Blood magic carried a cost. It took and it took, year by year, until only a shadow remained. Krayson no longer felt trust, nor compassion, nor any manner of altruism. He was only his purpose— his profession as a brother of the Sanguine Order— and anything else was just a ghost. A blood mage's red eyes revealed the emptiness of their souls. Krayson was less than human.

Even so, he decided he had more humanity in his little finger than Elise of Eastrun had ever possessed.

Krayson's mind was racing. Saveen was on her knees and on the verge of tears. Kimpo tensed. Garret and Trell watched intently, the man intrigued and the black dragon pensive.

"Well?" Elise asked in a sultry tone. "Give me your answer, Blood Runner."

"Absolutely not!" Kimpo roared. "Saveen is still a dragonet. She's too young to be passed off like a..." She froze in mid-sentence and clutched at her chest. Her eyes were wild and her jaw was clenched. Kimpo was in pain.

"You dare defy me?" Elise shouted. "How many times must I break you, slave?"

Kimpo screamed as if pierced through the heart. She fell to the ground and writhed as pain assaulted her.

Krayson watched in morbid fascination, uncertain of what was causing the dragon such agony. He looked to Elise and saw that her pupils had contracted to tiny specks. She wore a mask of fury.

"Shall I lock the spell?" Elise asked. "I could leave you like this for what feels like a thousand years and turn you into a shattered husk of a creature. With every dragon I find, you're less valuable to me." She pointed to Trell. "Others aren't so willful. My Watchman knows his place." Elise pointed to Saveen at her feet. "Even this one only needed a single taste of the bond. But you..."

She gestured towards Kimpo, and the dragon loosed a tremendous roar of pain.

"The only reason you have your life is because of what you know," Elise spat. "You're no Imperial breed, but you've bedded one. The Watchman tells me that the Storyteller has been spendin' the last hundred years scourin' the Continent for the mighty. The silver's told you some of what it's found, and you're only use is takin' me to them." Elise walked up to Kimpo as she spoke. When she reached her, Elise placed the heel of her boot on the dragon's throat. "The fancy man is my first, the blood runner my second, but I'll need more knights than that to see these kingdoms burn."

Krayson took a step towards Kimpo, but stopped himself. He didn't understand why he suddenly felt a need to act. It was fortunate that his right mind returned to him before he did something stupid. Why had he even thought to go to her aid?

Not my fight, he told himself. I have one purpose, and that's to be a blood runner.

There were old feelings he remembered having once, from long before the Order took him in. Blood magic washed those impediments away, yet sometimes Krayson could feel their ghosts coming back to haunt him. Whenever they did, they always tried to get him killed.

While no one looked his way, Krayson used his fingernail to cut ten lines into the palm of his left hand. A single second-tier rune was the upper limit of his ability with sigils. He winced at the stinging pain and fought down instincts against self-mutilation. His work finished, he closed his hand over the cuts, hiding the bleeding wounds from sight.

He noticed Saveen. She covered her mouth as she watched Kimpo being tortured. The dragon girl trembled. Then, Krayson saw her eyes harden and her body tense as if preparing to pounce.

"Your indulgence, my lady," Krayson said to Elise. "I've no wish to interrupt however you discipline your pets, but time is a concern for me."

Elise released whatever she was doing to Kimpo and removed her boot from her throat. Kimpo's cries faded and were replaced by heavy panting. She murmured something almost too low to be overheard.

"... can light the stars," Kimpo whispered. "Remember the stars."

Saveen crawled to her and put a tentative hand on her back.

The dragons were beneath Elise's notice now. Her attention was now on Krayson, and she stalked up to him. "Do I have your answer?"

Krayson's eyes flickered to Saveen. "I need more information. What precisely is a Sapphire Knight?"

"One of the twenty-five orders of arcanist knights of Shan Alee," Elise said. "The Sapphires were the shields of the empire. They kept watch over the borders and manned the spires of the sentinel cities."

"Forgive me if I don't see myself as a protector, but I understand you've no room for choice." Krayson glanced to Trell. "What of those bonded to black dragons? What were they?"

