He paused, and his eyes met Zachary's, and Zachary saw something there that made his stomach clench."But my priorities have already been set. And if I were to help you, I would be putting myself, and the reason for my refusal, in danger."The words hung in the air, heavy and final.Seraphina's expression flickered.Surprise, maybe, or concern. She understood, Zachary realized. She understood what Yien was saying, even if he didn't."You're protecting someone," she said. It wasn't a question.Yien did not answer. He simply looked at her, his eyes steady, his expression unchanged."Who?" Seraphina pressed. "Who could be more important than the Young Lord right now? Who could be more important than the future of the entire bloodline?"Yien's jaw tightened. For a moment, just a moment, Zachary saw something crack in the old man's composure. Something raw. Something vulnerable."I cannot say," Yien said, and his voice was barely above a whisper. "I am sorry, but I cannot say anymore."

The moment hung in the air like a held breath, fragile and ready to shatter.Zachary stood with his weight evenly distributed across both feet, his hands loose at his sides, his dragon energy coiling beneath his skin like a serpent waking from slumber. Beside him, Serpahina was still, her head still upturned to the ceiling in defiance. Master yien stood still, one of his arm extended behind him, palm flat, fingers splayed in a gesture that needed no translation: (Stay back. Stay behind me. Do not move.)Li Nai had already pressed herself close behind her father's protective frame. Her dark eyes were wide, but not with terror. There was something else in them; a readiness, a spark of something that looked dangerously like excitement. Her hands had curled into fists at her sides, and though she obeyed her father's silent command to remain in place, Zachary could see the tension coiling in her young muscles.The ceiling above them groaned, a deep, resonant sound that traveled through

 The lead woman and her last colleague, another woman, smaller, quicker, her mask painted with a lighter demonic visage, rushed Yien. The lead woman opened with a side jab to his ribs. Her fist drove toward him with the force of a battering ram.  Steam rose from her breath and the air around her knuckles shimmered with channeled energy.  She was big, thick, her body a weapon honed by years of violence. Yien moved gracefully around it.  His body pivoted on his back foot and the strike passed through empty air.  He reached down and took the pin dagger that he had tucked into his robes, still glowing, still pulsing, and sent it flying toward the woman behind him. The blade spun through the air.  End over end, its runes blazing, before it buried itself in her thigh. 

Li Na watched the blade spinning through the air, its runes already beginning to glow, and understood with terrible clarity what was about to happen. She tried to move, tried to dodge, tried to summon the heat that had saved her moments before.But her body would not respond.She had pushed too hard, used too much energy, burned too hot for too long. Her channels were depleted, her muscles trembling with exhaustion, her vision swimming at the edges.The kunai struck her in the side, just below her ribs.THUNK!The impact was not the worst part, the blade was small, its penetration shallow. If healed it would give her a small wound that would scar but it would not kill her.But the runes—The moment the kunai embedded itself in her flesh, the runes began to glow. That sickly, pulsing light spread across her skin like frost, and Li Na felt her heat leach away, felt her body temperature plummet, felt the steam that had been pouring from her pores sputter and die."No," she whispered, p

She was trembling with the aftermath of power. Her skin was cold to the touch, colder than it should have been, and her breathing was shallow, rapid, insufficient."I'm fine," she murmured, but her voice was weak, her words slurring slightly at the edges."No you're not," Zachary said, and he was surprised by how steady his own voice sounded. "You're the opposite of fine. You're—""Sir."Something in her tone stopped him. He looked down at her, at the exhaustion written in every line of her face, at the blood still trickling from her nose, at the shadows that still lingered at the edges of her irises."Later," she said quietly. "We can argue about my health later. Right now, we need to assess the damage."She was right, of course. She was always right.Zachary released her slowly, keeping one hand on her arm to steady her, and surveyed the room.As he had stated earlier, the damage was extensive.But what really drawed his attention was a sound that made his heart clench.Li Na was c