Chapter 6 - THE RECKONING
With a flick of Olivia’s wrist—guided entirely by the instinct humming in her blood—a wave of golden light surged outward from her feet.
The stone wall beneath Marcus’s boots cracked. The heavy iron gate gave way with a long, metallic groan, swinging inward to allow the dragons passage into the inner courtyard.
Marcus fired his revolver in blind panic.
The bullet never reached her. Vesper plummeted from the sky like a silver streak, intercepting the trajectory with a sharp clink of metallic scales before soaring upward again.
Before Marcus could fire a second shot, the massive form of an adult silver dragon landed gracefully on the parapet beside him. Its golden and violet eyes fixed on the councilor with ancient, terrifying intelligence.
Marcus dropped his weapon. It clattered loudly against the stone. He stumbled backward, his legs tangling in his heavy cloak, and collapsed against the battlements.
"You cannot do this," Marcus whispered, trembling violently as the dragon lowered its massive head toward him. "The courts... the government... the world outside will never accept this."
"The world outside is changing, Marcus," King Adrian said, stepping out onto the porch behind his daughter. He looked older, but his shoulders were squared, the authority of the true crown restored. "And for the first time in four hundred years, we are going to face it honestly."
Olivia turned her gaze away from the defeated councilor. She looked out over the courtyard, where thousands of silver-scaled creatures had gathered in respectful silence, their eyes fixed not on the throne, not on the high lords, but entirely on her.
She took a deep breath, letting the mental connection expand until she could feel the pulse of every dragon across the continent—from the snowy peaks of New England down to the sunlit valleys of the South.
May you like
We are home, she thought.
And for the first time in her life, the world answered back.
