Cadmus POV
Mine.
The word burst in my mind the second she walked through the doors.
I gripped my chair so hard the stone cracked beneath my fingers.
No. Absolutely not.
This couldn't be happening.
My dragon—silent for decades, sleeping like the dead inside my chest—suddenly roared to life. It clawed at my insides, demanding I go to her. Claim her. Keep her.
I pushed it down with every ounce of control I had.
The girl walked toward me on shaking legs. She was nothing like the princess I remembered. Two years ago, Princess Seraphina Blackwell visited for treaty talks. She'd been golden-haired and proud, her chin high, her eyes cold. She'd smelled like roses and dominance.
This girl had chestnut hair and violet eyes that looked too big for her scared face. She stumbled in her heavy dress, barely keeping the crown on her head. And her scent... Lavender. Fear. And something else. Something that made my dragon purr.
Wrong. This was all wrong.
"So. You're Princess Seraphina Blackwell," I said, keeping my voice flat.
She nodded, but I smelled the lie instantly. It tasted like ash in my mouth.
"Stand up."
She struggled to her feet, shaking like a leaf in a storm.
I forced myself to walk down the throne steps slowly. Every instinct yelled at me to move faster, to get closer, to touch her and see if she was real.
I circled her instead, studying every detail.
She was shorter than the real princess. Curvier. Her hands had calluses—working hands, not royal ones. Her dress was too big, like it was made for someone else.
And her pulse... I could hear it running. Smell her terror in every breath.
But underneath the fear was something sweeter. Something that made my dragon go absolutely wild.
I leaned close and inhaled.
Mistake.
Her scent filled my senses. My dragon roared: MATE. MINE. KEEP.
I nearly shifted right there in front of my entire court.
"Tell me, Princess," I managed, my voice rough. "Do you know what dragons can do?"
"I... I've heard stories—"
"We can smell lies." I let my eyes glow brighter, watching her pale. "Like ash on the tongue. Like rot in the air. And right now, standing before me, trying to be someone you're not..."
Her whole body went rigid.
"You smell like the most delicious lie I've ever encountered."
The court exploded. My generals shifted forward. Lyra's eyes went wide.
The girl looked like she might faint.
"I—I am Princess Seraphina—"
"No. You're not."
I grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. My hand burned where I touched her skin. My dragon screamed in my head: DON'T HURT HER. PROTECT. MINE.
"You're an imposter," I announced. "A fake. A fake sent by the Southern Kingdoms to mock me."
Tears spilled down her face. Real tears. Hot against my fingers.
"No! Please! I can explain—"
"Explain what? That your kingdom thinks I'm stupid? That they think they can trick the Dragon King with a common girl in a crown?"
"Please, my mother—"
"Silence!" I released her and stepped back before I did something stupid. Like pull her against me and promise to burn anyone who hurt her. "The contract was clear. A royal wife or war. Your kingdom has chosen war."
"No!" She grabbed my arm.
Every dragon in the room gasped.
Touching the Dragon King without permission was death. Everyone knew that.
But I didn't pull away. Couldn't. Her small hand on my arm felt like fire and ice and coming home all at once.
My dragon purred so loud I thought everyone could hear it.
"You're crying," I said quietly, watching her face. "Real tears. And your heart... it's beating like a bird's. You're not just scared. You're scared."
"Yes," she sobbed. "Yes, I'm scared! They'll kill my mother if I don't do this! Please, I didn't want to trick you! I don't want to be here! I just want to save her!"
The words hit me like a punch.
They forced her. Threatened her mother. Sent her here to die.
Rage burned through my chest—not at her, but at whoever did this.
"What's your real name?"
She paused. I watched the war play across her face—lie and risk death, or tell the truth and doom her mother.
"Elara," she finally whispered. "My name is Elara Ashton. " Elara.
My dragon wrapped around the name like gold.
I should have been angry. Should have taken her to the dungeons. Should have sent a message back to her kingdom written in blood.
Instead, I smiled.
"Well, Elara Ashton. You and I are going to have a very interesting talk. Guards—take her to the guest rooms. Lock the doors. Don't let her out until I send for her."
"What?" Pure panic filled her eyes. "What are you going to do?"
I leaned close, close enough to smell lavender and fear and that maddening something-else that made my dragon crazy.
"I'm going to decide whether to keep you... or return you to your kingdom in pieces."
The guards dragged her away, screaming about her mother.
The doors slammed shut.
Silence filled the throne room.
"Your Majesty," General Thorne stepped forward, his face grim. "That was not Princess Seraphina Blackwell."
"Obviously."
"The deal is void. We should prepare for war."
"No." I turned and walked back to my chair, my mind racing.
"No?" Lyra appeared at my side. "Cadmus, they sent a fake bride. That's an attack worthy of—"
"I know what it's worthy of." I sat down hard, trying to ignore my dragon's angry demands to go back and claim our mate. "But something's wrong. Did you see her face? She was truly terrified. Not of being caught—she was scared before she even arrived."
"So?"
"So someone forced her into this." I drummed my fingers on the chair. "The question is why."
Lyra's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to kill her."
"I haven't decided yet."
"Liar." She smirked. "Your eyes are still glowing. Your dragon woke up for the first time in thirty years. And you're gripping that chair like you're holding yourself back from going to her right now."
I said nothing.
"She's your mate," Lyra said softly. "Isn't she?"
The words hung in the air.
My mate. The one thing I'd stopped believing in ages ago. The one thing that could break my curse and save my humanity.
And she was a fake princess. A commoner. A liar sent by a country that wanted me dead.
This was a disaster.
"Find out everything about her," I ordered. "Real name, real family, why they picked her. I want answers before dawn."
"And then?"
"And then I'll decide what to do with her."
Lyra left. The court slowly cleared. Soon I sat alone in my throne room, looking at the doors Elara had disappeared through.
My dragon wouldn't shut up: GO TO HER. PROTECT HER. KEEP HER SAFE.
"She lied to us," I said out loud.
She was forced. Threatened. Scared.
"She's not even royalty. The treaty—" The treaty means nothing if she's our mate. NOTHING MATTERS BUT HER.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
This changed everything. If she really was my mate, I couldn't let her go. Couldn't send her back. The curse would take me totally within months without her.
But if I kept her, her kingdom would call it theft. War would come anyway.
And somewhere in all of this, someone had threatened to kill her mother to force her obedience.
I needed to know who. And why.
I stood and walked to my private rooms. Sleep wouldn't come—not with my dragon going insane—but I could at least think in peace.
As I passed by a window, I saw it.
A figure in the garden below. Moving in the dark.
I opened the window and let my senses stretch.
The smell hit me like a punch: roses and arrogance.
My eyes narrowed.
That was Princess Seraphina's smell. The real one.
Which meant the real princess was here. In my kingdom. Sneaking around my home.
And suddenly, everything became very, very clear.
This wasn't a simple change. This was a plot.
And Elara Ashton—terrified, brave, beautiful Elara—was caught in the middle of it.
I smiled slowly.
Time to find out exactly who was trying to play games with the Dragon King.
And make them regret it.