Page 101 of This Shattered Star

“We sit amongst the stars,” Maverick taunted. We craned our necks, searching the skies. Only gnarled branches waved back.

One of the two women shouted from across the clearing. “Where is the Dome?”

“Miss it already?” Maverick crooned, from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I could’ve sworn I heard laughter in the distance. He’d deprived the kingdom of Courage. They had to be starving for blood—for death. “No,thisis where you will perform. There are only two simple rules. Retrieve the pin representing your element.”

“What’s the other?” Lachlan called out impatiently.

“Survive.”

There was no time to prepare. No cannons boomed; no fireworks sparkled. Streamers did not rain down, nor did the shrieking of the crowd deafen my ears.

Just one word shot down from the sky like thunder.

“Begin.”

Rattling the ground on impact, the field separating us trembled with the force of—no. It wasn’t Maverick’s magicallyamplified voice that sent nearby stones skittering across the field.

Something was coming. Something fast.

I searched the tree line frantically. Nothing behind us, nor behind the wooden watchtower.

Death hurts more than fear. Death hurts more than fear.

The presence near the gossamer curtains in my mind disappeared. Theia’s magic had retreated. Good. She would need all of it.

Crashing trees and snapping branches to my right had my limbs locking, and bile rising up my throat.

Two gargantuan shapes blasted past the tree line, sending dirt, stone, and splinters flying directly at us. I ducked as a deafening roar pounded at my eardrums, and turned just in time to avoid the splinters, like millions of tiny darts.

The others were fine—I hadn’t heard any cries of pain. Forcing myself to straighten, I craned my neck, to the point of strain, so I could take in the entirety of the beasts that stood before us. They made the shadow-wolves from Strength look like children’s fables. It would take three of me just to reach their underbelly. And it would take only one of their massive talon-tipped feet to pulverize me.

Although both had murderous snarls fixated onto their faces, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, they weren’t at all identical. They shared elongated snouts, and had the same ebony, night-hued scales, but the similarities ended there. The one on the right had winding horns, and the one on the left had a webbed mane that wrapped around its neck, rising high above its head.

But their wings—stars above, theirwingsstole the breath from my lungs. Weakened my knees to the point that I had to grab onto Kodhan’s arm for support.

The one on the left had them tucked in tight—encasing their muscled body like armor. But the one on the right’s wingsstretched to full capacity, the span of them so wide they almost reached opposite edges of the tree line. Free of scales, the thin, almost translucent skin reflected the color above our heads as though it was crafted directly from the night sky. The beast flapped them just once, sending another gust of wind whipping at my face.

A beautiful nightmare stood before us. A terrifying, magnificent nightmare.

My blood stilled completely in my veins, turning me into a cold, rigid statue. Numbness held me as its prisoner, even as I gripped Kodhan’s arm tightly enough to bruise.

Not that he made any indication that he felt it at all. His focus was completely narrowed in on the sight before us.

I’d heard that roar before. Seen the faint outlines of the bodies now standing so close I could feel their chuffing breaths while they slithered across the clearing, assessing. Calculating. Those were not some beasts conjured from Maverick’s imagination.

Those were dragons. Inside the Veil. Maverick had lured them here,purposely,when for hundreds of years, his magic stood to protect us against these very creatures. I couldn’t possibly imagine the gods agreeing with his decision.

Their keen, milky white iris-less eyes roved over us, livid and hungry for vengeance. They knew exactly who we were. What we were after. The dragons would take great pleasure in ending us.

And Maverick would not stop them.

There was no time to ponder it—to level my rage as movement in my peripheral vision stole my attention away from the monsters we faced. The two women darted into the woods, either to hide out until the dragons killed the rest of us, or to bide their time until they came up with a way to snatch up their pins and smite us all. The guards disappeared into thin air, like they were never with us to begin with.

Gideon was fine. He had to be.

Lachlan and Elias bolted towards the watchtower instead, careful not to get taken out by the long, powerful tails slashing side to side.

Thiswas why Maverick wanted more space. Why he cloaked the spectators with his magic. To minimize the wreckage, and to allow an even playing field between us and the dragons. They might have been born for the skies, but they navigated the ground with ease, talons digging into the dirt with each step forward. Predators, through and through.