markers—ancient stones, carved with symbols only dragon-blooded can read. I'll teach you what they mean before you go."

Elara sat on the edge of her cot, the white mark on her hand pulsing gently, as if in anticipation. She thought of Ignis. Of the warmth of his scales, the rumble of his voice in her mind, the way he'd looked at her before she'd let him go. She didn't know if he would recognize her. She didn't know if he would forgive her.

But she knew she had to try.

"Sleep tonight," Aldric said, moving toward the door. "Tomorrow we plan. And the day after, if the healers clear you, we start the climb."

Elara nodded, but she didn't lie down. She sat in the dim light, running her thumb over the ward's mark, and made herself remember it all. The good moments. The painful ones. The feeling of igniting their bond and the agony of breaking it.

If the barrier was going to judge her, she needed to know exactly what she was carrying in her heart.

She only hoped it was enough.