Kazuki's POV
The knife was already moving toward Sera's throat when I sensed it.
Three months of training with Master Fenton had sharpened my instincts to a razor's edge. I launched from Sera's shoulder, my house-cat-sized body slamming into the attacker's wrist. The blade clattered to the cobblestones as the man screamed, clutching his burned hand.
Silver flames flickered around my claws. Not enough to kill, but enough to hurt.
"Run, Sera!" I couldn't speak human words, but our bond carried my urgency like a scream.
She didn't run. Of course she didn't.
"Three against one?" Sera's voice was ice-cold as she backed against the alley wall, facing down the two other thugs who'd appeared from the shadows. "Cassian must be getting desperate if he's hiring street trash to do his dirty work."
The burned man spat blood. "Lady Elena sends her regards. She said to tell you that escaped prisoners don't get second chances."
Elena. My rage spiked so hot that silver flames erupted up to my shoulders. Three months ago, I would have lost control. Would have let the fire consume everything.
But Fenton had drilled one lesson into me over and over: "Power without control is just suicide with extra steps, boy."
I forced the flames down to a manageable flicker. The thugs saw a house cat with glowing paws. They had no idea they were looking at something that had single-handedly melted through prison bars.
Good. Let them underestimate us.
"The girl's beast is a fire-type," the leader said, drawing a short sword. "Worth maybe fifty silver if we bring it in alive. Kill the girl, capture the tiger."
They moved as one, coordinated and professional. These weren't random street thugs—they were trained fighters. Elena had spent real money on this hit.
The leader swung his sword at Sera's head. She ducked, grabbed the food basket she'd been carrying, and smashed it into his face hard enough to break his nose. The second thug tried to grab her from behind.
I hit him like a furry missile, claws raking across his eyes. He howled and stumbled backward, crashing into market stalls. Merchants screamed and scattered.
Through our bond, I felt Sera's adrenaline mixing with fear. We'd trained for this—Fenton had made us practice fighting multiple opponents until we moved like one mind in two bodies. But training dummies didn't fight back with real weapons.
"Sera!" I pushed a warning through our connection. "Left side!"
She spun just as the burned man lunged with a dagger he'd pulled from his boot. Her foot caught him in the knee—a move Fenton had taught her—and something crunched. He went down screaming.
Two down. One to go.
The leader wiped blood from his face, his expression turning murderous. "You little witch. I'm going to enjoy cutting you apart."
He raised his sword. I gathered energy, preparing to release everything I had. If I hit him with full power, I could probably knock him out. But then everyone in the market would see what I really was.
Our secret dies if we reveal too much, I thought desperately. But Sera dies if I hold back.
No choice, then.
I opened my mouth to unleash a silver firestorm—
—and a massive shadow fell over the alley.
A dragon landed between us and the leader. Not full-sized—that would have destroyed half the market—but still huge enough to make the ground shake. Thunder crackled around its scales, and its eyes glowed electric blue.
I knew this dragon. I'd seen it in Sera's memories of her betrayal.
Cassian Stormweaver stepped out from behind his bonded beast, his handsome face twisted with rage. But the rage wasn't directed at us.
"You dare." His voice could have frozen fire. "You DARE attack her in my territory?"
The leader's face went white. "My lord! We were just—Lady Elena said—"
"I don't care what my future wife said." Cassian's thunder dragon opened its jaws, electricity sparking between its teeth. "You attacked Sera Whitstone. That makes you my enemy."
Future wife? The words hit me like a punch. Elena and Cassian were getting married?
Through our bond, I felt Sera's heart crack. She'd known, intellectually, that Cassian had chosen Elena. But hearing him say "future wife" made it real in a way that hurt worse than any blade.
"Get out of my sight," Cassian said to the thugs. "If I see any of you again, my dragon will scatter your ashes across the continent."
The men fled, half-carrying their wounded companion.
Cassian turned to Sera, and something in his expression made my fur stand on end. This wasn't the cold, political duke from her memories. This was someone barely holding himself together.
"Sera, I need to talk to you."
"I have nothing to say to you." Sera's voice shook, but she kept it steady. "Thank you for the rescue. Now leave us alone."
"I can't." Cassian took a step closer. His dragon lowered its massive head, studying me with intelligent eyes that saw way too much. "Because there are twelve assassination teams hunting you across the city. Elena put a bounty on your head—fifty thousand gold for your corpse, one hundred thousand for your tiger alive."
My blood went cold. One hundred thousand gold? That was enough money to buy a small kingdom.
"Why are you telling me this?" Sera demanded.
"Because I'm trying to keep you alive!" Cassian's mask cracked, and behind it I saw something raw and desperate. "Do you think I wanted this? The engagement to Elena, the politics, watching you suffer in the slums while I pretend not to care?"
"Then why did you do it?" Sera's question came out broken.
"Because my family threatened to kill you if I didn't!" The words exploded from Cassian like they'd been locked inside for months. "My father said if I didn't marry Elena and produce an heir with her phoenix bloodline, he'd send assassins after you. So I chose the option where you got to live, even if you hated me forever."
The alley went silent. Even the market noise seemed to fade.
"You're lying," Sera whispered.
"I wish I was." Cassian's hands were shaking. "I've spent three months trying to protect you from the shadows while pretending to be Elena's devoted fiancé. But it's not enough. The assassination teams are closing in, and I can't stop all of them."
Through our bond, I felt Sera's world tilting. Everything she'd believed about the betrayal, every moment of hatred she'd nursed—it was all built on a lie.
"There's one way to save you," Cassian continued. "Marry me instead of Elena. With you as my duchess, no one can legally touch you. Your tiger will be protected by my family's name."
"But your father—"
"Is dying." Cassian's voice went flat. "He has maybe two months left. Once he's gone, I become Duke, and I can marry whoever I want. We just need to survive until then."
Sera looked at me, her emotions a chaotic storm through our bond. Confusion. Hope. Terror. Anger at herself for even considering trusting him again.
What do I do? she asked silently.
I didn't have an answer. In my old life, I'd been terrible at relationships. But I knew one thing: people who truly loved you didn't make you choose between safety and dignity.
Before I could push that thought to Sera, Cassian's dragon suddenly roared—a sound of pure warning.
"They're here," Cassian breathed. "We're out of time."
Six figures dropped from the rooftops surrounding us, each wearing black armor marked with that twisted star symbol. The Shadow Court had found us.
The leader removed her helmet, revealing a woman with white hair and dead eyes.
Oracle Mara smiled at me with predatory hunger.
"Hello again, little Fusion. Did you really think you could hide from me by staying in the city?"