Kaelen smiles and shows them his scarred fingers. “He remembers every day,” he says. “That’s why he chooses not to be.”
He swings onto Vex’s back. The spines rise in a crown of amber light. And together, trainer and Rhark lift into the burning dawn—not as master and beast, but as a single, improbable heart. rhark trainer
To Kaelen, he was a student.
