“You’re wrong,” Sunniva said to her brother, readying herself as he reached for her, his face twisted in anger, and then the lightning struck the lantern. This time, she didn’t target the opal. She sent a quick pulse in Rafe’s direction, hardly daring to hope, and shifted as fast as she could, ripping through her clothes, lashing out at Giels as he blinked in momentary confusion, and as he stepped back Marcus hit him from behind.
They all went over the edge in a tangled snarl, Giels transforming as they fell, his bracelet fiery as he summoned the lizardforms to follow. Sunniva clawed viciously at Giels’ exposed underbelly and then twisted, clutching at Marcus before they hit the rocks. She snatched his collar in her claw and rolled, dragging him up and over, feeling him grab on for a more secure hold. Then she was flying flat out for the aerie, Marcus plastered against her neck, Giels roaring at her from behind and following fast. The wind was treacherous and the rain stung her eyes, she was already tired and carrying Marcus’ weight, and above it all she kept seeing Rafe’s body and the blood on the lizardform’s horn, already starting to run off in the rain.
The opal, at least, had faded back to a pale orange as Giels focused his attention elsewhere — Marcus tapped frantically on her shoulder, yelling, and she jerked sideways, just missing a swipe by Giels. It slowed her down even more, but she was almost over the top of the aerie. She reached out to the aerie matrix, hoping desperately that Giels hadn’t thought to cut her access after letting her back through the shield. Open.
The banquet hall’s false wall dissolved and Sunniva flung herself and Marcus inside as she fell past it, her belly scraping painfully against the crystal floor. Go. Her dragon pushed her into the return shift as Marcus relaxed his painfully tight grip and slid off. Sunniva staggered to her feet and ran for the aerie matrix in its circle of topaz. Marcus caught her up, grabbing her hand tightly and running with her, pulling her along. Behind her, she heard the heavy beat of wings and a crunching thud as Giels followed them in, and felt the ripple of his shift.
Sunniva turned, her free hand already on the matrix. It was both more complicated and simpler than she’d feared; she could tell it possessed dozens of capabilities she had no experience of whatsoever. But, at its core, it was the same one her family had drawn on for generations. The same one she’d practiced on as a small child, before she could even shift.
Marcus squeezed her hand. Sunniva shot him a quick glance. He had blood and dirt on his face, his clothes were ripped and disheveled, and his hair stuck up at different angles from the rain. He could not have been further from the elegant vision she’d first been presented with. His eyes slid over to meet hers. Grief, determination — and, underneath it all, something deeper and stronger, that she shared. Love.
He was perfect. She took a breath.
Giels strode towards them. Sunniva could hear the sounds of a great many beings moving quickly towards them through the aerie.
“Very clever.” He sneered. “Except you aren’t eligible to inherit, or had you forgotten that? I can see how it would quite slip your mind. I am the master of the aerie, not you. That matrix answers only to me.”
Sunniva could feel the core of the matrix considering both of them. Both blood, one familiar, the other less so. She met the hate in Giels’ eyes with a steady calm. Lizardforms were entering the room now, through the great doors to one side or clambering up thr
ough the false wall.
“But I am eligible.” She pressed down lightly, letting the matrix sense her more fully. Offering herself as a candidate. Her dragon pushed alongside, joining the connection, and she felt the matrix welcome them. It would consider her candidacy, it informed her.
Sunniva could tell the exact instant that Giels reached for the matrix himself, impatient to strike her down, and met with resistance as the matrix refused to be used against another potential. The sneer froze on his face.
She detached her hand from Marcus and pushed her hair back, flattening it enough to show off her new hornbuds.
“No.” Giels shook his head. “No, I made sure all the male Dreki you met were already taken, to support my case that your dragon would never rise. How —“
That explained the awful introduction she’d had. “I didn’t need a Dreki.”
Giels glared at Marcus. “A human. You disgust me —“
“Two humans, actually,” a voice said from the great doors behind them. “I can draw a diagram if it helps.”
Marcus swiveled around in shock. Sunniva kept watching Giels, not wanting to give him an opportunity to attack, but her vision swam with tears of relief. Rafe. Alive, despite everything. Marcus started towards him.
Giels bared his teeth, incoherent with rage, and threw himself at Sunniva. A blaster shot took him in the chest, knocking him back, and two more hit him in the head, where his dragonmesh did not protect him in human form. He slumped to the ground, the glow of his bracelet flickering out. The opal in Sunniva’s bracelet faded with it, becoming an absence in her mind.
Sunniva stared at his body. She felt sickened by everything he’d done, more than his death itself. He’d had no intention of leaving her alive. But it was a severing of ties not only with him but with her clan. Forever. She blinked once, hard, and turned around, taking her hand off the matrix, after telling it to dismiss the lizardforms.
Rafe was leaning against the door frame in a way that suggested he wouldn’t be able to stand without it, blaster dangling from his hand. His whole shirt front and jacket were soaked with blood, and he looked appalling. Marcus stood between the two of them, looking torn.
“I’m not the one bleeding everywhere.” Sunniva crossed over to Rafe just he started to slide down the door frame and dropped to her knees beside him.
Rafe grabbed on to her hand, his fingers filthy with blood and dirt, his grip weak but real. “I owe you.”
He’d killed Giels for her. “It’s mutual,” she said.
Marcus sank down beside them. “Why aren’t you dead?” He sounded abrupt, but the concern in his eyes made up for it.
A corner of Rafe’s mouth quirked up. “Good to see you, too,” he said, and dug in a jacket pocket, pulling out the matrix he’d adapted, glowing steadily. “This.” He fumbled with one of his remaining shirt buttons and then gave up, tugging at the bloody shreds to expose something underneath. The dragonmesh Sunniva had given him, somehow now part of him, knitted into the skin itself and covering what had been a massive wound. She touched it lightly, feeling it crackle in response as it healed; her dragon’s sight showed her for a moment that it was repairing not just the surface damage, but his faltering heart beneath.
“Thank you.” Rafe’s voice was low but sincere.
Sunniva met his gaze. “I’m glad you had it.”
You should give him more, her dragon said. Marcus too. We have a respectable hoard now.