Chapter 5 Five

The silence in the cavern was absolute, broken only by the frantic hammering of my own heart. The air was cold and damp, smelling of wet stone and ancient, undisturbed earth. The glowing moss provided just enough sickly green light to see I was in a vast, natural tunnel, its ceiling lost in shadow.

The golden glow from the depths pulsed in time with the bracer on my arm, a slow, hypnotic rhythm. It was a siren's call, pulling at something deep inside me. It felt nothing like the chaotic, living fire of Kaelen's presence. This was older, quieter, but no less powerful. A sleeping giant of magic.

Kaelen was gone. The bond was a severed string, leaving a hollow, aching silence in my mind where his presence had been for that brief, terrifying time. I was alone, hunted, in a place I didn't know, with a magical tracker on my arm that was currently leading me to a treasure I had no right to touch.

Every instinct told me to run in the opposite direction. But where would I go? This cave could be a dead end. It could be filled with worse things than a glowing light. That light was the only thing here that felt like a tool, a resource. And I was desperately short on both.

Cautiously, my boots scraping on the loose stone, I moved toward the glow. The tunnel narrowed, then opened abruptly into a small, circular grotto. In the center, resting on a natural pedestal of rock, was the source of the light.

It was a single, perfect coin. It was larger than any currency I'd ever seen, forged from a gold that seemed to hold its own inner fire. The image stamped on it wasn't a ruler's profile, but a stylized dragon in flight, its wings spread wide. Just looking at it, I felt a profound sense of peace, of immense, slumbering power.

The bracer on my arm grew warm, almost comforting. This wasn't just a piece of gold. It was a piece of him. A fragment of his soul, his history, his very essence given physical form.

My fingers itched to touch it. It felt like the answer. A way to find him, to feel that connection again. To not be so terrifyingly alone.

I took a step forward.

A low, guttural growl rumbled through the grotto, a sound that had nothing to do with the coin's gentle promise. I froze, my blood turning to ice.

From the shadows behind the pedestal, a creature emerged. It was the size of a large wolf, but built like a predator from a nightmare. Its skin was the color of the cave stone, mottled and rough. It had no eyes, just smooth, blank sockets, but its head swiveled unerringly toward me. It opened a mouth filled with needle-sharp, crystalline teeth, and another growl echoed, this one dripping with malevolent hunger.

A guardian.

I stumbled backward, my mind screaming. I had no weapon. No magic. No dragon to protect me. I was just a human girl in a leather tunic that was suddenly feeling very, very thin.

The creature paced forward, its movements fluid and silent despite its rocky hide. It was herding me, cutting off my retreat back to the tunnel. The only thing behind me was a solid rock wall.

This was it. I had survived an interdimensional auction, a vampire lord, and a collapsing portal, only to be eaten by a blind rock monster in a cave.

The creature coiled its muscles to pounce.

Desperation, sharp and final, clawed its way up my throat. There was no time for thought, only instinct. My gaze snapped from the monster to the glowing coin. The bracer on my arm was burning hot now, a brand against my skin.

I didn't think about how. I didn't think about why. I just reached out, not with my hand, but with the same raw, terrified will I had used to make the door appear in the loft.

Help me.

I focused every ounce of my fear, my need to survive, onto that single coin. I imagined its power, not as a quiet glow, but as a weapon. As a shield. As fire.

The coin flared.

A wave of pure, golden force erupted from the pedestal. It wasn't loud; it was a silent, expanding dome of energy that passed through me like a warm, comforting wave. But when it hit the creature, the effect was violent.

The monster was thrown backward as if by a giant's hand. It slammed into the far wall of the grotto with a sickening crunch of stone and something more organic. It slid to the ground and did not move.

The light from the coin faded back to its gentle pulse. The grotto was silent once more, save for the ragged, sobbing gasps of my own breath.

I stood there, trembling, staring at the coin. I hadn't touched it. I had… called it. I had used a piece of a dragon's hoard.

The hollow ache in my chest where the bond had been was suddenly filled with a new, terrifying understanding. The bond wasn't just about sharing feelings or memories. It was a conduit. It had changed me, attuned me to his power on a fundamental level. I could feel the hoard. And the hoard, it seemed, could feel me.

A sharp, stabbing pain lanced through my skull, a psychic backlash from the effort. I cried out, clutching my head. Visions, sharper and more violent than before, flashed behind my eyes.

Kaelen, on his knees in a rain-swept alley, surrounded by the three black-armored figures. A collar of shimmering energy was being clamped around his neck. His eyes, burning with fury, looked up, not at his captors, but at the sky, as if he could see me.

His voice, a ragged whisper in my mind, faint and distorted by distance. "Lena... run."

The vision vanished, leaving me dizzy and nauseous. He was alive. But he was captured. And he was warning me.

I looked at the coin, then at the dead guardian. I was no longer just a liability, a human to be protected. The rules had changed. I had a weapon they would never expect. I had a key to his power.

My fear didn't vanish, but it was now fused with a new, hardened resolve. I walked to the pedestal and, this time, I reached out my physical hand. My fingers closed around the coin.

It was warm, and a jolt of pure, ancient energy shot up my arm, settling deep within my core. The hollow ache of the severed bond didn't heal, but it was now filled with a low, resonant hum of power.

I had started this by buying a dragon. Now, I was stealing a piece of his soul. And I would use it to get him back.