Keiser knew exactly what he was doing the moment he shoved Lenko down the crater.
He hadn't done it out of panic or cruelty, he'd done it because he knew the dragon child would catch him. He trusted that instinct as surely as he trusted the burn of his Muzio's mana. The little one wouldn't let Lenko fall or be struck by the arrow that had been aimed straight at him. She would protect him...
So as he heard Lenko's furious shout echo up at him, half curse, half disbelief, Keiser didn't look back.
He only yelled her name, the moniker he'd given her from the start... "Little Flame!"
The shout tore through the haze of dust and mana.
And as Olga drew back another arrow, the string singing with the charge of mana, Keiser moved.
His body knew the rhythm of her attacks by heart. He darted forward through the chaos, past cracked stone, shattered chairs, and threw his dagger.
Not at her, but before her, aimed not to wound but to stop the next shot.
