Aria's POV
The Void Dragon's purple eyes burn into my soul.
"RUN!" my grandmother screams.
Kael doesn't hesitate. He grabs me in his claws—gentle despite his size—and launches into the sky. Behind us, Lysander appears with my unconscious mother cradled carefully in his talons.
The Void Dragon's roar shakes the city. Buildings crack. Car alarms scream. Every beast in a five-mile radius goes silent with primal terror.
What IS that thing? I think desperately to Kael.
Death, he answers simply. Void Dragons were the apex predators before regular dragons evolved. They feed on magic itself. On tamer bonds. On dragon souls. His mental voice is tight with fear. They were extinct because my ancestors killed them all five thousand years ago. Or so we thought.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, LITTLE TAMER?" The Void Dragon's voice echoes in my skull. "YOU SMELL DELICIOUS. THREE GENERATIONS OF DRAGON TAMER BLOOD. I WILL FEAST FOR CENTURIES."
It spreads wings that seem to absorb light itself and launches after us.
"Kael, it's gaining!" I cling to his scales, wind whipping my hair.
I know! He pours on speed, but the Void Dragon is faster. Impossibly fast.
Below us, my grandmother and grandfather stand side by side. They raise their hands in perfect sync, and golden light explodes upward—a barrier of pure taming power.
The Void Dragon slams into it and screams. The sound makes my ears bleed.
"GO!" my grandfather's voice booms in my mind. "We'll hold it as long as we can! Get to the sanctuary!"
"What sanctuary?" I shout.
The place where dragons have been hiding for three hundred years, Kael answers. Where we should have taken you from the beginning.
He changes direction, flying north toward the mountains. Lysander follows with my mother. Behind us, the golden barrier cracks as the Void Dragon tears through it.
My grandparents scream.
"NO!" I reach back through the bond, trying to send them power, but Kael blocks me.
They're buying us time. Don't waste it. His mental voice is anguished. Your grandparents are the strongest Dragon Tamers alive. If they can't stop it, you definitely can't. Not yet.
Tears stream down my face. "I just found them!"
And you'll see them again. They're survivors. They didn't last this long by being easy to kill.
We fly for what feels like hours but is probably only minutes. The city falls away behind us. Mountains rise ahead—tall, snow-capped, ancient.
Kael dives toward what looks like solid rock.
"Kael, that's a mountain—!"
Trust me.
We hit the cliff face and pass through it like water.
An illusion. The entire mountain face is a magical illusion.
We emerge in a massive cavern that takes my breath away. It's bigger than ten football stadiums, with waterfalls cascading from impossible heights. Crystal formations glow with soft light. And everywhere—EVERYWHERE—are dragons.
Not thirty. Hundreds.
Silver dragons, gold dragons, red dragons, blue dragons, some with two heads, some with feathered wings. Dragons of every size and color, all turning to stare as Kael lands in the center of the cavern.
"There are hundreds," I whisper. "You said thirty."
I lied, Kael admits, shifting to human form. Or rather, I told you the number in your city. This is the Sanctuary. Where all dragons who survived the Great Hunt have been hiding for three centuries.
An enormous golden dragon—easily twice Kael's size—steps forward. When she speaks, her voice is ancient and powerful.
"Kael Draven. You brought the Dragon Tamer here without the Council's approval. You've exposed our location. Explain yourself before I decide whether to exile you or execute you."
Council? There's a dragon council?
Kael bows his head. "Matriarch Elena, I present Aria Russo. Daughter of Dante Russo, granddaughter of Maya and Elias Russo. Third-generation Dragon Tamer. She awakened today and bonded with me by accident."
Murmurs ripple through the assembled dragons. I feel hundreds of eyes examining me, judging me.
"By accident?" The Matriarch's tone sharpens. "You've been watching her for ten years, Kael. Don't insult my intelligence by claiming this was unplanned."
My head snaps toward him. "Ten years? You told me you found me by chance!"
Kael won't meet my eyes. "I... may have simplified the truth."
"SIMPLIFIED?" I step away from him, betrayal burning in my chest. "You've been watching me since I was twelve? Like some kind of stalker?"
"Not watching. Protecting." He finally looks at me, golden eyes pleading. "Aria, your dragon affinity awakened early after your mother disappeared. You were vulnerable. Alone. If other tamers had sensed your potential, they would have taken you. Used you. I stayed close to keep you safe."
"For ten years. Ten years of pretending to be my friend when really you were just—what? Waiting for me to become useful?"
"No!" He reaches for me, but I jerk back. "I was waiting for you to be ready. To be strong enough to handle the truth. And yes, I was protecting my interests too. Dragon Tamers are rare. Powerful. Of course I wanted to be the one you bonded with instead of some random dragon who wouldn't care about you!"
