POV: KAEL'S
I moved on instinct.
The blade came at my heart—I twisted left. It sliced my arm instead, burning like fire. Dragonbane. The metal was coated in dragonbane poison.
My vision blurred immediately. The poison worked fast.
But not fast enough to stop me from grabbing the assassin's throat.
I slammed him against the stone wall, my hand crushing his windpipe. My dragon roared inside me, demanding blood. Demanding death.
Then I saw his face.
Young. Human. Terrified.
And Elara was screaming his name.
"Cassian, no! What are you doing?"
She limped onto my balcony, her face white with shock. Blood dripped from her hands where she'd climbed down something. Her ankle was twisted wrong.
She'd injured herself to warn me.
Why?
"Stay back," I growled at her. My arm burned worse now. The dragonbane was spreading. "This doesn't concern you."
"He's my friend!" She moved closer despite my warning. Brave or stupid—I couldn't tell which. "Cassian, why? Why would you—"
"To save you!" The boy—Cassian—choked out the words around my grip. "He's a monster, Elara. They're all monsters. I'm getting you out of here."
"By killing him?" Her voice broke. "That's not saving me. That's murder."
"It's justice." Cassian's eyes burned with fanaticism. "They cursed themselves. They deserve to die. All of them."
My dragon wanted to rip his head off.
But Elara stood between us now, her small body blocking mine. Protecting me from her own friend.
"Let him go," she said quietly.
"He just tried to kill me." My voice came out more dragon than human. "Give me one reason I shouldn't tear him apart."
"Because I'm asking you not to." She turned to face me, and her green eyes held something I hadn't expected. Pleading. "Please. He's wrong and stupid and misguided, but he's my friend. The only one I had growing up. Don't kill him."
The dragonbane was making my thoughts fuzzy. My arm felt like it was on fire. But through the pain, I saw something that made my chest tight.
She was defending me. A human princess defending a dragon king from another human.
Why?
"Elara, move," I said through gritted teeth. "Now."
"Not until you promise." Her jaw set stubbornly. "I know what dragonbane does. I know you're hurt. But if you kill him, you'll regret it. He's just a kid who believed the wrong stories."
"He's an assassin."
"He's confused." She touched my chest—just a light touch, but it sent warmth through me. Her mark glowed gold. "Please, Kael. Show him monsters aren't what he thinks."
My name. She'd called me by my name, not "Your Majesty."
Something in my dragon settled at the sound.
I looked at Cassian's terrified face. Then at Elara's determined one.
And made a choice I'd probably regret.
I released him. He crumpled to the floor, gasping.
"Thank you," Elara breathed.
"Don't thank me yet." I grabbed Cassian by the collar and hauled him up. "Theron!"
My second appeared instantly—he'd probably been lurking nearby. His purple eyes took in the scene: me bleeding, Elara injured, Cassian guilty.
"Take him to the dungeons," I ordered. "No torture. No execution. Just lock him up until I decide what to do with attempted assassins who make princesses plead for their lives."
Theron dragged Cassian away. The boy didn't fight. Just stared at Elara with betrayed eyes.
"You chose them over me," he whispered.
"I chose not to watch murder," she said back. But her voice shook.
Then we were alone.
I swayed slightly. The dragonbane was hitting harder now. My dragon was fighting it, but the poison was old and strong and meant to kill.
"You're hurt." Elara was suddenly right there, supporting my weight. How had someone so small gotten so close? "We need to get you to a healer."
"Why did you come?" I asked. The words felt thick. "You were locked in a tower. You climbed down and hurt yourself. For me. Why?"
She looked up at me. Her eyes were enormous and honest and confused.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I just... I saw someone sneaking toward your tower and I knew it was wrong. I couldn't let..." She trailed off. "I don't know."
"You should've stayed safe." My vision was going dark at the edges. "Should've let him kill me. Would've been easier for you."
"I don't want you dead." She said it so simply. Like it was obvious. "Now stop talking and lean on me. We need to get Lyra."
I let her guide me inside. Let this small human girl support a dragon king who'd lived eight hundred years.
And wondered what kind of person risks everything for someone they just met.
---
Lyra worked fast.
She cut away my sleeve and hissed at the wound. "Dragonbane. Fresh. Strong." Her hands glowed with purple magic as she worked. "This could've killed you."
"But it didn't." I looked at Elara, who stood nearby wringing her bloody hands. "Because someone warned me."
"Someone stupid," Lyra muttered. "Climbing down a tower on bedsheets. Could've broken your neck."
"I had to." Elara's voice was defensive. "He was in danger."
"Why do you care?" Lyra asked what I was thinking. "He locked you up. Called you dangerous. Threatened your kingdom. Why risk yourself for him?"
Elara opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"I don't know," she finally said. "It felt... wrong. To let him die when I could stop it."
