Page 85 of Burning Heir

“Damien,” I yelled, leaning over the whirl of clouds with each lower of Naraic’s wings.

We followed Emerich through a trail, and I saw a leather jacket caught on a branch. We flew lower, nearly gliding above the lush grass.

A figure was on the grass, lying too still and calm for my liking. Tears clustered under my lids when I saw Damien’s bloody face and how his back was contorted unnaturally. Naraic flew closer.

“Breathe, Blanche,”Naraic barked.

Damien’s chest rose, and I took my first breath.

We got as close as we could without dismounting.

“Damien, look at me!” I screamed. “You’re not dying today.”

His eyes whirled before focusing on mine. “Sev. Leave me. Win.” There was no blood; he must have fallen on his back.

“What happened?”

“Hail. It pelted me, and I slipped.”

“How dare he…”

He strained to shake his head. “Everett… he can wield ice. I’ve never seen a dragon rider wield it before.”

Everett? “Why would he attack you? He’s our friend. We—we saved him.”

“You saved his life, Sev. I…” he groaned, trying to get to his feet. “It doesn’t matter. You need to go. I need to rest for a moment, maybe a day. This was your race, Sev.”

“You’re disqualified. I’m not leaving you here to get attacked by beasts.”

He leaned up on his arms, groaning in pain. “I only did this for you—to get close to you. And I’ll never speak to you again if you step one foot on this ground.” He meant it, although I figured Damien had already chosen that silence between us.

I could feel Naraic’s beats getting quicker. We needed to fly. “Can you stand? Try and get back on Emerich.” I looked through the trails, but only thick bushes and winding vines surrounded us. He would never make it out alive. “Please,” I whimpered.

He stood up with a grunt. Emerich dipped as low as he could, and Damien grabbed his neck, shrieking, but managed to mount Emerich. “Ride, Severyn. Now,” he said.

“I’ll meet you at the fields,” I said through tears.

Damien nodded, loosely sprawled atop Emerich. He would survive—and that was enough for me.

We soared out of the forest and into the heart of the canyon. Towering crystalline formations appeared as colossal daggers thrusted from the sky to the ground, forming a natural stone labyrinth. Those jagged spires refracted the sunlight of Autumn’s muted sun, splintering dazzling colors that danced across the canyon walls. The narrowed gorge was a twisted path barely wide enough for a single dragon to navigate through.

Each sphere seemed honed to razor-sharp perfection. Naraic’s wings beat in place as he felt my hesitation. “It’s not worth it, Naraic. It’s not worth your life,” I said.

“There is no other route. I can do it.”

And I believed him because perhaps he had done it before.

Naraic tucked his wings in as tight as he could, weaving through the spheres one by one, striking each hoop and tearing that golden ribbon loosely tied along the metal. Seven. I had seven ribbons laced around my wrist, fluttering through the ripping wind.

Raw amethyst lined the bottom of the canyon. My heart beat with each of Naraic’s wings, and our breaths were in sync. I washis eyes, and I’d die with him if we went down. And I felt that invisible tether between us, as if our veins were connected through our bond—heart and lungs pounding as one.

I clung tight to his scales, feeling every twitch of his muscles as we glided through the maze, veering right, left, down… Pain ripped through my lungs as Naraic’s wing tore into one of the spheres.

He growled twice, tremoring a roll down his spiked spine.“Do you anger people when I am not around, North?”Naraic hissed.“Not even ten minutes have passed, and another rider is trying to end your life.”

A dagger swept past my cheek.

I turned to face two dragons. Alaric’s teeth barred as he stared at a third-year Autumn student, the same one who’d mocked me for standing in the dragon fields weeks before.

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