The Red—whatever this was, this locked-in thing—felt like someone had their thumb pressed in the center of Ajax’s brain, but he loved it. Wherever his eyes scanned, he felt Dog’s scarred, sightless eyes move as well. This union tugged like a line hooked between their souls.

At some point, he would worry how much Dog could “see” when they weren’t flying together. Specifically, like when Ajax was bathing or whenever he finally found himself taking things to the next level with a girl (someday, somehow, somewhere, something, with someone, please before he died or turned thirty). But that was for when they weren’t in a damn life-or-death battle.

“You did it!” Vespir crowed, circling on Karina. The two dragons fondly chirped at each other. “What a beautiful boy!”

“Thank you!” Ajax yelled.

“I meant Dog!”

“Oh!”

They landed, Ajax grinning as he slid off Dog’s back and went to Vespir.

“You…okay?” Ajax wheezed. Ash and blood smeared her cheeks, and she smelled like a smokehouse. He grunted when the girl threw her arms around him.

“Thanks.” Vespir smiled. Then, “Though I wish you’d warned me you were going to do that.”

“How about we start with ‘Thank you, Ajax, oh uniquely handsome dragon master, for saving my damn life.’ ”

“Technically, Dog saved me.”

“Then thank Dog.”

“I will!” Vespir kissed the dragon square between his gouged eyes. Dog nudged Ajax’s shoulder as Vespir returned to Karina.

“I like her. Her dragon is pleasant, as well. Quite lovely, in fact!”

Ajax couldn’t get used to having that plummy voice in his head. “I can’t believe I used to make you fetch sticks,” he muttered, abashed. “You should’ve refused.”

“Yes, but…I love you.” Dog’s tail thumped on the ground.

“Oh no.” Vespir looked up as an unearthly scream pierced the sky.

Aufidius struggled to free himself, but his movements were slowing. His body continued to slide down the spire, now coated in oily black blood. The dragon’s wings drooped. The long, perfect neck hung limp, the head swaying this way and that in the breeze. The screams came from Hyperia as she clung to her dragon’s wing.

Even with everything Hyperia had done, Ajax had to turn his face away as Aufidius breathed his last.

With a scream that bit to the bone, Hyperia plummeted to earth.

Despite her injuries, Karina managed to flap off the ground, roll, and catch the girl in her talons. Ajax winced as the dragon bobbed in the air, her strain visible. But she managed it. Karina deposited Hyperia beside Ajax. He instinctively shied away, wanting to hide himself behind Dog, because Hyperia felt…wrong.

The Volscia girl sat there, her shoulders slumped, her hands dropped by her sides with her palms facing up. Her hoarse breathing was slow, her eyes open in a look of confused horror. Her expression reminded Ajax of someone desperately working to wake from a nightmare, but there’d be no waking from this.

Hyperia’s very soul had been Cut.

The girl placed her hands on the sides of her neck, then her cheeks, as if she were trying to remind herself that she was real. Hyperia tilted her head back, gazed to the sky. She dug her fingers into her hair, and her face tightened with agony. Still, she did not scream. She suffered in horrendous silence.

Ajax wasn’t the most sensitive guy in the world, but he started to cry. He put his hand on her back, just to let her know that someone was there.

If it happened to me, I don’t think I could go on, he thought.

Hyperia finally slumped across Vespir’s lap. Vespir stroked the girl’s hair. He’d never seen such a sorry expression in his life.

Ajax had helped do this, which made him want to vomit. Dog nuzzled at Ajax’s shoulder. “It had to be done.”

“What happened?” Lucian stumbled toward them, Emilia by his side. He waved a hand to clear some of the smoke, allowing Emilia to lean on him as they shuffled along. Some of the imperial guard escorted him. Tyche waited behind her rider, tilting her head at quizzical angles.

“Aufidius is dead.” Emilia didn’t even have to glance at the spire. Her face crumpled. “I didn’t expect it to be so…” With a pained grunt, Emilia lowered herself beside the blond girl. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “None of us wanted this.”

Emilia’s face and voice were apparently the incentive needed to restore some life to Hyperia. She pushed Emilia away.

“Don’t touch me. Demon! I tried…I tried…” Hyperia finally began to weep. “I tried to stop it!”

“Stop it?” Emilia sounded baffled.

“Chaos.” Hyperia rolled her eyes to the blue above. Her lip quivered. “The priests…lied. I was not…the true victor. One of you…You were all selected…because of a flaw. Don’t you see? I may be a freak, but you are all…abomination.”

Hyperia clutched the sides of her head. Ajax draped an arm around Dog’s neck for comfort. What in the depths was she talking about?

“I know…I seem cruel,” she growled. “But everything I have ever done was for my empire. I’ve never wanted…anything…for myself.” Her voice choked with tears. “All I wanted…was to live with honor. And you.” Some of the old Hyperia smoldered behind her glassy expression. “Chaotics. Murderers. Hypocrites. Illiterates. Bastards. Thieves. Liars. Cowards.” She gave one long, loud wail of agony. “You’re what the Dragon really chose! This world is garbage.”

“You need help,” Vespir said quietly.

What did Ajax feel? Besides guilt, he just wanted this to end.

“Don’t touch me,” Hyperia snarled as Vespir tried to help her up. The Volscia girl staggered to her feet, swaying like a drunkard. Her golden crown had fallen off in the chaos. One of her diaphanous sleeves had ripped, leaving her arm bare. Hyperia’s face was dirty. She looked worlds away from the pristine beauty he’d first met. Well, she’d worn blood on her face back then, too.

“I don’t care what I have to do,” Hyperia said. She sounded so calm, switching from one extreme to the other, that it freaked him out.

“Huh?” Ajax asked.

“Master Ajax!” Dog swept one of his bat wings around the boy. Ajax struggled.

“What the—”

There was a dense, meaty tearing sound, and the spire finally ripped clean through Aufidius’s corpse. The enormous dragon fell to the earth, its wings fluttering uselessly. When it struck the ground, the body burst wide…and the fiery acid within its stomach cavity flooded the area in rippling blue flame.

Shit.

Ajax leapt onto Dog’s back and held tight as they surged skyward. Vespir and Karina joined him, as did Lucian and Tyche, with Emilia perched on the saddle before the Sabel boy. The soldiers raced to shelter in the palace doorway. Ajax watched the acid fire scorch most of the landing area. Damn, what if Hyperia…

But she was gone. After the fire had burned itself out, they found no trace of her.