Chapter 7 Blood Price
SERINA POV
The shadow mage's spell hit the wall where my head had been a second ago.
I rolled sideways, clutching Tym against my chest as stone exploded behind us. My brother's fevered body felt too light, too fragile. He wasn't even conscious anymore.
"Surrender the vessel," the mage called, his voice echoing through the sewer tunnel. "The boy can die quickly. Painlessly."
Liar, Kaelthar whispered in my mind. They'll burn him alive to make an example.
I did. I'd watched them burn others.
My hands started glowing crimson without me thinking about it. The dragon's power felt easier to reach now, like a weapon I'd been practicing with for years instead of days.
"Good," Kaelthar purred. "Now show him what happens when predators pick the wrong prey."
The shadow mage rounded the corner, three more enforcers behind him. Then a fifth emerged from a side tunnel, cutting off our escape.
Five trained killers. One desperate girl. One dying boy.
"Last chance," the lead mage said. "Come quietly."
I laid Tym down gently against the wall. My hands were shaking, but not from fear. From rage.
Then I attacked.
Dragon fire erupted from my palms, wild and furious. The lead mage barely got his shield up in time. The blast threw him backward, and I was already moving, letting Kaelthar's battle instincts guide my body.
Duck, he commanded.
I dropped. A blade whistled over my head.
Left hand, fire bolt, now.
I obeyed without thinking. An enforcer screamed as crimson flames consumed his face.
"She's just one girl!" someone shouted.
They tried surrounding me. But I wasn't just one girl anymore. I was a girl with a thousand-year-old dragon's combat experience flooding through her mind, showing her exactly where to move, when to strike, how to kill.
The second enforcer came at me with a sword. I caught his wrist, felt Kaelthar's power surge through my grip, and watched scales erupt across my arm as I crushed bone. The man's scream cut off when I drove fire-coated fingers through his throat.
Beautiful, Kaelthar whispered. Do you feel it? The power?
I did feel it. And it terrified me how good it felt.
The shadow mage recovered, launching a spell that wrapped around my legs like chains. I hit the ground hard, tasting blood.
"The Council will dissect you slowly," he said.
I grabbed his ankle and poured every bit of rage into my hand. His leg caught fire from the inside out. He fell, shrieking, and I was on him before he hit the ground.
My fist connected with his face once. Twice. The scales on my knuckles cut his skin. His blood splattered across my face, hot and metallic.
Don't stop, Kaelthar urged. Finish it.
But I hesitated. Just for a second.
The fourth enforcer's blade caught me across the ribs, slicing deep. Pain exploded through my side.
Fool! Kaelthar snarled. Mercy is death! Fight!
I spun, ignoring the blood pouring from my side, and caught the enforcer's next strike with my bare hand. The blade cut into my palm, but I didn't let go. I pulled him close and breathed fire directly into his face.
The fifth enforcer a woman with cold eyes stood between me and Tym. She had my brother by the collar, a knife at his throat.
"Enough," she said. "Surrender or he dies."
Everything stopped.
I stood there, bleeding, surrounded by bodies. My brother dangled unconscious in a stranger's grip, one quick slash away from death.
"Please," I whispered. "He's just a child."
"So were the ones you killed tonight."
A blade erupted from her chest.
She looked down, confused, then crumpled. Behind her stood a figure I couldn't see clearly slim, with skin so black it seemed to drink the light.
"Impressive," the stranger said. "You'll do."
I tried to grab Tym, but my legs gave out. The wound in my side was worse than I'd thought. Blood pooled beneath me, warm and sticky.
The stranger caught me before I hit the ground. Up close, I could see their features sharp and inhuman. White hair. Eyes like polished obsidian.
"Rest, little dragon vessel," they murmured.
"Tym," I managed. "My brother "
"Safe. I'll see to it." They lifted me like I weighed nothing. "My name is Nyx. And you, Serina Ashwell, are exactly what we've been waiting for."
