The Dryads drop my netted form and I cough out a pained huff, trembling against the fight for my lines. Pine and Vicious hoist me free of the net and force me to my feet, my broken ankle screaming. Grabbing one of the branches sheathed at his side, Pine murmurs what must be a spell, and my leg-bindings turn to ash. They begin to drag me toward the Great Tree, my ankle buckling as both Vogel’s and III’s power battles through me with bone-shuddering lashes of force.

Strengthening his control over my will, Vogel scrabbles my feet painfully against roots and uneven ground in a desperate effort to halt my advance. “Heathen tree!” he forces from my mouth as his control slips.

The beat of wings sounds on the air behind me, a rush of golden Wyvernfire aura blasting down from the heavens above.

Vogel whips my head around, explosive shock igniting in us both as Yvan swoops into the clearing, dark wings outstretched, an avenging blaze in his eyes.

My heart bursts wide-open as surprise shudders through the Dryads’ combined elemental power and Vogel’s manic hatred detonates with the force of a thousand runic explosives.

Winged demon!

My emotions seared through by the full rush of Yvan’s fire power, I take him in with one astonished sweep of my gaze, seeing golden streaks of fire where the tears in his wings once were. He’s healing himself, I realize, stunned to the core. So much stronger than he was in Verpacia.

Icaral of Prophecy strong.

“Elloren!” He steps forward, his fire aura surging through me.

“Get back, Wyvernkin,” Pine commands. Both he and Vicious tighten their hold on my arms as the Great Tree grapples with Vogel’s clenching grip on my lines.

Yvan holds up a gold-glowing palm, his eyes like burning stars. “Let her go or I will take her from you,” he warns, the threat of violence clear in both his tone and coiled posture.

Vogel forces a hiss from my mouth, a harsh sting overtaking my fingernails. Before I can register what’s happening, my hands jerk out with brutal force and slice through my bindings with new razor-sharp claws. Then Vogel whips my body around and lashes my arms out at the Dryads, catching Pine in the shoulder and Vicious in the arm.

Their faces are masks of shock as they leap back, my demonic claws trailing Shadow.

My gaze pivots to Yvan as the Great Tree battles against Vogel’s hold and Vicious readies her staff. Pine draws a branch that ignites with a green glow, the tang of elemental power crackling through the air. Yvan leaps toward me, alarm burning in his eyes as he knocks the weapons from the Dryads’ hands.