Garret took up the explanation with gusto. "Aha! My new favorite subject. The Onyx Knights kept the others in line and insured complete devotion to the emperor." He bowed with a flourish to Elise. "Or to the empress, as the case may be. Black dragons such as my Watchman are uniquely qualified for such endeavors. The keenest senses among the mighty. Trell's ears are even sharp enough to hear the change in the heartbeat of a liar."

Krayson nodded and was relieved that Trell hadn't been around to hear him lie through his teeth earlier. "Different orders, different spheres of responsibility, and given dragons best suited for that task. I take it blues are gifted towards defense?"

Elise sighed. "They should be. I've heard it said that a blue could stay on its feet even after its heart stopped beatin'. All but impossible to kill. This one..." She flicked her hand towards Saveen. "I'm not seein' much truth to the legends."

"My empress," Trell interjected, "Saveen is still young. She is just twenty years out of her eggshell. After her mother and father passed, I've seen to raising her as my own, and I can assure you she is her parents' daughter. She'll serve your Sapphire well. Blue tenacity will reveal itself."

"See that it does," Elise replied. "Any other questions, Blood Runner, or can we get on with this already? You want power, and havin' all the ether a dragon's blood can hold at your disposal will give you that power. Consider this blue as the payment for bein' my preserver." She now stood close enough to Krayson that he could feel her breath on his face. "Will you serve me?"

For a moment, Krayson felt a curious sensation. It was like an itch between his shoulders— a sensation of being watched— but not just by some hidden observer. Within the span of a heartbeat, beginning and ending between one breath and the next, Joshuan Krayson felt as if every eye in the world had turned towards him.

Fleeting, the sensation passed. It left him the exact moment he knew the answer to Elise's question.

Krayson didn't need to think about it anymore. He didn't want this. Everything Elise had shown him about dragon bonds proved to him that blood magic was innocent in comparison. It offended him on a basic level. It was true that he wanted power, more than anything, but he wanted his own power and not ether leeched through a bond like a parasite. More than even that, the very notion of... owning... another thinking being was among the most repulsive concepts he could imagine.

The Althandi, the Teulites, and every other race of humanity had once been slaves of the Aleesh. He would never condone such an atrocity in any form.

Krayson gave her his answer. "No."

Garret chuckled and pulled the brim of his bowler hat over his eyes. "Unwise, dear sir."

"You're makin' a mistake," Elise said in a dangerous tone.

"Perhaps," Krayson replied, "but it's the only answer I can give."

Elise wrinkled her nose in displeasure. She remained in front of Krayson, looming over him. "Enough games. You were only offered a choice out of gratitude."

Without warning, Krayson felt his chest tighten. He staggered away from Elise, and his lungs fought to pull in another breath. His heart began to race, and it hammered so quickly that he lost track of how many beats per minute it was going. Before he could move a muscle, he felt something new in the depths of his being. A foreign presence like a growing thunderstorm appeared. It pressed against Krayson's innermost self, separate but still within him, and the forks of lightning between them were his to command.

Instinctively, Krayson grasped onto that lightning and turned it away from him. It arced towards the intrusive other that invaded his soul. As if from a great distance, he heard Saveen cry out in pain.

"That's right," Elise whispered. Her hand was on Krayson's chest. It gripped the fabric of his robe, holding him close. "You've already mastered the bond. This is how you keep your dragon in line. You are the master, and it is your slave."

Krayson recoiled from the power separating him and Saveen. He let go of the thunderstorm and let it crackle uncontrolled. The ghost of an emotion he could no longer feel shouted at him, but he couldn't understand what it wanted.

"—You will serve me,—" Elise said in the Aeldenn Tones. "—My desires are your commands. My blood is your beacon. My enemies are yours to slaughter. Faithfulness will be rewarded beyond measure. Failure will be answered with destruction. You are my Sapphire Knight and his Bastion.—"

Krayson felt Elise's magic pull away from him. In its wake, the thunderstorm remained. He knew it now to be a second soul, or rather a new half to his own. It was the part of him that was Saveen.

