Mia transformed first.
Her chibi body stretched into something massive—bones shifting, muscle thickening, fur bristling. Three heads rose, each mouth snarling, drool steaming with heat and frost.
Sphinx leapt off Derpy’s shoulder and hit the ground running.
Mid-stride, the cat expanded into a behemoth—thick, predatory, eyes glowing like lanterns in fog. His steps were heavy, but his intent was silent.
Lenora’s eyes widened.
“What—”
Vespera froze for half a heartbeat, staring.
Then her expression twisted into disgusted recognition.
“Contracts,” she spat. “Of course.”
Mia lunged.
The heat head roared—breath flashing like a furnace gust.
The frost head followed—white vapor spilling, freezing leaves mid-air.
The third head slammed in with a crushing bite, aiming to lock Vespera in place.
Vespera snapped her wings open and surged upward, barely avoiding the bite—then dropped back down with a claw strike that sent dirt spraying.
Sphinx hit her flank like a living boulder, lantern eyes burning.
Vespera staggered.
Lenora seized the opening and drove forward, blade flashing.
“Stop!” Lenora shouted. “We can talk—”
Vespera’s eyes burned. “Talk is over.”
She feinted at Lenora—then pivoted, faster than Lenora expected.
Straight toward Derpy.
Derpy’s heart stopped.
Vespera grabbed him.
Not by the wrist.
Not by the collar.
She yanked him up and pinned him against her chest with one arm like he weighed nothing.
Derpy’s face went bright red instantly.
His brain short-circuited.
Why is she—why is she so—
“Enough,” Vespera snarled. “You’re coming with me.”
Lenora’s ears flattened. “Put him down!”
Derpy’s eyes flicked to Lenora—wide, startled, and a little too aware that she’d just sounded like she meant it.
Lenora met his gaze for a heartbeat.
Full face pink.
Immediate.
She snapped her eyes away like she’d been slapped by her own feelings and raised her voice to compensate.
“Now!”
Mia snarled and lunged again.
Sphinx crouched, ready to pounce.
Vespera’s gaze flicked to them—annoyed, not afraid.
Then Derpy’s bracelets flared.
Not warm.
Not black.
They burned red-hot, like a brand being pressed into skin.
Derpy gasped. “Ow—!”
Vespera hissed and recoiled instinctively.
The heat bit into her palm like it recognized her.
Like it rejected her.
Vespera dropped Derpy immediately.
He hit the ground hard, coughing, clutching his wrists.
The bracelets cooled back to yellow like nothing happened.
Silence hit the clearing.
Lenora stared at Derpy’s wrists.
Then at Vespera’s hand.
Vespera stared too—eyes narrowed, breathing steady, but something in her expression had shifted.
Not rage.
Suspicion.
Calculation.
She stepped closer, slower now, voice low.
“…Why can you carry dragon authority?” Vespera demanded.
Derpy blinked through pain. “Dragon… what?”
Vespera’s eyes sharpened. “Those marks. That weapon potential. That Calamity’s obedience. It’s treating you like a bearer.”
Derpy swallowed. “I didn’t ask for it.”
Vespera’s jaw tightened.
Lenora stepped in, blade lowered but ready.
“He’s telling the truth,” Lenora said. “He’s new. He doesn’t even know the rules here.”
She glanced back at Derpy—just to make sure he was still with her.
He was looking at her like she’d just picked a side.
Lenora’s face went full pink again.
She snapped her gaze away instantly, jaw tight, voice going extra-stern.
“Stop staring and breathe. You’re bleeding pride, not blood.”
Vespera’s gaze flicked to Lenora—then back to Derpy.
“Then you will learn,” she said coldly. “And you will answer.”
Mia’s three heads snarled in unison, heat and frost steaming from their mouths.
Sphinx’s lantern eyes didn’t blink.
Lenora’s voice stayed firm. “Not by force.”
Vespera’s wings flexed once—restrained, controlled.
“Fine,” she said. “Not by force.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Yet.”
Fog rolled through the trees like a living thing.
And Derpy, clutching his burning wrists, felt it—deep in his ribs—the faintest pulse of amusement from something that wasn’t human.
As if Celica’s Embers had been waiting for Vespera to touch him.