Page 36 of Tater
The fire dimed to embers.
The gold in her eyes faded to amber.
When she opened them again, the dragon was quiet, caged but breathing.
Hers.
And Shadow was still standing there, waiting, rain dripped from his gloves, the chain clenched in his fist like a dare.
Ren stepped forward through the steam. Her voice is steady, almost soft.
“You wanted to see the monster,” she said. “You’re looking at her.
He hesitated.
For the first time, he actually hesitated.
The fire was gone, but something else stood in its place.
Something quieter. Deadlier.
She didn’t look wild—didn’t look broken or lost like she used to when he could bend her with a word.
She just stood there in the smoke, blade steady, rain dripped from her lashes like she’d been baptized in ruin.
He couldn’t read her anymore, and that terrified him.
Shadow tightened his grip on the chain. It bit into his glove, cut the skin beneath, but he didn’t let go.
“This isn’t you,” he said, almost a whisper. “You don’t get to walk away clean.”
Ren tilted her head, eyes caught what little light is left. “Clean?” Her voice is low, calm, and lethal. “You made sure I never could be.”
He laughed, but it’s thin. “You think that Royal bastard’s gonna save you? He’ll see it one day—the fire under your skin, the thing you keep caged. He’ll run just like the rest.”
Ren stepped closer. One step. Then another.
He didn’t back away, but he feels it—the wrongness, the inevitability crawling up the back of his neck.
“I don’t need him to save me,” she said. “He just reminded me I was worth saving.”
That stopped him cold.
The words hit harder than any strike could. The rain softened, a lull between storms, and for a moment there’s only the sound of water running off the road, the hiss of cooling asphalt, the space between their breaths.
Shadow stared at her, and for the first time since he followed her out of the fire, he realized he’s not the predator anymore.
Something in his chest cracked open—rage, disbelief, something he can’t name.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Ren’s expression didn’t change. Just a quiet, almost mournful calm.
The kind people have right before they let go of the past.
The dragon hummed once beneath her skin. Not angry. Not hungry.
Just ready.