He looked to her. Saveen was shaking, and now Kimpo was the one holding her. The red dragon shot a hateful look at Krayson, as if blaming him for this.

Rightly so, perhaps. Krayson remembered Saveen's scream as the bond took hold. He'd done that to her without thinking. And now, everything that was hers was now his to take at his leisure. He could feel it now, the vast reservoir of ether greater than his own on the other side of the bond.

Saveen shuddered and opened her eyes. They were no longer yellow, but bright red.

"Winds and storms," Garret murmured. "It looks like she's a blood mage now, too."

Krayson's ghosts were howling, and even though he couldn't hear them clearly, he knew that he should have been repulsed by what had been done to Saveen. Many emotions were lost to him due to his blood magic, but just as many yet remained.

Right now, Krayson was angry.

"Remove this," he demanded.

Elise scoffed and turned her back on him. She strolled away as if he were no longer worthy of her time. "This one isn't as much of a prize as I wanted, fancy man. Make him see things my way."

Garret tossed his cane to Trell and sauntered past Elise to Krayson. His fingers began working through the first gesture of a somatic. "As you wish, dove. Shame it comes to this."

Krayson didn't need to watch his hands to know what sort of spell Garret was preparing. He'd seen him use it before on a Courtesan's apprentice in Gaulatia. Domination. Garret meant to steal Krayson's will and make it his own.

"Deepest regrets, dear sir," Garret apologized. "Dragons are at your every turn, and I might humbly add that I'm a thumping good arcanist myself. You can't hope to fight all of us."

"Althandi are all the same," Krayson said. He crouched low on the balls of his feet. "All thunder when you should have already acted."

Garret chuckled as he came within arms reach. His fingers raised to touch Krayson's chest. "Might I remind you that Althandi blood runs in your veins?"

"Only half." Krayson allowed himself a smirk of his own. "While the Althandi talk, the Horde is already moving."

Garret hesitated. He narrowed his eyes when he saw something in Krayson's face that must not have sat well in him.

Krayson opened his left palm and raised it for Garret to see the blood-stained rune carved into his skin. Its lines began to glow white with etherlight as Krayson invested it with his ether. Then, Krayson called the rune's name.

"Sucé!"

The spellcraft was threefold. The rune of force was the focus, Krayson's blood acted as a reagent to feed his ether directly into the evocation spell, and his voice summoned a wind spirit of concussive force. Twinborn, Krayson didn't just have the ability to cast spells simultaneously as a witch and wizard. He could also use both disciplines in concert towards the same goal.

Alone, he cast a unison link.

Garret had only a moment to realize the danger before he was thrown across the common room. His bones broke when he was hit by the initial blast, and he struck the far wall hard enough to smash through.

Trell grunted and sank down to a knee. The black dragon grimaced while Garret shoved sheets of drywall away and struggled to regain his feet.

Healing through the bond, Krayson surmised. Garret takes from Trell and survives injuries that should have killed him.

"Blustering freak!" Garret shouted. Blood dripped down his face from cuts that had already closed. "You ruined my coat, you filthy half-breed!"

Elise bared her teeth as she summoned fire to her hands. "Kill the blood runner!"

"Better than you have tried," Krayson said. He turned around and sprinted for the exit.

Trell was the first to act. He swept his hand towards the wall opposite Krayson's escape. A brilliant light shone in the air like a tiny sun, and it threw long shadows that reached past Krayson and towards the door hanging off rotten hinges.

Krayson spoke quick incantations for a fire ward to defend from Elise's pyromancy. He felt her spells strike against the barriers surrounding him and draining his ether. His stores were at three-quarters of full and could maintain the ward through several more such spells if they needed to. Even so, he couldn't rely only on his magic for defense if he hoped to escape. Krayson locked the fire ward and drove himself to run faster, dodging in unpredictable directions with every step. Elise's fire spells couldn't track him with accuracy, and only a few came close enough to bounce off his ward.

