The Council members did not leave immediately.The seven crimson flames remained lit while each figure stepped into the light.Kael Virex sat nearest the empty throne.He wore no crown, but authority surrounded him like armor. His dark hair was streaked with silver, and one old scar crossed his throat.Kael believed power should be controlled, not wasted.Carl interested him because a weapon capable of black fire could change the balance of every Dragon faction.Across from him sat Seraphine Drax.Her beauty was almost gentle.Nothing else about her was.She wore white gloves to hide hands burned by centuries of experiments. Behind her calm smile lived a curiosity that had destroyed entire bloodlines.“The heir adapted to the blood seal,” she said.Octavia Voss looked at her.“You sound pleased.”“I am.”Octavia wore silver armor beneath a dark cloak. She commanded the Council’s armies and considered mercy a weakness invented by humans.“He should have died at birth.”“But he didn’t,”

The Council chamber remained divided.Solenne demanded rules for Seraphine’s test.Octavia wanted soldiers sent with the Vessel.Kael refused.“If the heir defeats one creature, we learn his strength. If he defeats an army, we begin a war.”“The war began when Jackson broke the First Law,” Solenne said.At the sound of his name, the empty throne’s flames changed.Red became gold.Every Council member stopped speaking.A pressure entered the chamber.It did not come from the throne.It came from everywhere.Lucien’s smile vanished.Seraphine slowly lowered her hand.Even Octavia’s soldiers outside the doors dropped to one knee.A voice moved through the fire.“No one touches my son.”Only one sentence.Quiet.Calm.Absolute.The golden flames rose toward the ceiling.Jackson Young did not appear.He didn’t need to.His presence filled every corner of the fortress.Solenne forced herself to remain standing.“You abandoned your seat.”No answer.“You abandoned the Council.”The flames mov

The Vessel struck before Carl could move.Its fist hit his ribs.Something cracked.Carl slid across the concrete floor and stopped beneath the burning roof.He forced himself upright.The creature didn’t give him time to breathe.It attacked again.Carl blocked the first punch.The second struck his stomach.The third opened a wound above his eye.Every movement was faster than before.Seraphine had increased its power.Carl fought back.He broke the Vessel’s arm, twisted behind it, and drove his knee into its spine.The body folded.Then it straightened.Bones returned to place.Muscle repaired itself.The Vessel turned and caught Carl’s wrist.It squeezed.Pain shot toward his elbow.Carl struck its throat.No response.The creature threw him into a burning wall.Aiden watched from behind the concrete barrier.“Carl! The seal!”“No.”“You can’t fight that thing as a human.”“If I remove it, I may kill everyone here.”The Vessel pulled a steel support from the floor.It swung the bea

Seraphine Drax watched the final seconds of the battle again.Carl tore the core from her Vessel’s chest.The image froze on his face.Blood covered him. One arm was broken. Three ribs had fractured, and his heart had nearly stopped twice.Yet he remained standing.Seraphine smiled.An assistant beside her lowered his gaze.“The Vessel was destroyed.”“I can see that.”“We lost twelve years of research.”“Then we gained something more valuable.”She replayed the moment Carl walked through Dragon Flame.His skin adapted before the fire finished touching him.No known hybrid had ever done that.Even full-blooded Dragons required years to develop resistance to unfamiliar flames.Carl learned in seconds.“The experiment exceeded expectations,” Seraphine said.Her laboratory stretched beneath the Council fortress. Glass chambers lined the walls.Inside them floated other Vessels.Some looked human.Others no longer did.The assistants never looked directly at the bodies.They knew many had

Fire spread across Carl’s hand.Sophia stumbled backward.The flame should have burned his skin.Instead, it moved between his fingers like a living thing.“Carl.”“I’m trying to stop it.”The fire turned black.Heat struck the walls.Curtains ignited.Sophia grabbed a blanket and tried smothering them.The fire passed through the fabric.Within seconds, flames climbed toward the ceiling.Carl closed both fists.Nothing changed.The Dragon Flame wasn’t obeying him.It was answering fear.“Get out,” he ordered.Sophia continued fighting the fire.“I’m not leaving you inside.”“The building could collapse.”“Then control it.”“I don’t know how!”His shout released another wave.The windows shattered outward.Fire covered the room.Sophia dropped to the floor and shielded her face.Carl rushed toward her.The flames separated around his body.They refused to touch him.He pulled Sophia beneath an unburned doorway.“Are you hurt?”She shook her head.A burning beam fell behind them.Carl r