>>Aelin
Draegon spun around so fast it was as if lightning had struck him. He extended his arm around as a protective gesture towards me.
Ruoxy stood there, her body twisted in a grotesque yet eerily awful way, dark blood seeping from the gaping wound in her chest—but she was still
smiling.
A slow, creeping,
malicious
smile.
Draegon’s eyes flickered down to the heart in his hand, its flesh burnt and shriveled from his grip. Without hesitation, he
crushed
it completely, fingers tightening until the organ turned to nothing but dust. The remains slipped between his fingers and scattered into the wind.
But Ruoxy didn’t flinch.
Didn’t waver.
Didn’t
fall.
Draegon’s breath hitched for the first time since the fight had started. I saw his chest rise and fall in one sharp inhale before his fingers released the remnants of the heart, letting the ashes drift away. His eyes locked onto Ruoxy’s, his usual unwavering confidence now coated in something else. Something
unnerved.
He took a step forward.
"How are you still standing?" His voice was low, controlled—but I heard the edge of something
off
beneath it.
Ruoxy laughed. A quiet, breathy sound that gradually grew into something
wrong.
And then, still grinning, she tilted her head, the bones in her neck
cracking.
"Oh, Draegon," she purred. "Because you can’t kill me?"
Draegon’s frown deepened.
"I
just
destroyed your core," he said, a sharpness cutting through his voice. "You should be dead."
"Yes." Ruoxy’s smile widened, stretching too far, her black-stained lips curling like a chasm splitting open. "
Just
like you destroyed it last time."
And then she laughed even harder.
The sound twisted around us, bouncing through the trees, seeping into my skin like something rotten.
My stomach churned.
I stood frozen a few feet behind Draegon, my fists clenched at my sides as I watched them.
Watched him.
I had never seen Draegon react like this before.
He looked confused for a moment. But as he stood there, the realization of Ruoxy’s words settling into his bones, I could
see
the way his expression darkened.
The way his fingers twitched as if gripping at an invisible truth he hadn’t grasped yet.
I
desperately
wished I could do something.
Anything.
I had my magic, but what good would it do? I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t like him. I pressed my fingers to my chest, trying to steady my breathing, but no matter how much I tried, the dread kept building.
Draegon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The dust of the fake heart still clung to his fingers.
And then—
He exhaled slowly.
"...That wasn’t your core," he murmured and I paused. Right. That is the only thing that would make sense. That thing looked like a core but it was never her core to begin with.
That’s why she isn’t dead!
Draegon must have thought it was her core because it looked exactly like one.
Ruoxy stopped laughing. She didn’t answer. She just
smiled.
And then she lunged.
Draegon moved instantly, wings spreading wide as he dodged her initial strike, but Ruoxy was fast—too fast.
They clashed in a brutal, bone-shattering collision.
I stumbled back, my feet sliding against the grass as I barely managed to stay standing.
The air around them
cracked.
Draegon struck first, his claws aiming for her throat, but Ruoxy twisted her body unnaturally, dodging with an ease that sent a chill down my spine.
Draegon didn’t pause.
He pivoted, shifting his weight and driving his knee up toward her ribs, but Ruoxy caught it mid-air, grinning as she
slammed
him back against a tree.
The impact sent leaves trembling. Draegon barely reacted. Instead, he grabbed Ruoxy’s arm and
wrenched
it to the side with enough force to snap bone.
But Ruoxy—
She didn’t
react.
Her face didn’t even twitch as the sound of her own bones breaking filled the clearing.
And then— With that same eerie smile still on her lips— She forced her twisted arm
back into place.
!!?
I felt my stomach
drop.
Draegon let out a low, growling breath. He wasn’t holding back anymore. With a surge of movement, he launched himself forward, claws slicing at her abdomen, her sides, her legs—
everywhere.
He was searching for something.
Her real core.
But Ruoxy took the hits without care.
Even as his claws ripped through her flesh, even as dark blood splattered against the grass—she barely seemed to
feel it.
Draegon’s eyes flickered. And then Ruoxy struck
back.
Her claws slashed across his shoulder, and for the first time, Draegon
staggered.
I let out a sharp inhale, my chest squeezing as I watched.
I wanted to help.
I needed to help.
But I was frozen.