As he neared the doorway, one of the shadows cast by Trell's light spell began to move unnaturally. It rose from the floor and hung in the air before resolving into a solid figure. Trell now stood in Krayson's path, his magic taking him across the room in an instant.

Trell wasn't using incantations or somatics. He was a sorcerer, and it looked like he knew how to use the lost school of teleportation.

Krayson didn't have time to admire the wonders of dragon spellcraft or lament his lack of a sorcerer's ethersight to puzzle out how it was done. Trell was charging at Krayson and ready to tear him apart.

Krayson used a somatic. An earth spell breached the stone ceiling above him, and he used an Aeldic word of power to hurtle himself upwards on a conjured gust of wind. He held his arms close to his body as he leapt through the opening his spell made, then tucked into a roll and regained his footing. He kept his momentum, now running through a hallway on the second level of the tenement.

Someone was running up a nearby staircase. It sounded like Garret. Krayson couldn't let the actor get anywhere near him. Thwarting the domination spell had been more from the element of surprise and dumb luck than anything else. If Garret got close again, Krayson was as good as a slave.

The floor shuddered beneath his feet as he ran. Ahead in the hallway, the floor deformed upwards then burst apart. A massive black claw with talons as long as swords reached from the ground floor, tearing wood and plaster apart with every swipe. Trell knew Krayson's approximate location— those sensitive ears Garret mentioned.

A three point somatic cast at Krayson's feet placed a new ward, one that prevented sound. He'd never used this spell in such a fashion, but he believed it would at least mask the sound of his footsteps. Krayson changed direction and headed perpendicular to his escape route. If he was lucky, Trell would lose track of where he was.

It was fortunate that the ward on the bloodsong was still holding. That spell had another ten minutes before it unraveled at best. Once it did, his pursuers would be able to find him no matter how quiet he was. Krayson needed to get far away before that happened.

Two arcanists and at least one dragon were after him. Krayson put good odds towards Kimpo joining in the hunt if only to lessen Elise's anger towards her. Saveen might also for the chance to kill the fool boy that held her leash. Krayson mulled over the possibility of using this unwanted bond to prevent that from happening.

He could feel the crackling energy between his half of the shared soul and Saveen's. He was confidant that he could turn it towards inflicting pain if he wanted to. It probably wouldn't take much of his concentration. The work of a moment, and one of the dragons would be out of the chase.

However, if she wasn't part of the hunt, Krayson would be hurting her needlessly. Cursing himself for being a fool, he held back. If Saveen later became a problem, he told himself he wouldn't hesitate to use this diabolic spell to drop her.

What's my plan here? Krayson asked himself. Heading to the roof would be suicide. That's what they'd expect.

Beyond the immediate problem of escaping the tenement, there was the issue of getting back to the Sanguine Tower on the other side of the city. It was ten or more miles away and a hundred levels above him. The list of people who wanted Krayson dead had just increased, and the bloodsong would soon draw them all towards him like a corpse attracted flies.

As poor situations went, this was as bad as they came.

He wished he'd have gotten a better idea of where exactly in Eastrun he was. Garret had mentioned Fellowton, a rough neighborhood around the thirtieth level. Krayson was somewhat familiar with it, having been through there on a few occasions. Lots of ruffers and scoundrels roamed those walkways, carousing and selling bruise dust and other narcotics. Just getting that far seemed out of reach.

For now, he simply needed to avoid a psychotic opera singer, his empress, and their three dragons.

"He's here!"

Krayson heard Garret's shout from behind him and muttered a curse. He was running down a hallway with half-open doors, some scarred by old spellfire burns. Choosing one at random, Krayson lowered his shoulder and barreled through. His blunt entry upset a stack of shelves that had been leaning against the door as a half-hearted barricade.

The room on the other side was small. One tattered cot, a privy closet, and a few loose articles of vermin-ridden clothing. Krayson whispered a doubled couplet incantation as he scratched a number of Hotan runes into the door. He spellwrought the door to its frame. Hopefully, that bought him more time than the previous occupant earned when the royal assassins stormed the building eight years ago.

