Just as I’m turning the dragon problem over in my head — how to even get close to Seraphina again after she walked out on me flat — a knock hits the door.
Viperess is up before I even register the sound, moving quiet and easy to answer it, tail low, alert without looking alert.
Standing outside is some guy I don’t recognize, out of breath like he ran here, guild badge pinned crooked on his chest.
"Jake Vance?" he asks, eyes flicking nervous between me and Viperess standing half-shadow in the doorway. "Seraphina sent me. Said it’s an emergency. Said you’re the only one she’d trust to come."
That last part catches me off guard more than the emergency itself. Trust. From her. After she looked at me like I was nothing a few hours ago.
I glance at Viperess. She glances back, unreadable for half a second, then gives the faintest nod — like she already knows what I’m gonna say before I say it.
"Lead the way," I tell him.
He doesn’t wait around, already turning and moving fast back down the hall, and I fall in step behind him with Viperess right beside me, the quest marker for Seraphina’s dragon flickering brighter in the corner of my vision like it knew this was coming.
Whatever’s waiting, it’s not gonna be quiet.
The place he leads us to isn’t guild property — some private compound, reinforced walls, the kind of setup rich hunters use to keep problems quiet. Seraphina’s waiting inside, arms crossed, and even now, even with whatever’s happening, she’s got that same sharp posture like she refuses to let this rattle her completely.
"My dragon’s gone feral," she says, no greeting, straight to it. "Fully feral. Containment’s failing — another few hours and he breaks out, and when that happens, the guild’s protocol is clear. They put her down before she hurts anyone."
Her jaw tightens saying it, like the words cost her something.
"I need a tamer. Tonight." Then, quieter, like it’s dragged out of her against her will: "I don’t fully trust you can do this. I’ve seen S-rank specialists fail against her. But I’m running out of options, and out of time."
At least she’s honest about the doubt instead of pretending otherwise.
"I’ll do it," I say, no hesitation.
She studies me a second, surprised maybe that I didn’t need convincing. "What do you want for it? Name your price. I’ll pay in gold, whatever guild-rate you think is fair, double it if that’s what it takes."
"I don’t want your gold."
That actually stops her. "Then what."
"I want you," I say, "as my secretary."
Her expression shifts — confusion first, then something sharper, guarded, like she’s trying to figure out the angle. "Excuse me?"
"Not like that," I say. "I mean exactly what I said. You run operations. Guild contacts, contracts, logistics — you’re sharp, everyone knows it, and I need someone like that if I’m doing this seriously. That’s the price. Not gold. You."
Seraphina’s expression is still caught somewhere between offended and thrown off balance, studying me like she’s trying to find the trick in it.
"You want me working under you," she says slowly, like she’s testing how the words feel out loud, "instead of gold."
"That’s the deal."
She’s quiet a second, arms still crossed, but there’s something calculating behind her eyes now instead of just pride. "You haven’t even seen her yet. She’s not some low-rank feral beast, Jake. She’s strong enough that if you fail, you’re not walking away with an insult like Derek got. You could die in there."
"Then I guess you better hope I’m as good as I said I am."
That gets the faintest twitch at the corner of her mouth — not quite a smile, but close enough that Viperess notices it too, tail flicking once with quiet amusement.
"Fine," Seraphina says finally. "Tame her, and I’m yours. Professionally," she adds fast, sharp look aimed right at me like she’s daring me to read into it wrong. "Nothing more."
"Wouldn’t dream of it," I say, even though we both know that’s not entirely true where this story’s headed.
She turns, leading us deeper into the compound, toward a reinforced door already groaning faintly on its hinges from something slamming against it from the other side.
"She’s through here," Seraphina says, voice tightening. "Her name’s Aurelia. And Jake—" she stops at the door, looking back at me one more time. "Don’t die."
The door swings open and the cold slams into me like a wall — not just cold, wrong cold, the kind that makes the air feel thick and hostile. Viperess reacts before I even fully process it, shadow wrapping tight around herself like a cloak, insulating against it, and a beat later I feel it settle over me too, her power bleeding through the bond to keep the worst of it off my skin.
"Master," she says, voice low, eyes narrowed down the corridor ahead of us. "She senses us already. Rage. Pain. And something else beneath it — fear. She is not simply feral. She is suffering."
That detail sticks with me as we move deeper down the containment alley, frost creeping up the reinforced walls the further in we go, distant sounds echoing off stone — something big, something angry, throwing itself against metal somewhere below.
We hit a second checkpoint, two guards posted stiff in front of a heavier door, hands already on their weapons.
"Halt. State your business."
Seraphina steps up fast. "He’s the tamer. I authorized it."
One of the guards looks me over, unimpressed, taking in the same picture everyone else has been taking in all night — young, unranked-looking, nothing about me screaming dragon-tamer. "Him? This some kind of joke, Seraphina? She’s already put two S-rank specialists in the medical wing."
"I heard," I say before she can answer for me. "So let’s make it interesting."
The guard raises an eyebrow.
"I tame her," I say, "you two get on your knees and clean my boots. Right here, right now, in front of Seraphina. Deal?"
The one who spoke laughs, short and disbelieving, glancing at his partner like he can’t believe his luck. "And if you fail? If she kills you?"
"Then I guess you won’t have to worry about keeping that promise."
Viperess’s tail flicks once behind me, amused, and Seraphina just watches, arms crossed, saying nothing — but her eyes are sharp on me now, waiting to see if I’m actually as sure of myself as I sound.
The guard smirks, extending a hand like he thinks he’s about to win something easy. "Deal, kid. Enjoy the last mistake of your life."
The door behind them groans, another heavy slam shaking it from the inside.