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Stop. Her voice was firm. That’s enough.

But I couldn’t let go of the ocean of magic inside me, because I knew as soon as I did, it would overtake me. Like a dam cracked open, it would flood all of me until there was no part of Airón left.

“Airón,” Tallu said. This time he was quieter, and looked out over what remained of Kacha’s forces. “Finish it.”

He was cold, just as cold as the icicles I had summoned. He knew as well as I did what the stakes were.

Exhaling, I blew out a breath, and let it become something else, a frozen ground that chilled the last remaining forces, those few who had managed to escape the falling icicles and hungry roots.

It crept up their legs, keeping them from moving, even as they struggled. Then I let it go further, climbing up their bodies until it froze their hearts.

One by one, they went still, the life in them flickering out. The ocean in me still raged, because I knew that this wasn’t all of Kacha’s men. Maybe this wasn’t even half of them. Which meant I still had something in the forests of Tavornai to kill. I still had⁠—

“Airón.” Tallu spoke so quietly that I had no idea how I heard him over the wind, over the powerful beat of our dragons’ wings.

When I looked over at him, his russet eyes were everything. And I knew that the ocean of magic could never consume me because Tallu would always know who I was. He would always see me, and even if I drowned in the magic, he could reach in and bring me out.

He was the only one who would ever be able to reach in and bring me out. I let myself settle, let the magic flow away, let myself watch the wave of magic pass like a ship cresting a tsunami and finding only still water on the other side. Tallu was my still water and I wanted to touch his skin, but now wasn’t the time. The magic flowed away, leaving just me, alone in my own skin.

“Let’s go,” I said.

But when I turned, nudging at the forest dragon with my knees as I would a borealis wolf, the creature didn’t move. Then, with a sudden sweep of its wings, it launched itself forward, sending us deeper into the darkest forests of Tavornai.

Eight

Naî made a screeching sound, trying to put her body between the forest dragon and its target, but the forest dragon was undeterred. Each leaf dragon came apart, allowing the larger dragon to flow around Naî, as a river might part for a boulder, until we were on the other side, and she and Tallu were far behind us.

“What are you doing?” I asked, but the forest dragon was undeterred. It continued forward, its wings beating a relentless rhythm.

I tried to grab hold of it, but the individual dragons that made up its body turned and bit me, drawing blood from my bare hands.

For one ruthless moment, I thought of reaching for the magic I had just used, freezing the forest dragon, but the ocean of magic was closed off. I could no longer reach it. When I grasped for it, it was like trying to draw water from sand; I could feel it slipping through my fingers, leaving nothing behind.

Frowning down at the dragon, I rested a hand on its back, feeling the urgency in its body. “What’s wrong?”

The dragon hadn’t acted like this even when Kacha was busy burning down the forests of Tavornai again. It hadn’t acted like this when soldiers marched across the forest.

Under my hand, the dragon shifted color, going yellow and then gold, like leaves changing for the winter. My eyes went wide, and I searched its body, trying to find the cause.

“Forest dragon,” I implored.

The dragon raised its head, roaring, beating its wings harder.

We wobbled in the air, as it tried to stay steady. It shrieked, its body moving like a boat caught crosswise against the waves.

Then all at once, the dragon collapsed in on itself, half of the smaller dragons that made up its body falling away, crumbling to nothing, dried leaves blown by an autumn storm.

I was falling, my hands desperately reaching for the small dragons, but they crumbled underneath my grip. Then two claws closed around me, Naî having grown in size, once again as large as an elephant. She beat her wings, keeping us aloft as the forest dragon swerved and curled, trying to stay in one piece. I dangled from her claws, holding on tight to her even as I started to slip.

She tightened her grip, the digits wrapped around me like snakes. The forest dragon began swirling in on itself, a small windstorm in its wake and then it plunged into the forest, moving directly for something we couldn’t see because of the trees.

“What was that?” Tallu shouted.

Naî managed to hold her position, and I called out, “Follow the dragon if you can.”

I could feel her hesitation, the moment that she kept hovering, her wings beating against the gravity of the earth as she considered.

Then she dove into the forest.