There was a single window in the tenement apartment. It had never held glass but was instead barred with iron and open to the outside air. Krayson considered blasting his way out, but there was no way the spell echo would go unnoticed.

Actually, that's not a bad plan, Krayson thought.

He whispered a single line while using somatics of force and fire essence. A strong enough evocation spell to shatter the bars blocking the window, but not so strong as to make it seem like he wanted Garret and Trell to feel it.

Krayson removed his robe and pressed his back to the wall. He raised the cloth to cover his body with one hand and used the other to shape a spell woven of light and stone essence. His robe became rigid, and the color changed to match that of the wall. It was imperfect camouflage, but Krayson's hope was that Garret would be in too much of a hurry to pay attention to the minutiae.

An impact sounded against the door, as did the sound of angry swearing when Garret only succeeded in bruising his shoulder. A moment later, the entire doorframe was ripped from the wall by a spell, and Garret entered immediately after. Krayson used his hearing to track Garret's movements as he ran to the breach in the wall and scanned the street below.

"So that's why they're called blood runners," Garret complained. He tucked his cane under an arm and rubbed his palms together as he worked up the nerve to jump.

Krayson held his breath and slowed his heartbeat. He mustn't make the slightest noise or movement to betray his hiding spot. In addition, he was painfully aware of the ward on the bloodsong weakening. If he didn't get moving soon, he might as well reveal himself now.

The silence allowed him to hear a faint voice that appeared near to where Garret stood.

"I seek Garret Merovech-Deveaux."

May thunder crash upon the home of whoever is giving him a sending right now, Krayson thought angrily.

"My apologies, good sir, but this isn't the best of times," Garret replied.

The man on the other side of the sending continued unabated. "Whatever it is can wait. You're summoned to the Palace of Towers."

I know that voice, Krayson thought with a growing sense of dread. He had to bite his tongue to keep from unmanning himself with a whimper.

Garret sighed. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."

"I am Prince Vintus Algara, brother of the Highest King."

Krayson felt cold fear wash over him. A sorcerer wouldn't expend the ether required to manifest a sending without use of a spirit unless they felt it was urgent. If this had been a simple and innocent message, Vintus would've tasked it to a witch.

"As your father's heir," Vintus continued, "you're to be recognized as the new head of House Merovech."

A moment of terrible quiet fell upon the room before Garret spoke again. "My father?"

"Dead, this morning. He was wounded while defending the king and succumbed to his injuries soon after."

"Apologies, Your Highness, but this comes as a shock." He paused and his voice returned at a deathly octave. "Might I inquire as to the health of Fasimar Ulbrecht?"

"Alive and irrelevant to the matter at hand."

"Perhaps," Garret murmured. "My father's bloodsong?"

"Dispatched with a blood runner. I am forbidden from revealing more than that, but I will tell you that this boy, a Teulite half-breed, was placed upon the train to Westrun Gate one hour ago."

Garret chuckled. "Your Highness, that's an awfully kind gesture to reveal such privileged information. You have my thanks."

"Do what you think you must, Garret the Merovech, then present yourself at the palace before week's end."

The sending came to a close, and Krayson put serious thought towards how to strangle a prince.

Garret was clucking his tongue and let out a long breath. "Dear, dear Krayson. Lies? To me? And I thought we were growing so close. No matter. Once I catch you, you'll find you'll want nothing more than to hand over what's mine. If not... I'll bleed it out of you."

Krayson dropped the spell on his robe and lunged to attack. His foot connected solidly with Garret's spine, shoving him headfirst out the hole in the wall and into open air.

Garret cried out in a mixture of surprise and anger before it cut short when he hit the ground. The fall was only a single story, so it probably didn't kill him. It would hardly slow him if he could heal using his dragon, but it gave Krayson a lot of satisfaction to see the bastard flail like that.

An enraged roar sounded behind him. Trell entered the apartment in human form, and he swung his fist at Krayson's face. Krayson ducked the blow and sprang away from the dragon. Just as Trell prepared to attack again, he stopped in his tracks. His breathing was stilted and uneven, and he clutched at his chest.

