keeping all her muscles engaged to ease the force of her footfalls. The task was made more arduous as she penetrated into a smaller chamber and came into contact with bones. The moonlight was a measly trickle this far in, so she navigated by touch and the delicate silver glow of her runemarks.
Her fleshrunes.
Her mistake hit her all at once.
The magick seeping from her runemarks was faint, a mere wisp of power perfuming the air. Same as the sea orc’s scent, it was a warning to the few creatures who could pick up on it. Most never would. Even powerful Sun Lords lacked the ability to feel the trace of energy her runemarks constantly emitted.
But as one of the most ancient creatures in existence, dragons were highly sensitive to even a tinge of magick.
A tinge that now filled the enclosed space every second she remained.
A vibration entered her bare feet and speared into her chest, like something heavy and large moving over the walls. Scales scraped stone as something sniffed the air.
Close—it was too close. Possibly in this same chamber.
Possibly right next to her.
Entire body clenched against her overwhelming impulse to flee, she backtracked slowly, one hand on her sword hilt. The vibrations were coming from everywhere now. Loud enough to block out sounds and distort her senses. Her heart hammered in her ears. The stench of rotten fish clogged her throat and made her eyes water.
A wall nearly knocked the breath from her lungs. She froze, scouring the shadows for the opening that led back to the first chamber.
Was she turned around? Had she missed the exit?
The rumbling was deafening now. The dragon speeding through the tunnels as it grew louder.
No reason to hide her magick now; it knew she was here. An orb of gold flung from her wet palm into the air, chasing back shadows and illuminating the cave walls. Blinking, trying to get her bearings as the ground beneath her rocked and dirt and rocks rained from the ceiling, she whipped around and came face-to-face with an eye.
A slitted yellow eye the size of her head.
The elongated pupil contracted and dilated as hot, foul breath slammed into her face, blowing back her hair and bringing her close to retching.
For a stunned heartbeat, they regarded one another—beast and mortal, performing that age-old dance deciding who was the hunter and who the prey. It didn’t take long for both to fall into their places on the food chain.
Prey. She was the prey.
The blast of light magick that burst from Haven’s fingers rolled over the sea orc’s head, revealing a magnificent creature straight from one of Bell’s storybooks. Webbed jowls tipped in black talons flared over a serpentine body covered in slick viridian-blue skin. Thousands of iridescent teal and onyx scales flickered like jewels.
It was quite possibly the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen up close.
The beast’s head jerked away from the light. Chunks of stone broke off as it smashed into the wall. Loosing another volley of singeing fire, she ducked beneath its swaying head and darted toward the shimmer of silver moonlight ahead.
If she could lure it out into the open somehow—
If she could somehow trick it into the water below while remaining above, long enough to erect a shield, seal off the entrance, and grab the loot—
Rock and dust exploded behind her. Something was biting at her neck. Stinging and burning as an orange glow danced over the walls and black smoke billowed over her head . . .
Fire. The damned thing breathed fire. Bell was never going to hear the end of this.
She tossed twin orbs of light and dark magick together and then drew a protective rune into the magickal sphere. It twined around her to form a shield as the full brunt of the orc’s flames enveloped the chamber and burst from the cave entrance into the night.
She imagined Bell frowning at the evidence of his error as hungry red fire licked around her, pawing at the shield. Though erected in haste, the shield was solid. Still, the heat was so great that some of it seeped across the magickal barrier and turned the water from her clothes into steam.
Legs crouched and ready, she waited for the fire to recede back into the darkness and then plunged toward the sliver of sky in the distance. Her knee slammed into something hard but she hardly felt it.
Another kiss of fire on her neck. Another shield. She waited out the fire and then continued. The