Sure enough, Kael decided to check the vault himself.
The moment he stepped inside, the air shifted.
Gold stretched out like a literal sea, coins piled high in glittering dunes, their surfaces catching the faint glow of runes etched into the walls. Enchanted boxes lined the perimeter, each humming faintly with spells for safekeeping, stacked neatly as though the wealth of dragons was meant to look both eternal and untouchable.
He barely spared it a glance.
His attention moved instead to the part hidden beneath all of it—the section only dragon lords had access to. Restricted artifacts. Objects that no ordinary dragon should even glimpse. The entrance wasn't flashy. Secluded, tucked away almost too quietly, with a simple basin carved into black stone. All it required was a single drop of dragon blood to grant entry.
And yet, the moment he approached, his nose twitched.
Blood.