I had never felt so
useless.
Draegon grit his teeth, ignoring the blood seeping down his arm. His wings
flared
again, and he pushed forward, forcing Ruoxy into another deadlock.
Their movements were almost
too fast
to follow now, a whirlwind of attacks and counters, each one sending shockwaves through the clearing.
But even with every hit Draegon landed—
she wasn’t stopping.
Her body was breaking. Splitting. But
reforming.
How the hell is she doing that?!? Just how?!? How is that even possible?!
It was like she was something
else entirely.
Draegon growled lowly, his frustration visible in the way his strikes became more ruthless, more
calculated.
I could see it in his eyes. He was determined. Determined to find
it and end it.
The fight raged on, an endless storm of claws, fire, and blood. Draegon and Ruoxy clashed again and again, neither giving the other an inch. The air crackled with heat, the ground scorched beneath their feet.
I stood further back, my breath caught in my throat, my fists clenched at my sides. I
should
have been used to this by now.
Should
have known this was a fight I couldn’t step into. But I
hated
just standing there, doing nothing while Draegon bled, while Ruoxy barely reacted to his attacks.
I needed to do something.
And then—
Cold.
There was this cold sensation creeping onto me.
!?!?
A shadow darker than night itself
moved.
Before I could even
blink,
something wrapped around my torso—arms? Hands—and I was
yanked
backward with such force that my breath was knocked out of my lungs.
My entire body
froze.
It happened so
fast.
One moment, I was watching Draegon fight. The next, my feet had left the ground, and I was
being taken.
What the-!?!?
A figure—completely black, an
absence
of light rather than a solid form—had its arms wrapped around me, dragging me away without a single sound.
I tried to
scream,
but it choked in my throat.
But he noticed somehow. Draegon’s head snapped toward me instantly.
His entire body
stilled
for half a heartbeat.
And then—
Everything in him
changed.
He twisted on his heel, wings
flaring
, his purple eyes burning like molten jewels as his focus snapped away from Ruoxy and
locked onto me.
"AELIN!" His roar
shook
the ground beneath us.
The black figure moved faster.
I thrashed, trying to break free, but its grip was
like ice,
solid and unrelenting. It had no features, no face, no eyes—just a solid, shifting mass of darkness that wrapped around me and
dragged
me further away.
I didn’t know what it was.
I didn’t
care.
All I knew was that Draegon was getting
farther and farther
away.
"No—NO!" I struggled harder, panic clawing at my chest. I saw Draegon
move,
saw the raw fury in his face as he prepared to lunge toward me—
And then Ruoxy
struck.
She had been
waiting.
The moment Draegon’s focus left her, she
took advantage.
Her claws—
blackened, gleaming
pierced
into his side,
deep.
Draegon
gasped,
his entire body jerking as blood sprayed from the fresh wound.
And then—she didn’t stop.
She
slashed.
Again.
And
again.
Claws tearing through his side, his shoulder, his wings.
Draegon stumbled back, his arms dropping slightly, his breath ragged as
dark crimson
poured from him.
My heart
stopped.
"No—NO!" I screamed, trying to
tear
myself from the shadow’s grip.
But it held tight, dragging me back step by step as I watched Draegon get
torn apart. He used his scales, trying to harden his skin where she was attacking but some of it was working while some of it wasn’t.
Ruoxy’s
grin
widened.
She was
enjoying
this. I felt my chest tighten—my vision
blur
with rage and panic. Draegon
tried
to fight back. Even with his wounds, even as his blood
stained
the ground, he forced himself to move—forced himself to
strike.
But Ruoxy dodged,
again and again,
slashing at his body like she was
toying
with him.
And I—
I was
helpless.
Frustration,
pure fury,
bubbled up in me, hot and unrelenting. I couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand watching him
bleed for me
while I was dragged away by this faceless thing.
I needed to help.
I
needed
to break free.
I
needed
to get to him. An arm of mine broke free from the shadow as tears welled in my eyes.
I
reached out
—toward Draegon, toward
him.
Toward the only thing that mattered.
"Draegon—!" His name tore from my lips, raw and desperate.
And then—
A glow.
A thin,
golden string
flickered into existence,
stretching
from my outstretched palm—
And it
shot
toward Ruoxy.