Page 25 of Tempest Rising

Tess shifted her stance, lowering into a crouch, muscles taut, ready to spring. Her eyes flicked to the disks, the intensity of her focus evident in the tight set of her jaw. Her fists clenched, knuckles pale against her tan skin.

Without warning, one of the disks launched forward with a sharpwhoosh, speeding toward her like a streak of light.

She moved.

Faster than I had anticipated. Her fist snapped out, connecting with the disk. It exploded into shards of magic-infused stone with a sharp crack, the fragments scattering through the air.

I expected her to call upon her bond with Thalon, to summon the magic that simmered just beneath her skin. Instead, she used raw, human strength—her actual fist. As much as I was impressed, a cold weight settled in my gut. She wouldn’t survive this training without harnessing her magic. No matter how fast or strong she thought she was, the Guild trials would break her, and I couldn’t allow that.

More targets engaged.

Two more disks shot out from opposite directions—one arcing high, the other slicing low in a crisscross pattern. They moved with lethal precision, their stone surfaces slick with shimmering runes, glowing brighter as they accelerated toward her.

She paused, just for a fraction of a second, her weight shifting unevenly. Hesitation. A fatal mistake in combat.

Come on, Tess. You’re better than this.My fists clenched, the words pounding in my mind, though I knew they wouldn’t reach her.

She twisted, managing to dodge the first disk with a graceful roll, her hair whipping across her face. But the second caught her off guard. It clipped her shoulder with a harsh impact, its force sending her crashing sideways into the dirt.

“Too slow!” I barked, stepping forward. “You can’t hesitate like that. If this were a real fight, you’d be dead.”

The words hit her like a slap. I could tell by the way her body stiffened, frozen in a mix of anger and wounded pride. Deep down, I felt the weight of what I’d just unleashed on her—andthe quiet, ruthless part of me that hoped it would spur her into action. I wanted her defiance to spark, to flare brighter than her sense of failure.Prove me wrong, Tess,I thought. My pulse kicked up a notch when, to my twisted satisfaction, she lifted herself up with trembling arms, her shoulders taut as steel, and turned to glare at me.

Her eyes…Those goddamned golden-brown eyes blazed, searing through the shroud of authority I so carefully maintained. Frustration and fury radiated from her, but beneath it—I saw her heart, her stubborn, unyielding heart straining against the impossible expectations I’d placed on her. It made me want to crush that rebellion just as much as it made me want to stoke its flames.

“I’mhuman, Theron!” she shouted, her cheeks flushed with anger. “I don’t have decades of experience. Thalon tells me you're a mage. Well, I'm not! I don’t have innate magic like you, or the perfect reflexes of a dragon. I’m learning, and yeah, I’m gonna screw up. But I’m here because Iwantto get better. You act like I should already know how to do this—like I should just magically be perfect at it. Well, guess what? I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I’m not capable.”

Her words hung in the air between us, thick with frustration, vulnerability, and—damn it—a truth I didn’t want to face. I knew she was right, at least in part. Shewashuman, and expecting her to perform at the level of someone like me or the other Dragon Riders was unfair.

But that admission...letting it breathe between us...felt far too dangerous. It was the kind of truth that opened doors too wide and carved out vulnerabilities I couldn’t afford. Not now. Not with her. Especially notwith her.

Her chest rose and fell as she stared me down, her body still trembling with exertion. Against my better judgment, my gaze lingered—the tousled strands of hair sticking to her damp skin, the curve of her lips still parted and slightly swollen from her earlier fall, the flicker of resolve in her eyes that made my blood sing. My pulse thudded harder, louder, and that maddening inner struggle clawed at me.

Damn her.

A wave of heat flickered down my spine, anger and attraction colliding in a way that left me dangerously unsteady. Every instinct I’d honed over decades screamed at me to rein it in, to regain control. But that stubborn, defiant spark in her—that inner fire she didn’t even realize she wielded—set off a different kind of burn in me. The tension between us shifted, heavy with a charge I couldn’t deny.

I wanted her resilience, yes. But I also wanted her to yield—not out of weakness, but because she wanted to trust me enough to bare herself in that way. To let me guide her, to let mebreakher just enough to rebuild her into something stronger. And yet, at the same time, her refusal to give in—her sharp words and fiery defiance—lit something equally consuming in my chest.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Thalon’s head lowered again, his molten eyes gleaming as he looked at me—no, through me.

There was no warning, no subtle shift in his posture. Just the overwhelming, suffocating presence of the dragon's gaze. Thalon's eyes, molten and eternal, fixed on mine, and for a brief, disorienting moment, I feltsmall. As if every inch of me—the years I’d spent fighting, training, surviving—meant nothing under that stare.

It was unsettling as hell.

The dragon wasn’t just amused anymore. He waschallengingme. His massive form exuded calm certainty, as if he knew something I didn’t.

“Tess is capable,” Thalon’s presence seemed to say. And the damn dragon believed it with every ounce of his being.

"Fine," I said, my voice low and controlled. "You want to prove yourself? Then let's see how you handle this."

Chapter 11

Theron

With a wave of my hand, I dismissed the physical targets. The arena shimmered again, the sand settling as a new scenario materialized. This time, there were no moving objects, no physical threats. Instead, a group of people appeared—a magical simulation, but startlingly lifelike.

Tess's brow furrowed as she took in the scene. "What is this?"

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