The Dragon Lord did not leave peace behind.
Even after his vast wings disappeared beyond the clouds, the castle felt smaller, as if the sky itself pressed down upon it. Cracks spread along the courtyard stones where his claws had rested. The air was scorched with lingering heat and ancient magic, heavy enough that every breath felt deliberate.
Kaelis stood unmoving long after the others had lowered their weapons.
Her mind replayed the words again and again.
You killed my daughter.
She knew exactly who the Dragon Lord meant. The image was burned into her memory: the dragon in the Demonic Jungle, its roar shaking the trees, its power overwhelming them all. She remembered the moment she thought she would die. She remembered losing her hand. She remembered Vaelor arriving late, killing the dragon with a single strike, healing them without even looking at them.
At the time, it had felt like salvation.
Now it felt like a debt written in blood.
Lyra broke the silence first. "Is it really over?"
"For now," Ruria answered quietly. Her hands were still faintly glowing, magic instinctively reinforcing barriers that no longer existed. "But he will come again."
Selindra's jaw was tight, her pride wounded far more deeply than her body ever had been. "He dismissed my father's name like it was nothing."
"That's because to him, it was nothing," Kaelis said.
Elara let out a shaky breath and sat down hard on a fallen stone. "We were one wrong word away from dying."
Kaelis did not correct her. They were still one wrong moment away.
The rest of the morning passed in an uneasy haze. Servants were checked, the wounded tended, the broken walls temporarily reinforced. None of it felt meaningful. Without Vaelor's presence, the castle was merely stone and memory.
Kaelis forced herself into motion. Training dulled the edges of fear. She sparred alone in the inner yard, blade cutting through the air again and again, each strike sharper than the last. Sweat ran down her back, muscles screaming, but she welcomed the pain. It was real. It was something she could control.
Her thoughts kept circling back.
Vaelor had killed the Dragon Lord's daughter.
And he had done it effortlessly.
She wondered, not for the first time, whether even the Dragon Lord truly understood what kind of being Vaelor was.
By midday, clouds gathered unnaturally fast, dark and heavy despite the clear forecast. The air shifted again, pressure building like a held breath.
Ruria felt it first.
She paused mid-step in the great hall, her hand pressing against her chest. "He's back."
The world bent.
There was no thunder, no dramatic explosion of light. Space simply folded inward, and Vaelor stood there, exactly as he always did. White hair untouched by wind, crimson eyes calm, expression faintly bored. His cloak did not even stir.
The temperature dropped instantly.
Kaelis froze.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Vaelor's gaze swept the hall, taking in the damaged walls, the faint scent of blood, the tension written into every posture. His eyes lingered on Selindra's wings, then on Ruria's pale face, then finally on Kaelis.
"You look exhausted," he said calmly.
That broke it.
Lyra laughed weakly, half hysterical. Elara let out a breath she had clearly been holding for hours. Ruria straightened, relief and frustration mixing in her eyes.
Selindra stepped forward first. "Your absence nearly got us killed."
Vaelor regarded her coolly. "You are alive."
"Barely," she snapped.
"That is sufficient."
Kaelis clenched her jaw. "The Dragon Lord came."
That got his attention.
Not shock. Not surprise.
Interest.
"Did he," Vaelor said. "And did you entertain him properly?"
Kaelis felt something sharp twist in her chest. "He knows. About the dragon. About his daughter."
Vaelor nodded once, as if confirming a calculation. "I expected as much."
Ruria stared at him. "You knew this would happen?"
"Yes."
Selindra's claws dug into the stone floor. "Then why were you gone?"
Vaelor's gaze finally hardened, just slightly. "Because power unattended attracts predators. This was inevitable."
Kaelis took a step forward, anger flaring despite herself. "We nearly died!"
"But you did not," he replied evenly. "You negotiated. You survived. You learned."
She hated that he was right.
"And the Dragon Lord?" Kaelis pressed.
"He will return," Vaelor said. "Dragons do not forgive. They endure."
The weight of that settled heavily over the hall.
Kaelis exhaled slowly. "He let us live. Barely."
Vaelor's lips curved, not quite a smile. "Then he has made his first mistake."
Selindra stiffened. "You don't take him seriously."
"I do," Vaelor replied. "Which is why he will die."
The words were spoken without arrogance. Without anger.
As if it were already decided.
Silence fell again, heavier than before.
Ruria broke it gently. "What happens now?"
Vaelor turned his gaze to her, something unreadable flickering briefly in his eyes. "Now," he said, "we prepare."
Kaelis watched him, really watched him, and felt the familiar mix of fear and something far more dangerous.
Trust.
He had left them exposed. He had allowed them to face terror alone. And yet, the moment he returned, the world felt balanced again, as if chaos itself retreated at his presence.
Outside, the clouds began to disperse.
But Kaelis knew better.
The storm was not over.
It had only just noticed them.