Garret was healing his injures from the fall, and it left Trell momentarily stunned. It gave Krayson an opening to get away. He launched himself towards the doorway, but before he could make it through, Trell appeared out of thin air in his path.

"I've never tasted blood mage," he said through bared teeth.

Krayson backed away from him just as Garret climbed up through the breach. His face was scuffed and he'd lost his hat, but none of it lessened the look of insane hate in his eyes. Garret had taken leave of his senses and what remained was a sadistic madman thirsting for blood.

Cornered, Krayson didn't have an avenue for escape. That left him one option, one chance, even if it was a poor one.

He had to fight.

Garret tugged at the handle of his cane and pulled out a concealed sword. Krayson kicked his hand, shoving the blade back into the shaft.

"—Celestial Maiden, grant your embrace.—"

Lightning flashed and struck Trell in the chest. It seared his flesh and forced him to take healing. Garret gasped and nearly toppled. Krayson extended his hand towards him and hurriedly spoke another incantation.

"Fa hin din toral mak."

The cane sword shot out of its sheath and into Krayson's grasp. He spun and struck at Trell while shaping a spell with his fingers. Metal essence for the blade, and his voice called on spirits of water to bolster his arms. Magically honed to a razor's edge and swung with the strength of a fangblade behind it, the sword slashed deep into Trell's neck and got lodged in the vertebrae.

Krayson released his grip on the weapon and kicked, knocking Trell to his back. Garret had gone to his knees, struggling to breathe as Trell desperately drew healing from the bond.

These two were as formidable of opponents as Krayson had ever faced. However, they were hopelessly inept at working together. Their bond was more a handicap than a gift, and Krayson exploited that.

His voice called one blast of spellfire, and his hands created another. Krayson poured flames on the both of them. Garret screamed as his flesh burned, and Trell roared in a way no mortal throat could match.

I'm using too much ether, Krayson thought, and it'll take me too long to kill them like this. Disable and evade. This is my chance to run.

Krayson made sure to step on Garret's stomach as he took a flying leap out of the breach. Wind rushed by his ears as he fell to the ground, and he braced for the landing. Before he was halfway to the street, black talons wrapped around his chest and bore him up into the air.

"Stop struggling, gnat," Kimpo said, "or I will crush the life out of you."

She bore Krayson higher until the roof of the tenement was beneath his feet. As suddenly as they snatched him from the air, Kimpo's claws released him. He landed on his shoulder and had the wind knocked out of him. Before he found his breath, Kimpo stood over him in her human form.

"Get up," she ordered. Kimpo grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to stand before he had a chance to comply on his own. "You need to go. Now!"

"What are you thundering..."

Kimpo cuffed him upside the head. "I'm not talking to you!"

Once the stars spinning in his vision settled, Krayson saw that he and Kimpo weren't alone on the roof. Saveen stood a half-dozen paces away. She was quaking with fear, and she was shaking her head. There were tears forming in her newly crimson eyes.

"No," Saveen said in a hoarse whisper. "The empress will..."

"That beast is no empress," Kimpo roared. "I know our beloved. I've felt her touch and been warmed in her light. This monster is not her!"

Saveen took a step back. "I can't, Kimpo. When she finds out, she'll..."

"She'll do nothing. She can't. This boy holds your bond now, not her, and he's got as much reason as you to want to be away from here. Take him and go. Never look back."

"Kimpo," Saveen ran forward and threw herself into the older dragon. Her voice was just a whisper. "I'm so afraid. Trell... He won't leave her. He wants to stay."

"I'm sorry, young one," Kimpo said as she stroked Saveen's hair. "I will never forgive myself. She demanded I find her a black for her Onyx Knight, and I didn't know I was taking her to one with an adopted dragonet. I'm so sorry I dragged you into our troubles. This is the only penance I can give."

Saveen pulled back and spoke frantically. "She'll know what you did. When she finds out, she might kill you!"