The world started going fuzzy. Through our bond, I felt Kaelthar's sudden alertness.
This one is dangerous, he warned.
"Who... what..."
Nyx smiled, revealing teeth just slightly too sharp. "A friend. Your ticket to survival." They started walking. "Welcome to the Shadowmarket, child. Where the damned go to hide."
The tunnel opened into something impossible a cavern so massive I couldn't see the walls. Lights flickered everywhere. Hundreds of them. Buildings carved into stone, people moving between them.
A city. An entire city beneath the slums.
"So many," I whispered.
"All contaminated," Nyx said. "All condemned. All waiting for someone brave enough to lead them." They looked down at me. "And here you are."
A man approached tall, dark-haired, with storm-blue eyes that widened when he saw my dragon marks.
"Gods above," he breathed.
"The vessel," Nyx confirmed. "Serina, meet Lord Arvain Corvus. Former noble, current revolutionary." They set me down carefully. "She's bleeding rather impressively. Do try to keep her alive."
Arvain knelt beside me, his hands already glowing with healing magic. But he wasn't looking at my wounds. He was staring at my scales.
"You're either our salvation," he said softly, "or our doom."
I wanted to tell him I was neither. That I was just a girl trying to save her brother.
But Tym started coughing wet, horrible sounds that meant blood in his lungs.
Arvain's expression hardened. "How long has he been like this?"
"Days," I gasped. "Getting worse."
"I can save your brother, Serina. But I need something from you first."
Here it comes, Kaelthar murmured. The price.
"What?" I asked.
Arvain pulled out a scroll. When he unrolled it, I saw names. Hundreds of names. Thousands.
"Execution lists," he said. "The Council plans to purge anyone suspected of contamination. Children included." He pointed to names. "This girl is six. This boy is nine. All marked to burn."
Something twisted in my chest.
"Your brother's name is on here too," Arvain continued. "I can protect Tym. Give him the medicine he needs. But in exchange, I need your power. Your help stopping this massacre."
I looked at Tym's pale face, then at the scroll.
"My brother first," I said. "Everyone else is your problem."
Arvain smiled sadly. "Fair enough." He lifted Tym carefully. "I'll take him to our healers."
"No." I tried to stand, failed, tried again. "I stay with him."
Kaelthar's presence felt satisfied. Good. Use them. Take what you need, give nothing back.
But as Arvain carried my brother deeper into the hidden city, as hundreds of faces turned to watch, I couldn't shake the weight of those names.
Six years old. Nine years old. Marked to burn.
We reached a building carved into the cavern wall. Inside, someone was screaming. The sound cut off abruptly.
Arvain's jaw tightened. "Another refugee. She'll die within the hour."
He laid Tym on a cot, began examining him.
"You save him," I said. "That's the deal. Nothing else."
"I heard you." Arvain worked in silence, then spoke without looking up. "You know what I see when I look at you?"
I didn't answer.
"My wife. The night they took her." His hands trembled. "She begged them to spare the children she'd been healing. They burned her anyway." He met my eyes. "You want to save just your brother? Fine. But I'm going to save everyone I can, and I won't apologize for hoping you'll change your mind."
Something in his words dug under my skin.
Tym's eyes fluttered open. He looked at me, really looked at me for the first time in days.
"Sera?" His voice was barely a whisper. "You're covered in blood. You're becoming "
"Shh. Rest." I gripped his hand. "You're safe now."
But he didn't rest. His gaze fixed on something behind me, and his eyes went wide with terror.
"Sera," he breathed. "Behind you. The woman in white. She's "
I spun around.
The room was empty.
"There's no one there, Tym."
"She's right there!" He started shaking. "She says... she says you have three days. Three days before the Archmage comes for you herself. And when she does..." His voice dropped to a horrified whisper. "Everyone here dies. Everyone."
Then his eyes rolled back and he went limp.