Like a whisper against the skin, the bond flickered again, Imogen’s emotions brushing up against his like the softest touch of fingertips.

  Resolve. Clarity. The storm inside her hadn’t passed… but she was learning to walk through it.

  Darius was pulled from the swell of feeling when Axel, his voice thin but edged with a tired smile, murmured behind him,

  “So… is that the dragon singer your mother sought out? The one she gave her life for?”

  A pause. “Did she know you two were soulmates?”

  Darius turned slowly, stepping over to the wounded dragon. He lowered himself beside him, folding long legs into the dirt, his hair falling forward as he looked down.

  “She did go looking for her,” he said softly. “But not for the reasons you’re thinking.”

  Axel blinked slowly, blood staining the cracks of his lips.

  “You didn’t know?”

  “I didn’t know mates still existed,” Darius admitted, the words brittle with quiet shame. “Not for us. Not after everything. Not after what they did to the Singers.”

  His gaze drifted toward the mouth of the cave, where Imogen’s scent still lingered faintly, wildflower and earth, fire and steel.

  “But she was in trouble,” he continued, voice tightening. “My mother knew. Imogen’s guardian, the woman who’d watched over her since she was an infant, sent word. Said Imogen was in the sights of that damn bastard that tried to make her his bride.

  And the power Lady Cordelia, Imogen’s mother, used to seal her magic was weakening. It was only a matter of time before the townsfolk,especially the dragon slayers, figured out exactly who and what she was.”

  Darius’s fists clenched, knuckles going white as he fought to control the anger burning beneath his skin.

  “And… Lady Cordelia,” he murmured, voice softening, “she was my mother’s lady-in-waiting. Her closest friend. They made a promise. If anything ever happened…”

  He trailed off.

  Axel watched him, one glowing eye half-lidded. “If both your mothers were alive…” he rasped.

  Darius gave a humorless chuckle, dragging a hand through his hair. “They’d already be planning the wedding. Picking colors. Arguing about names.”

  “Probably naming your first child after themselves,” Axel added dryly.

  That pulled a real laugh from Darius, hoarse, but genuine.

  “Maybe if things had been different…” he said, voice quieting, turning almost hollow. “Maybe we wouldn’t have grown up learning to kill first. Maybe life wouldn’t have been hell for both of us.”

  He leaned back against the cool cave wall, exhaling slowly.

  “I wish she would’ve waited. But after meeting Imogen, after knowing she’s my mate… after learning she could’ve been forced to marry that bastard… I’m glad we didn’t wait. I just need you to pull through. I can’t lose you. You’re the brother I never had.”

  Axel chuckled faintly, a smile tugging at the corners of his cracked lips.

  Ghosting across his cracked lips, a faint smile emerged. “Look who’s getting all emotional over little old me.”

  He chuckled again, harder this time but it dissolved into a dry, rattling cough that made Darius’s face twist with concern.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Axel rasped, voice hoarse but steady. “I’ll fight alongside you… until our kind can have peace.”

  He shifted slightly, every movement labored, but determination still burned behind his glowing eye. “Imogen saved me,” he continued. “And after everything she’s been through, she’s out there right now, foraging to save me again.”

  Axel gave a soft, tired grin. “That woman might be our last hope… and I’d follow her into the dark if it came to it.”

  “I already consider her your queen,” Axel said, voice low but resolute. “And I’d gladly give up my life for hers.”

  Darius swallowed hard, throat tight, the words catching like thorns in his chest. His fists clenched faintly at his sides.

  Axel’s glowing eye flickered half open again, sharper now despite the exhaustion pressing down on him.

  “So… when are you going to tell her?”

  Darius’s head snapped toward him. “Tell her what?”

  Axel coughed, a harsh, wet sound but his grin didn’t fade. “Everything, Darius.”

  Darius looked away, jaw tight, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “She deserves to know,” Axel murmured. “Who you are. Who she is. How the two of you are tied together by more than just the mate bond.”

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  Darius closed his eyes for a brief moment, one hand curling against his knee.

  “She doesn’t know,” Axel continued, his voice softer now. “She doesn’t know your mother died to protect her. She doesn’t know why her magic was sealed. She doesn’t know Lady Cordelia and your mother were friends. Or that they made a promise, to protect each other’s children, no matter the cost.”

  Darius’s breath caught, sharp and aching.

  “She needs to know,” Axel rasped, his gaze unwavering despite the haze of pain.

  “She needs to understand that this, this war, this bond between you, this magic waking up inside her, it’s not chance,” Axel said, voice thinning but steady. “It’s been waiting for her. For both of you.”

  Darius’s fingers dragged through his dark hair, his eyes clouded, torn between the weight of truth and the fear of what it might cost.