"So this was strategic. A ten-year investment."
"It was LOVE!" His voice cracks. "Aria, I fell in love with you when you were fifteen, reading poetry in the park. You looked so peaceful, so beautiful. I knew I had to wait until you were older, until you awakened, but I couldn't stay away. Every day I didn't tell you the truth killed me. But I had to know—I had to be sure you'd see me as Kael, not just as a dragon to command."
The Matriarch snorts. "How touching. And now you've led a Void Dragon directly to our sanctuary. Well done, Kael. Truly inspired leadership from our supposed Dragon King."
"A Void Dragon followed us?" A smaller red dragon gasps. "Those are extinct!"
"Apparently not," Lysander says grimly, landing with my mother and shifting to human form. "And it's specifically hunting Dragon Tamers. It said it wanted to 'feast' on them."
The cavern erupts in panicked voices. Dragons shifting nervously. Some launching into the air.
"SILENCE!" The Matriarch's roar shakes the crystals. "Everyone calm down. Void Dragons are powerful, but they can't enter the Sanctuary. The wards—"
The mountain shakes.
Rocks fall from the ceiling. The waterfalls reverse direction briefly, flowing upward before crashing back down.
"The wards are failing," a silver dragon says, horrified.
"Impossible. Those wards are five thousand years old—"
The mountain shakes again. Harder. A massive crack appears in the cavern wall.
Through that crack, I see a purple eye the size of a car.
"FOUND YOU," the Void Dragon purrs. "SUCH A FEAST. SO MANY DRAGONS. SO MUCH MAGIC." Its laughter is like nails on a chalkboard inside my skull. "I'LL EAT THE TAMER FIRST. THEN THE DRAGON KING. THEN ALL OF YOU, ONE BY ONE."
The crack widens. The Void Dragon's claw pushes through—black scales dripping with something that looks like liquid shadow.
"Everyone to the escape tunnels!" The Matriarch orders. "Fighters, with me! We hold the line—"
"No," I say.
Everyone stops. Stares at me.
"No running. No hiding." I look at Kael, at Lysander, at the hundreds of dragons watching me. "I'm the Dragon Tamer. You've been waiting three hundred years for someone like me. Well, here I am. So let me do my job."
"You awakened three hours ago," the Matriarch says flatly. "You can barely control your power. You'll die."
"Maybe. But I'm done letting other people fight my battles." I turn to Kael. "You said Dragon Tamers in history commanded entire flights. Is that true?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then I'm commanding you. All of you." I let my power flow out, that golden light that everyone keeps fearing and wanting. "Every dragon in this cavern. Bond with me. Right now."
Silence.
"That's insane," the Matriarch breathes. "No Dragon Tamer has bonded with more than twelve dragons at once. The power would tear your mind apart—"
"Then I guess we'll find out what I'm made of." I meet her ancient eyes. "Bond with me, or watch your sanctuary fall. Your choice."
The Void Dragon's claw tears through more of the wall. Its massive head pushes in, jaws opening to reveal teeth made of darkness.
"LAST CHANCE, LITTLE TAMER," it hisses. "SURRENDER AND I'LL MAKE YOUR DEATH QUICK."
I smile. It's not a nice smile.
"I'm Aria Russo. Daughter of Dante Russo who burned cities. Granddaughter of Maya and Elias Russo who survived everything. And I don't surrender."
I throw my arms wide, and golden light explodes from my body like a sun going supernova.
Every dragon in the cavern gasps as my bonding power washes over them.
"Choose," I say. "Fight with me, or die without me."
The Matriarch stares at me for a long moment.
Then she bows her massive head.
"I, Elena Goldheart, First Matriarch of the Dragon Sanctuary, accept your bond, Dragon Tamer."
The other dragons follow. One by one. Dozens. Hundreds.
The bonds snap into place like chains of starlight wrapping around my soul.
And the power—
Oh God, the power—
My vision goes white. My body goes rigid. I feel every dragon at once—their hearts, their minds, their ancient memories flooding into me.
It's too much. Way too much.
I'm dying. I can feel my mind starting to crack—
Then Kael's presence pushes through the chaos. His love. His strength.
I've got you, he says. We ALL have you. You're not alone in this.
And suddenly, I'm not drowning in power.
I'm swimming in it.
I open my eyes—except they're not just my eyes anymore. I'm seeing through hundreds of eyes at once. Feeling hundreds of heartbeats synced with mine.
I am the Dragon Tamer.
And I have an army.
"Now then," I say, my voice echoing with the power of hundreds. "Let's show this Void Dragon what happens when you threaten my family."