Chapter 16 Flames and Fury
SERINA POV
The binding chains shattered.
One second I was helpless, watching flames consume the sector. The next, golden fire exploded from my skin, melting the magic that held me.
Did you really think their pathetic spells could contain us? Kaelthar's voice wasn't distant anymore—it was everywhere, flooding through me like molten rage. I let them chain you to see what they'd do. Now we know the truth.
"They lied," I whispered. The transport had stopped, the mages inside staring at me with sudden fear. "They were always going to kill everyone."
Yes. So let's show them what happens when they break deals with dragons.
I kicked through the transport wall.
Magistrate Elara barely had time to scream before I was on her. Dragon claws—my claws—ripped through her shields like paper. She crumpled, alive but unconscious.
The other three mages attacked together. I didn't think, just moved. Kaelthar's battle instincts flowed through me, ancient and perfect. Dodge left, strike high, flames there—
Two mages down in seconds. The third ran.
Kill him, Kaelthar urged.
"No." I was already running toward the burning sector. "We save people first. Murder later."
You're learning. Was that approval in his voice? Though technically, killing your enemies isn't murder—it's efficiency.
The sector was chaos. Families fled in every direction while enforcers hunted them down. I saw an elderly man fall, saw the enforcer raise his sword—
I was there before the blade dropped. My punch sent the enforcer flying twenty feet into a wall. He didn't get up.
"Run!" I shouted at the old man. He stared at my glowing scales, terrified. "I'm here to help! Just run!"
Patrol coming from the east, Kaelthar warned, his senses sharper than mine. Six enforcers, two mages. The families fleeing that direction will run straight into them.
"Show me the safe route."
Knowledge flooded my mind—Kaelthar's thousand-year-old tactical genius mapping patrol patterns, finding gaps, calculating timing. I saw the sector like he did: a battlefield with pieces moving in predictable patterns.
"This way!" I grabbed the closest families, herding them toward an alley Kaelthar identified. "Stay quiet, move fast!"
Twenty people followed. Then thirty. Then fifty.
I became a shadow with claws, darting between patrol routes, redirecting families, clearing paths. When enforcers blocked escape routes, I removed them. Fast. Efficient.
Good, Kaelthar purred after I dropped the fourth enforcer. You're not hesitating anymore.
He was right. The first kill had been hard. By the fourth, I barely felt it.
That should have scared me. Instead, it felt like power.
I was herding another group toward safety when I heard the child screaming.
She couldn't have been older than six, trapped in a dead-end alley with an enforcer advancing. His blade gleamed in the firelight.
"Please," the little girl begged. "I didn't do anything wrong!"
The enforcer raised his sword. "You were born wrong. That's enough."
I moved without thinking.
My hand caught his wrist before the blade fell. The enforcer turned, saw my face—saw the dragon scales crawling up my neck, the gold fire in my eyes.
"Run along, monster," he sneered. "This doesn't concern—"
I broke his wrist. His scream cut off when I slammed him into the ground hard enough to crack stone.
The little girl stared at me with huge, terrified eyes. Gray eyes. Like mine. Like Tym's.
She looked exactly how I must have looked a thousand times—small and scared and certain she was about to die just for existing.
"You're safe now," I said softly, crouching to her level. "What's your name?"
"L-Lira."
"I'm Serina. Can you run fast, Lira?"
She nodded.
"Then run that way." I pointed toward where Arvain was coordinating evacuations. "Tell the man with blue eyes that Serina sent you. He'll keep you safe."
"You're not coming?"
"I have to help more people first." I managed a smile that probably looked terrifying with my fangs showing. "But I promise—no one else dies tonight."
Lira ran.
I kept my promise. Sort of.
No civilians died. Five more enforcers did when they tried to stop me. By the time dawn broke, twenty-three families had escaped through the routes Kaelthar mapped. The Council's purge had failed.
I stood in the smoking ruins, covered in blood that wasn't mine, and told myself I felt nothing.
Liar, Kaelthar observed. You feel everything. That's why you're dangerous.
"Serina!" Arvain appeared with Tym close behind. "Thank the gods. We thought—"
He stopped, seeing the bodies. Seeing what I'd done.
"I'm fine," I said quickly. Too quickly. "Everyone's evacuated. Mission successful."
"At what cost?" Tym whispered, staring at my blood-covered hands.
Before I could answer, Maren burst through the rubble, her face white with panic.
"We have a massive problem," she gasped. "The Council just made an announcement. They're offering ten thousand gold pieces for your capture—alive or dead. But that's not the worst part."
My stomach dropped. "What's the worst part?"
"They've identified Tym. They know he's your brother." Maren's voice shook. "And they've announced that if you don't surrender within twenty-four hours, they'll execute every child in the city with magical contamination. Starting with him."
The world seemed to stop.
Well, Kaelthar said into the silence. That's unfortunate.