"Assess the offensive combat skillset of the Dragon Queen Incarnate, in both wolf form and human form. She will need to relinquish command to her wolf, whose instincts and battle craft far exceed her own."

Dex absorbed every word with the cold focus of a commander already calculating the battlefield ahead. His eyes locked onto Serena.

"You must complete the next task before eight moons, but, shifting will be necessary and is dependent on Hyran Thornfell. Have her carry her bow and quiver from the vault."

"She fabricated one underwater," Gav said flatly. "And split an arrow into a net."

"The ancestors heard the Gamma. Their instructions remain. A final caution: wear Drakenfell thermal combat-weave armor. Heavy plates and cloaks will drag you to your death by drowning."

Maelor looked down at his robes, visibly offended by the idea.

"Serena Drakenfell. Death waits for you."

"You don’t say," Serena said flatly, zero fucks given. The declaration had lost its ability to surprise her, but it had never lost its ability to settle like cold iron behind her ribs.

The fire flickered. Whether in irritation or amusement, she couldn’t tell. With the ancestors, it was usually both.

"The shadow-tether grants him the ability to forge a portal to your location. Tonight, weakened as you are, you drew him directly to this chamber."

Fin’s grip tightened around Serena’s hand. Through the matebond, Serena felt the wave of protective fury rolling off Fin and forced herself not to react. Because if she reacted, he’d escalate. And if he escalated, Dex would escalate. And if Dex escalated, the ancestors would have commentary on that too.

Across the fire, Maelor absorbed it with the rigid stillness of a mage whose professional work had just been critiqued.

"Furthermore, you are still unable to shift without an Alpha command. Even with that help, your shift is too slow."

Serena’s face went red. Every eye was on her. Outside of Fin and Dex, no one knew she couldn’t shift without an Alpha command.

Gav’s eyebrows rose a fraction. He’d suspected something was off and this confirmed it.

Aeron filed it differently. His fingers twitched toward his journal, but he resisted.

"Your wolf, once shifted, moves with the coordination of a newborn deer on a frozen lake. Your progress is lacking and we expected more from the daughter of the Moon Goddess."

Aurelia surged so hard, Serena’s vision flickered gold. Her wolf was completely furious at those words. Serena closed her eyes.

Serena: It’s okay, Aurelia. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.

Aurelia: The ancestors are wrong. We beat both mates in running.

Serena: They let us win.

Aurelia: Lies. Slander. We are fast. I would like to speak to the ancestors directly.

Serena: Absolutely not.

Aurelia: A newborn deer. Tell them I am a WOLF. I am descended from the MOON GODDESS.

The fire pulsed pink, then back to gold, the two colors warring against one another.

"Death will greet you, before the lake during the final portion of the task. You cannot rely on cleverness to mask the places where your skill falls short."

Hyran exchanged a knowing look with Maelor that said: The ancestors are correct. She compensates for technical gaps with creativity.

Maelor nodded, his expression said: Remove the creativity and the gaps become fatal. We have weeks to close them.

"Do not get into the lake alone under any circumstances."

At this, Serena’s eyes widened for the briefest fraction of a second, her composure cracking before she forced it back into place with a controlled breath. Her neck rash bloomed anyway, crimson and traitorous beneath her collar, contradicting every ounce of composure she was projecting.

"Prepare to strike blood by sword. Do not let them touch you. Killing by blade is different than by arrows, and your hesitation will be what kills you. When you are gravely outnumbered, you will need to shift into wolf. You will not be able to rely on either Alpha to command it."

The fire dimmed. The chamber went cold.

"The Dragon King Incarnate and the First Wolf King Incarnate will both be able to retrieve the artifact if you perish."

The ancestors delivered this with the detached practicality of a contingency plan, and every person in the chamber received it as a threat.

Fin’s entire body rejected the sentence. His shoulders locked. His neck corded. His hands closed into fists so tight the tendons stood out across his forearms.

"The next task was originally never meant for you, Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Yet it is the burden laid upon your path. Consider it a rare grace afforded by fate that you have a team willing to accompany you."

Dex’s eyes closed for one full second. When they opened, they were calm. The kind of calm that preceded the worst decisions he’d ever made and the best outcomes he’d ever delivered.

"Your wolf must be trained. And the task must be completed. The order in which these occur will determine whether the Dragon Queen lives or dies."

Hyran was already running permutations fast enough to make his left eye twitch.

"No pressure," Gav said.

Hyran’s left eye twitched harder.

"If you fail to obtain the artifact, the High Emperor will secure a decisive advantage. Every pack in Skardos will fall within ninety days in a fate worse than Frostborne."

The number landed across the chamber like a blade hitting stone. Serena could feel tension radiating from both Fin and Dex through both matebonds. Identical reactions of calculation and resolve. Identical refusal to accept the timeline. Identical determination to rewrite it.

"The compass awarded for this task will always point to the gate. If dark magic draws near, it will warn you. The room where these items are stored must be enchanted to prevent portals."

A compass appeared in the basin, forged from the same ancient metal as the pedestal, its needle spinning wildly before locking onto a direction that pointed through the far wall of the crystal chamber.

Serena stared at it. It was beautiful, ancient, and humming with the kind of energy that gave her goosebumps.

When the voices returned, they were rushed, strained, speaking over one another in a way the ancestors had never done before.

"The High Emperor of Orosia has entered the lake cavern. We are holding him at the gate of this chamber, barring his entrance, but he pushes against the barrier."

Serena grabbed the compass from the fire.

The voices fractured, the chorus collapsing into urgency.

"We are unable to hold him much longer. When the fire goes out completely, you and your mages will have a one-second window to create portals. He will also have a window to create one in here."

The crystal walls shuddered. A crack split through the ceiling above them, and from somewhere far behind the sealed stone wall, a sound reached them. Low, resonant, and wrong. The sound of dark magic pressing against ancient wards the way a fist presses against glass.

Fin pulled Serena behind him. Dex limped beside Fin. Gav flanked his other side. Three men forming a wall without discussing it, without coordinating it, without thinking about it. The kind of formation that happened when the people involved had been protecting the same person long enough that it was automatic.

"Three. Two. One."

The fire in the basin extinguished.