Then it tried to run toward the sound.
Its front legs buckled instantly. The white giant crashed to the ground hard enough to send dust bursting around it. Light splintered beneath its scales in frantic pulses, then dimmed, then surged again. Whatever had awakened inside Camron was tearing itself between instinct and collapse.
Azaliyah rushed to him, sliding to her knees beside the massive head. “Absolutely not,” she snapped, grabbing one horn with both hands as if she could physically anchor him. “You do not save me, become a celestial horse, and die dramatically in the same night.”
The kirin huffed hot mist into her face. One glowing eye rolled toward her, irritated even now.
“Good,” she said breathlessly. “Still rude. That means you’re alive.”
Another pulse of pain tore through him
