Page 371 of Elemental Becoming

One of the strike units hits first. Three dragons dive as one, screaming toward the oncoming wave of Kethraki. Their roars split the sky just before impact. Then they collide.

Claws rake through shadowed flesh. Teeth tear. Flames erupt mid-air, incinerating a cluster of Kethraki in an instant. One dragon locks its jaws around a beast’s throat and tears it clean, the body spiraling down in a black smear of wings and ash.

The sky is chaos.

More dragons engage, ripping, shredding, and clawing their way through the dark tide. The Kethraki are smaller, barely a third the size of most dragons and no match in raw power, but they are fast. And they’re vicious.

One latches onto a dragon’s wing joint, sinking its talonsdeep and tearing through the membrane. The rider twists in the saddle to strike it away, but another Kethraki darts in from the flank.

Even from this distance, I see it. One of our dragons falters.

Xaroth moves.

The obsidian dragon tears through the sky like a blade, fire roaring from his throat as he crashes into a cluster of Kethraki.

Two vanish in a burst of flame. A third manages to latch onto Xaroth’s shoulder, but the black dragon barely slows. It might as well be a pup biting the ear of a warhound. He spins in midair, dragging the creature with him before tearing it in half and flinging the remains into the open sky. Even for all their terror, the Kethraki are nothing compared to him.

I’ve seen glimpses that revealed the warrior Thane is in a dozen smaller moments, like at the ball and in training. But I’ve never seen him like this.

I watch in awe as he moves through the aerial assault, one with Xaroth in a way that still doesn’t seem entirely possible. Every dip, every turn, every dive flows seamlessly into the next.

He doesn’t flinch when a Kethraki latches onto Xaroth’s shoulder. He doesn’t even seem concerned.

And gods, the confidence with which he moves through the sky . . .

The thought drifts somewhere it absolutely shouldn’t.

“Enough!”

Calryx’s voice cracks through the bond.

“We are in a battle, Virelya.”Her tone is sharp with disapproval.“By all the Guardians, control your petty human urges.”

My cheeks flood with heat.

“Sorry!”I shoot back, mortified. “I can’t help it!”

“Try harder!”she snaps.“Such thoughts in the middle of an aerial assault. Honestly!”She huffs. “Next time I’m throwingyou into a cold lake before we fly into battle.”

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

Calryx’s wings snap downward in a powerful beat, and we surge forward into the fray. She opens her jaws, and fire erupts from her throat in a massive wave of gold and bronze flame that tears across the nearest flank of Kethraki. Screeches split the air as two of the creatures are instantly engulfed, their twisted wings burning to ash in mid-flight.

More close in.

But Calryx doesn’t flinch. She banks hard, clearing our flank, and that’s when I see her.

Rowena.

Aisling is locked in a brutal struggle with a massive Kethraki nearly half her size. Claws collide midair as dragon and beast grapple for position. Rowena’s attention is fixed on the creature trying to tear into Aisling’s throat. Her hands are already moving, gathering fire for the strike.

But she doesn’t see the three more diving in from behind.

I don’t hesitate.

My hands come up, my core already blazing with heat, and twin streams of fire tear across the space between us.

The magics answer instantly.