Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
What is happening to me?
She didn't understand it, but her core did. The cold part of her. The old part. The part of her magic that had never truly spoken—only reacted—now leaned toward him. It was as if her frost had found its flame, and wanted to melt.
Why does Korin have this effect on me?
She pulled back slightly, pressing her spine against the curl of his other talon, trying to control her breathing. Meanwhile, her power bloomed from the contact.
She swallowed hard, glancing down at her fingertips, half-expecting to see frost threading from her nails.
Nothing showed.
But she felt her power’s excitement.
She returned to focusing on her breathing, yet his scent filled her nostrils—jasmine, stormwater, and flame.
Her pulse stuttered.
Focus on something else.
She looked down, and realized she had no idea how long he'd been carrying her.
Time blurred at this height.
The world below was no longer made of borders and names. No kingdom. No Lowly Quarter. No Hareef.
Just land.
Large cities.
Next small towns.
Then forests.
Then streams cutting through villages.
Then rivers twisting within the wild.
Then. . .only water. Endless and undisturbed. A gleaming sheet of liquid silver beneath her.
Is that. . .the ocean?
Sol had only ever read about it in one of her mother’s forbidden books. It had been a page-worn tome tucked in the back of a cabinet, brittle with age, and full of stories no Lowly girl was meant to read. The ocean was a myth to most in Hareef, especially since many had never traveled farther than the market stalls. But here it was now, unfolding beneath her.
A myth made real.
So. . .breathtaking. . .
And above her?
A vast sky stitched with glittering stars, veiled in cloud-lace, and kissed by moonlight.
Everything she’d ever known—every name, every rule, every fear—faded with each mile.
And the dragon?
Korin did not speak, but he didn’t have to.
His presence was language.
His silence was possession.
His flight was power incarnate.
Sol glanced up at him, squinting past the rush of wind that whipped her curls.
Where is he taking me. . .and why?
Korin’s golden eyes remained locked on the horizon. His dragon face was both brutal and enchanting. Terror and grace. Jagged, obsidian horns swept back from his skull.
Thick lashes—longer than she’d ever imagined a dragon could have—framed those molten eyes.
Captivating. . .
A second later, his nostrils flared, exhaling soft white streams of heat that ribboned into the wind.
Beneath his curved lip, she caught a glimpse of what still waited inside his mouth. Long, ivory fangs tucked behind his jaw like violent secrets.
She couldn’t see them fully—but she knew they were there, just beyond view, ready to rend bone from flesh.
Swallowing hard, she forced herself to speak. “Korin?”
Her voice was barely audible above the rush of air, but he heard her.
Without turning his head, his eye shifted—just one massive, glowing iris sliding sideways, pinning her in place. But part of her wondered if he was still watching her from the corner of his vision.
Oh. . .God. . .
Her breath caught.
The heat in that gaze wasn’t threatening. Not exactly. It was knowing.
She shivered. “Korin. . .where are you taking me?”
He remained silent, and then, just as slowly, he turned his eye back to the sky.
Sol exhaled.
Her pulse thundered behind her ribs. She hadn’t realized how tightly she’d been gripping the edge of his claw until her fingers started to ache.
Can dragons even speak? Maybe he can only talk when he is in human form. . .
She thought back to the small knowledge of dragons that she’d learned.
Dragons roared. They burned. They flew. But they didn’t speak.
And yet. . .
No one ever said a dragon could turn into a man, either.
She didn’t know what to believe anymore.
All her life, she’d relied on stolen books, overheard myths, half-whispered lore buried in floorboards. But none of it had prepared her for this—for the heat of his body, the softness in his hold, the terrible grace of that golden stare.
Maybe everything we think we know about Korin is wrong.
Or worse.
Maybe everything we thought we understood was only what he allowed us to.
She placed her gaze back on the ocean.
The moonlight turned the water into liquid silver, endless and undisturbed, stretching so far, she couldn’t tell where the sea ended, and the sky began. It looked calm from up here, but her mind wondered what might be hidden beneath the surface.
What kind of creatures swim below? Are there beasts within those murky depths?
Her thoughts drifted, pulling her inward.
Mother. . .Father.
By now, they would have realized she hadn’t returned.
She could see her mother standing in the doorway, wiping her hands on her apron, still believing that maybe Sol had stopped to help a neighbor.
Maybe she was gathering herbs.
Maybe she was just late.
But as the hours passed, that hope would crack.
Her father would already assume the worst. He always feared her power would betray her, that someone would take her.
Or. . .they probably thought the most obvious. . .that Korin incinerated her like all the others.