"Better me than you, dear Bastion." She looked to Krayson. "As for you, I've as little reason to put my faith in you as a Southron outcast, boy, but I'm begging you. Run, and take her with you. Protect her, and she will protect you."

Krayson felt himself scowling. "Dragon bonds are a horror. I want no part in this."

"Elise doesn't give bonds," Kimpo snapped. "She forges chains. This mockery that connects you to Saveen is a perversion of a true bond, but perhaps it can be enough. If you think to name yourself a Sapphire Knight, be as worthy of her as my Ruby was to me."

"I'm a blood runner," Krayson shouted. "Nothing else! Once I'm free of Cathis, I'll do everything in my power to sever this bond."

Kimpo nodded. "Either way, she'll be free of Elise. We have an accord, Blood Runner. Now go." She pointed an accusing finger at his face. "And if you ever turn that filthy magic against her again, no power in Hell or the Ethereum will save you from me."

Krayson held his tongue and merely returned the glare Kimpo was giving him. He told himself he was simply growing accustomed to being threatened like that, but the truth was, he believed her.

The list of people that want me dead is getting too long.

"What about you?" Saveen asked Kimpo. "Please, don't do this."

"Don't fear for me," Kimpo replied. "Remember what I told you of the promise of stars, young one. My true Ruby Knight will either free me or avenge me, and my Storyteller and our beloved will help him. Find them, and you won't ever need to be afraid again."

A dragon's roar sounded beneath them. In the same moment, an access onto the roof burst apart with spellfire. Elise stormed through the smoke and debris, and her eyes took in the scene in a moment.

"Treacherous creature," she hissed.

"Fly, girl," Kimpo shouted. She became her true self and unleashed a blast of dragon fire at Elise.

Saveen was frozen in terror. Krayson took her by the arm and tried to pull her away from the inferno. He couldn't budge her. Saveen was a lot stronger than the adolescent girl she appeared to be.

"You heard her," he said. "We need to go!"

Kimpo was struck down and roared in agony. Elise looked at Krayson and Saveen.

"Thunder take me," Krayson muttered. He thought that if there was a time to draw ether through the bond, this was it. His insides twisted in revulsion. No. He wouldn't use it. He refused. His own power and no one else's. Krayson rubbed his left palm against his chest to reopen the scabbed cuts while the other formed a somatic. "—Scarlet gardener makes his voice heard, his ancient song carrying across the sky.—"

Elise stalked towards them. She flung spellfire, but Krayson's earlier wards were still holding. There would be only a moment more before Elise tried something that his magic wasn't protecting against.

Krayson completed the somatic. The blood trickling from his hand was taken by the spell and fed into the swirling energy that surrounded him. This was dangerous, using his own blood. Fueling a spell with more than a few drops was forbidden to anyone but blood runners. Even they only attempted it when there was no other choice.

The Sucé rune burned his hand as the etherlight flared. His spell sent a concussive wave of force hurtling across the rooftop. It battered against Kimpo's scales as it swept over her, but that couldn't be helped. Krayson was positive that any pain he caused her was a mere drop in the ocean next to what Elise was giving.

Elise raised her hands and used her magic to deflect what she could, but she was still thrown backwards by the force of Krayson's spell. She slid on her side before coming to a stop at the edge of the rooftop. She was all but spitting in outrage while she picked herself back up.

Krayson was disappointed that Elise hadn't been thrown over the side. Two of his problems, dragon bond and one murderous psychopath, could have been ended right there. He tugged again at Saveen's arm to get her moving, but his arms felt weak. His legs, also. Krayson's vision began to blur and go dark, and his heart slowed to a dangerous level.

His blood. He'd miscalculated and used too much. There was no way he could defend himself in this state. Elise could destroy him at her whim. Krayson knew he was about to die.

I will live, Krayson told himself. Stubborn, to the last.

He saw Elise preparing to cast a spell at him, but she was getting smaller. Krayson felt the wind rushing past him, and he thought he could hear wings beating against the air.

As he lost consciousness, the roars of a dragon being tortured followed him into oblivion.