Warning! This chapter may contain depiction of violence that maybe be upsetting for some readers.

"Bloody hell"

By the fourth night, Valia’s lips were blackened. Her skin was marked by ash and scales where her bloodline fought to surface under exhaustion.

The assassins grew desperate as the deadline drew nearer. Some set traps; some used fire. One filled the forest with burning mist that poisons a young dragon's lungs.

Valia crawled through it, blind, coughing up blood. Then she ...