What Do You Mean Old Man?

The draconian vanished in an instant.

One breath, he was there—hovering like a god of war, winds screaming around him, blood-red hair fanned out like a banner of fire—and the next, only swirling gusts remained where he had stood, as though reality itself had snapped shut to erase him.

The pressure broke like a shattered dam. The suffocating weight lifted from the courtyard, and everyone could breathe again.

Liora stumbled back, her soft slippers scraping across the stone. She instinctively retreated into Daniel's shadow, eyes still locked on the sky. Her pale fingers twitched at her sides, just once—but it was enough. Enough to betray the pulse of unease threading through her usually serene expression. Her lips pressed tight, the beginnings of a spell held just behind her teeth, never released.

Reyna blew air through her nose and let her hand fall from her sword. "Tch. Coward ran the second things got interesting."