  “I know,” he whispered. “I know.” For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

  Then, the bond between Darius and Imogen pulsed sharply. A jolt of presence. Fire raced beneath his skin, urgent and undeniable.

  She was close. Darius turned, eyes snapping toward the mouth of the cave, his heart hammering against his ribs.

  Behind him, Axel let out a faint, rasping chuckle. “Looks like you’re out of time, brother.”

  Darius exhaled, long and slow, raking a hand back through his hair. His chest tightened, his heartbeat thudding like war drums in his ears. Axel’s words still echoed through him, the weight of everything he hadn’t told her. Everything she deserved to know.

  That his mother hadn’t just died for their people, but for Imogen. That their families had been bound by an oath older than either of them, forged long before fate had tied them together, before war had broken their world. That Imogen wasn’t simply awakening to magic she was stepping into a legacy powerful enough to reshape the future.

  But how could he tell her that?

  How could he look her in the eye, after everything they’d survived, and place that burden at her feet?

  They had just met.

  Not yet, he told himself fiercely. Let her catch her breath. Let her have this small victory first.

  He drew a deep breath, forcing his expression smooth, locking the storm inside him behind carefully set features. By the time the first rustle of footsteps stirred the underbrush beyond the trees, Darius was already standing, arms crossed, posture calm, the picture of control.

  Then, Imogen stepped into the mouth of the cave. Mud clung to her boots, twigs tangled in her windswept hair, and her arms were full of herbs and roots.

  She looked fierce. And tired. And wild and Darius’s heart nearly caved at the sight of her.

  She gave him a quick, breathless glance, her eyes flicking to Axel. “He’s still breathing?”

  “Barely,” Darius murmured, his voice practiced and steady. “Good.” She brushed past him without hesitation, dropping to her knees at Axel’s side. “Then we can still save him.”

  Darius watched her work in silence, his fists tightening behind his back. Not yet, he told himself again. Not tonight.

  But soon. Because she deserved to know everything.

  And when he did finally, their world would never be the same.

  Imogen didn’t hesitate. She dropped the herb-filled satchel beside her and rolled up her sleeves with trembling fingers. The air around her shimmered faintly, her magic already responding to the urgency in her touch.

  “Hang on, Axel,” she whispered, voice low but fierce. “I’ve got you.”

  Her fingers worked quickly, separating the pale silver thistle from the thornleaf, her lips moving soundlessly as she counted through her steps.

  Axel gave a faint, wheezing chuckle. “You look like a forest sprite who just crawled through a warzone.”

  Imogen shot him a glare but couldn’t help the small huff of air that passed her lips.

  “You’re in no shape to make jokes, you overgrown lizard.”

  Axel coughed, his body shuddering faintly. Darius stepped forward instinctively, but Imogen lifted a hand without looking. “I’ve got him.”

  Darius froze. Her voice had been steady.

  With surprising speed, she crushed the silver thistle between two flat stones, mixing it with a pinch of moss and water from her canteen. As she worked, a faint golden glow stirred at her fingertips, hesitant, flickering, like the magic was still waking up inside her, still unsure how much it could trust its wielder.

  Darius watched, breath held tight in his chest. She doesn’t even realize what she’s doing, he thought. And she’s already stronger than she knows.

  Imogen dipped two fingers into the paste, pressing it gently to the wound at Axel’s shoulder. The dragon flinched, a low rumble escaping his throat. “Easy, big guy,” she murmured, her thumb brushing lightly over one uninjured scale. “You’re not allowed to die. I’m very bad at eulogies.”

  Axel let out something that might have been a laugh or a grunt of pain. “Didn’t think… you cared so much… singer.”

  Imogen’s hands stilled for half a second. Then she resumed her work, jaw tight. “Yeah, well. Don’t make me regret it.”

  From the edge of the cave, Darius’s gaze never wavered while watching her, watching the careful tenderness she used, the quiet strength she poured into every movement. The bond between them pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat beneath the surface, echoing even when neither of them spoke.

  When the paste was set, Imogen leaned back, wiping sweat and dirt from her forehead. Her arms trembled with exhaustion, but she gave Axel a shaky smile. “There,” she whispered. “That should start pulling the poison.”

  Axel’s eyes fluttered half-shut. “You… surprise me, singer.”

  Imogen huffed softly, tucking the herbs away.

  “Yeah. I surprised myself too.”

  Behind her, Darius stepped forward slowly and knelt beside her. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. He just let his hand brush lightly over hers, grounding her, letting the quiet between them settle like a promise.

  “We’ll watch him together,” he murmured.

  Imogen let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She leaned, just faintly, into the warmth of his shoulder. And for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, the three of them warrior, dragon, and singer sat together in the hush of a cave, holding back the darkness by the thinnest thread.