Page 72 of Bound in Flames

With a voice that rang out clear and resolute, I spoke the final words of the prophecy with them.

“She will bring us home again.”

The words vibrated through the air. They were true. They were always true.I could end this.

The fire answered my call, a tidal wave of molten fury crashing into the dragon’s body. It thrashed, agonized howls splitting the night as the inferno consumed it, eating through the layers of darkness and searing through its essence until all that remained was ash.

Beyond the shadows of the battlefield, a figure emerged cloaked in darkness, moving with an unsettling grace. Hisskeletal face stretched taut over sharp bones, was a grotesque mask of malice, dark veins pulsing like living serpents beneath his pale skin. His blackened eyes locked onto mine. They were filled with a hunger that made my stomach churn.

There was no doubt this was the dark mage that the clans feared.

His withered hand rose, fingers curling like talons as dark tendrils slithering around his wrist like serpents eager to strike. Shadows churned and swirled at his command. Without warning, a bolt of darkness shrieked through the air, the force of it splitting the battlefield with a thunderous crack. Instinct roared through me, and the earth answered my silent plea, a jagged pillar of stone erupting from the ground just in time to absorb the blow. The impact sent a jarring tremor through my bones, shaking the ground beneath my feet, his dark magic was like a suffocating net of death.

Agony lanced through my bond with the earth, my muscles screamed in protest, and sweat slicked my skin as I shoved the pain aside. The ground beneath me groaned, alive with raw fury, mirroring the seething anger that coursed through my veins. My hands burned, energy swirling beneath my skin, hungry and insatiable.

The shaman's lips curled into a ghastly smile as the veins beneath his pallid skin pulsed with dark energy. Shadows coiled around him, undulating, whispering promises of ruin as his magic crept toward me, hungry, curling like skeletal fingers eager to strip me bare. In desperation, I lashed out. Fire surged from my right hand in a flaming arc, but with a casual flick of his wrist, the dark magic rose and extinguished the flames before they could reach him.

Cold tendrils clawed at the edges of my fire, seeking to choke the life from it, forcing me to whip it hotter, brighter—pushing it to its limits. Fear clawed at my chest. My fire, thesame fire that had slain a dragon, wasn’t enough to reach him. I reached for my mate bond, grasping for Dex like a drowning soul reaching for a lifeline, his presence pulsing through me fiercely, curling protectively around my heart. The strength in our connection tethered me and I plunged into the well of pure magic buried deep within the earth. The raw power coiled like a beast, resisting, testing me, daring me to wield it. My fingers trembled as I wrapped around those volatile threads, a guttural cry tore from my throat and echoed across the battlefield. My mind howled in protest as the power surged through every fiber of my being. With one final desperate push, I thrust my hands forward, hurling everything I had left into a last, defiant strike. A bolt of lightning arced through the air, a blazing spear of raw power that cleaved through the darkness like the wrath of the Gods themselves. It struck him square in the chest, and for a split second, his expression twisted in disbelief, his skeletal form convulsing as the magic ripped through him.

He staggered, mouth open in a silent scream, before his body began to disintegrate. Blackened ash peeled away, layer by layer, and was carried off by the wind. His final whisper—a faint, gurgling gasp—was swallowed by the roaring fire around us.

The oppressive weight of his magic dissipated, fading into the night like a bad dream. Silence stretched across the battlefield, the flames around me dimmed, their hunger sated, and the earth settled beneath my feet as if sighing in relief.

The voices of my clan reached me. Their roar of victory shaking the stone beneath my feet. I swayed on my feet, exhaustion sinking into my bones. I felt the steady thrum of our bond and let out a broken sob of relief, I had worried I may have killed my mate by pulling on him.Dex was okay.

The world tilted dangerously, my vision swam and I fell, unconsciousness taking me before I hit the scorched earth

Chapter 41

Dex

The air buzzed with remnants of Cleo’s magic. Ash blanketed the ground, and the rock still radiating an intense heat. Her body lay crumpled in the dirt, the glow of her power fading as quickly as the darkness that had threatened to overrun us.

I dropped from the stairs and raced across the blistering rock, falling to my knees beside her. My hands shook as I reached out and brushed my fingers against her skin. She was burning up.

Underneath her bond bracelet was the origin point of a channeling scar, stretching down to her fingertips and spiraling up her forearm. A jagged, twisting pattern that reminded me of lightning striking sand. The scar glowed faintly, as if remnants of the lightning she had wielded still pulsed beneath her skin. It should have been grotesque—a channeling scar that no healer could mend—but instead, it was oddly beautiful, shimmering with an inner light.

She had saved us, but at what cost? My chest tightened as I traced the path of the lightning marks with a reverence I couldn’t put into words. She had risked everything for the clan that had thought to use her as a weapon. I’d let this happen—I’dallowed her to carry the weight of our survival on her shoulders, untrained and unprepared. I’d been blind, too focused on our enemy to see what I was doing to her.

She didn’t deserved any of this.

My thumb brushed over the smooth, healed skin, and my heart twisted at how small her hand looked against mine. Her chest was barely moving with each shallow breath, and a cold knot of fear twisted in my gut. I gathered her into my arms with care and raced for the stronghold.

Gornak let out a sharp bark of orders, rallying the others to clear a path. “Move!” They parted quickly, faces streaked with blood and soot and eyes wide with concern and regret as they saw Cleo limp in my arms.

They surged around us, forming a protective line as we made our way through the rubble and into the safety of the stronghold. My chest ached with every step, but I clung to the steady rise and fall of Cleo’s breaths against my shoulder.She was alive.

I carried her to healers’ quarters, the cold air in the room stark against the heat that clung to her skin. The warmth of her power still lingered as I laid her down on a low cot, like the embers of a dying fire. Our healers knelt beside her, their hands hovering just above her chest as they murmured the incantations that guided their magic. I focused on the rise and fall of her shallow breaths and begged. The Gods to show us mercy.

I had failed her. Not just in battle, but long before it. When I’d met her, I had seen her power as a solution, a way to save my people, and in my desperation, I hadn’t stopped to consider what it would cost.The one who had given everything for a people she’d barely had time to call her own.

I turned away from the healers and glanced at the exhausted faces of my friends gathered outside the room. They were alive because of her. When she woke I would show her that she wasn’tjust a weapon, wasn’t just our salvation. She was one of us. A part of this clan. I would spend my life proving that to her, earning her forgiveness.

“She burns with power,” one of the healers murmured, his expression troubled. “But it’s different than anything I have ever seen. I don’t know how to help her. ”

The words struck me like a blow, knocking the breath from my lungs. My knees buckled, and I sank down beside her, my hand closing around hers. She had poured every ounce of herself into protecting us, and I had no illusions that we deserved it.

Seer Arna stepped into the room, and when her gaze fell on Cleo, her expression clouded with an emotion I couldn’t place. But her lips were pressed tight, and something in her eyes was already too knowing.

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