Mira's POV
That laughter in the shadows made my blood freeze colder than any winter wind.
"Who's there?" Kaelen growled, his entire body turning into something inhuman. His eyes blazed silver. Frost spread from his hands like living plants.
But the hallway was empty. Just cold stone and flickering torchlight.
"You heard it too?" I whispered.
He didn't answer. His dragon eyes searched every shadow, every corner. Then, slowly, he turned back to me. "Get to your room. Now."
"But—" "NOW!"
I ran.
My heart hammered as I raced through hallways I didn't know, wearing shoes that pinched my feet, in a dress that cost more than my entire life. I was meant to turn left—or was it right? Everything looked the same. Ice walls. Frost patterns. Cold, cold, cold.
A door appeared ahead. I grabbed the handle and practically fell inside.
The room was huge. A bed big enough for five people sat in the center, covered in furs that probably cost a lot. Bookshelves lined the walls. A fireplace blazed with blue flames that gave off no heat—only light.
I fell on the floor and finally let myself cry.
What had I done? What had Vivienne done to me?
The Dragon King knew I was lying. He could smell it on me like cheap perfume. And that voice in the shadows—that awful, mocking laughter—
A knock broke my thoughts.
I scrambled to my feet, wiping my face. "Y-yes?"
The door opened. A woman walked in—tall, with white-silver hair and eyes that glowed like moonlight. She wore armor made of ice that somehow looked flexible. Everything about her screamed dangerous.
"So you're the new bride," she said, watching me like I was a bug she might squash. "I'm General Iskra. The king asked me to make sure you didn't jump out a window."
"I wasn't going to—" "They all say that." She moved to the fireplace, her moves graceful and predatory. "Three wives before you. All dead within months. You know what they had in common?"
I shook my head, too afraid to speak.
"They all thought they could lie to dragons." Iskra smiled, showing teeth too sharp to be human. "Dragons smell lies, girl. We taste them in the air. The only question is whether you're lying because you're an assassin... or because you're just dumb."
"I'm not an assassin!"
"Then what are you?" She moved closer. "Because you're definitely not Princess Vivienne. That spoiled brat tried to slap me during the peace meeting. You can barely look me in the eye."
My mind raced. This woman could kill me with one hand. But maybe—just maybe—she could be a friend.
"I'm nobody," I admitted quietly. "I'm the bastard daughter they kept hidden in the kitchens. Vivienne drugged me and sent me here because she didn't want to marry the Dragon King. She said if I didn't try to be her, she'd kill my mother."
Iskra's face didn't change. "And you believed her?"
"She's done worse things to me my whole life." The words poured out like poison I'd been holding in too long. " When I was seven, she pushed me down the stairs and told everyone I fell. When I was twelve, she cut my hair while I slept because she said I looked prettier than her. Last year, she locked me in the cold storage for two days because I accidentally wore a dress the same color as hers."
I stopped, breathing hard. I'd never told anyone these things. Never tried to.
Iskra studied me for a long moment. Then she did something unexpected.
She laughed.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," she said. "Do you know why Kaelen hasn't killed you yet?"
"Because... the treaty?"
"Because his dragon likes you." Iskra's grin widened. "His dragon has been asleep for twenty years. Dead inside him. Then you show up, and suddenly it's purring like a kitten. That means something, girl. Something big."
"I don't understand."
"You will." She moved toward the door, then stopped. "One more thing. Whatever you do, don't remove that eye patch. Not until you're ready for everyone to know what you really are."
My hand flew to the patch covering my right eye. "What do you mean?"
"Figure it out yourself. I'm not your babysitter." Iskra opened the door. "Oh, and girl? If you try to hurt my nephew, I'll tear you apart so slowly you'll beg for the frost demons instead."
She left.
I stood there, shaking, trying to understand everything. His dragon liked me? What did that even mean?
A sound made me jump—scratching at the window.
I turned slowly. Something was outside. Something big, with bright red eyes.
The window burst inward.
A thing made of ice and shadow lunged at me—all claws and teeth and freezing darkness. I screamed, throwing my arms up to protect my face.
Blue light burst from my hands.
The creature shrieked and flew backward, smacking into the wall. It scrambled up, looking at me with those horrible red eyes.
"Impossible," it hissed in a voice like breaking glass. "You shouldn't have power yet. Not until your birthday."
"What are you?" I gasped.
"I'm the one who's been watching you, little hybrid." It tilted its head, studying me. "I'm the one who's been waiting for you to come of age. Twenty years old tomorrow, aren't you? Twenty years since your mother fled the Fae Courts. Twenty years since she hid you among the people."
"You're crazy! I'm not—"
"You're not human." The thing laughed. "Did you really think those odd eyes came from nowhere? Did you think your blood crystallizing into snowflakes was normal?"
My blood. The wedding service. When Kaelen cut my hand and our blood mixed, mine had turned into tiny snowflakes instead of freezing solid like it should have.
Everyone had seen it. Everyone had gasped.
"What am I?" I whispered.
"Ask your mother. Oh wait—" The creature's grin widened. "She's locked in a cell, isn't she? How handy. She can't warn you. Can't tell you what you really are. Can't explain why I've been hunting your family for two hundred years."
The door burst open. Kaelen stood there, his dragon fully emerged—wings spread, scales gleaming, frost pouring from his mouth.
The creature hissed and dissolved into dark, slipping through the broken window.
"Wait!" I lunged forward. "What am I? Tell me!"
Its voice echoed back, fading: "You're the key, little mix. The key to breaking the block. And tomorrow at midnight, when you turn twenty, everything you love will burn."
Then it was gone.
Kaelen's wings pulled back. He returned to human form, breathing hard. His eyes found mine, and for the first time, I saw something that scared me more than his anger.
Fear.
"Mira," he said softly. "What happened to your hands?"
I looked down.
My hands were glowing with soft blue light. Snowflakes danced around my fingers, beautiful and impossible.
"I don't know," I sobbed. "I swear I don't know what's happening to me!"
"Tomorrow is your birthday?" he asked.
I nodded.
His face went pale. "Then we have less time than I thought. That creature—it's from the Shadow Realm. And if what it said is true..."
"What? Tell me!"
Kaelen grabbed my shoulders, his touch burning like ice-fire. "If you're the key to breaking the barrier between worlds, then your twentieth birthday doesn't just mark you coming of age. It marks the day old evil breaks free. And every monster that's been trapped for two thousand years will come hunting for you."
The blue light around my hands grew brighter.
"Make it stop!" I begged. "Please make it stop!"
"I can't." His voice broke. "Because you're not human, Mira. You never were. And whatever you really are..."
He looked at my glowing hands with something like wonder and terror.
"Whatever you are just declared war on things that should have stayed dead."