Her heartbeat stayed steady. Truth.
This girl was a complete mystery.
"The poison's out," Lyra announced. "But you need rest. No shifting for at least a day. Your dragon needs to recover."
"Fine." I sat up despite her protests. My head spun but I pushed through it. "Leave us. I need to talk to the princess alone."
Lyra looked like she wanted to argue. But she left, closing the door behind her.
Elara and I stared at each other in the firelight.
"Your friend tried to kill me," I said quietly. "That makes you either incredibly unlucky or part of a conspiracy."
"I didn't know." Her eyes pleaded for me to believe her. "I swear I didn't know he would do that. Cassian was always gentle. Always kind. I don't understand what happened to him."
"Hate happened. Fear happened." I leaned back against the pillows. "Humans have been telling stories about us for centuries. Calling us monsters. Teaching children to fear dragons and fae and magic. Your friend believed those stories."
"They're wrong." She said it with surprising force. "The stories are wrong. I've seen that already."
"Have you?" I watched her carefully. "What have you seen, Princess?"
She hesitated. "I saw you spare Cassian when you could've killed him. I saw Theron treat me gently even though he doesn't trust me. I saw Lyra heal you instead of let you die." She met my eyes. "Monsters don't do those things."
"We've done monstrous things too. We're not innocent."
"Neither are humans." Her voice went soft. "Maybe nobody's innocent. Maybe we're all just trying to survive."
Smart girl.
Too smart for a pampered princess.
"Why did you really come to warn me?" I asked. "The truth this time."
She bit her lip. "Because... because if you died, everyone dies. Your kingdom. My kingdom. The curse continues. The war starts." She looked down. "And because even though I'm terrified of you, I don't want you dead."
"You should want me dead. Would make your life easier."
"I don't want easy." She lifted her chin. "I want to do the right thing. Even if it's hard."
For a moment, we just looked at each other.
Then she swayed slightly, her injured ankle giving out.
I caught her before she fell. "You need a healer too."
"I'm fine."
"You're limping and bleeding and exhausted." I stood, lifting her easily despite the dragonbane weakness. "Stubborn human."
"Stubborn dragon," she shot back. Then her eyes widened. "I didn't mean—"
"I know what you meant." I carried her toward the door. "Come on. Lyra needs to fix your ankle before you do something else stupid."
"It wasn't stupid. It was brave."
"Same thing, usually."
She almost smiled. Almost.
And something in my chest warmed that had nothing to do with dragonbane or magic or fate.
---
Lyra healed Elara's ankle and hands while lecturing her about tower-climbing safety.
I watched from my chair, exhausted but unable to look away.
This girl. This strange, brave, mysterious girl with dragon tamer blood and lies in her heartbeat and eyes that looked at me like I was worth saving.
Who was she really?
"All done," Lyra announced. "Try not to climb any more buildings tonight."
"I'll try." Elara stood, testing her ankle. Then she looked at me. "Thank you. For not killing Cassian. For... for everything."
"Don't thank me yet. I still don't trust you."
"I know." She walked to the door, then paused. "But maybe one day you will."
She left before I could respond.
Lyra sat down next to me. "That girl is trouble."
"I know."
"She's lying about something. I can feel it."
"I know that too."
"But she also just risked her life to save yours." Lyra studied my face. "What are you going to do with her?"
I didn't answer. Because I didn't know.
All I knew was that my dragon was still whispering *mine* every time she was near.
And that terrified me more than any assassin's blade.
---
Three hours later, Theron woke me with urgent news.
"We questioned the human. Cassian." His face was grim. "He broke. Told us everything."
I sat up, ignoring my protesting body. "And?"
"He's part of a group called the Crimson Order. Human zealots who want to eradicate all magical beings. They've been planning this for years." Theron's voice dropped. "And Kael... he says the Order has someone inside Veridia's royal family. Someone high up. Someone who sent the princess here knowing she'd be a target."
My blood ran cold. "Someone set her up."
"Worse." Theron's purple eyes were dark with worry. "He says the Order is planning something big. An attack during your wedding. They want to kill you and the princess and everyone gathered, then blame it on the magical creatures to start a war."
"When?"
"Three months from now. The date of your scheduled wedding."
The date I was supposed to marry Elara.
The date someone planned to murder us all.
"There's more," Theron said quietly. "Cassian says the Order has a mage. Someone powerful. Someone who can... fake mate bonds."
The room went silent.
"What?" My voice came out deadly quiet.
"He says five hundred years ago, the Order created the curse. They used a mage to fake a mate bond between you and that human princess. Made you trust her. Made you vulnerable. Then she betrayed you." Theron looked sick. "They're planning to do it again. But this time, they're sending someone even more dangerous."
"Who?"
"He doesn't know her name. Just that she's called the True Princess." Theron met my eyes. "And she's coming to the North in three months to finish what the Order started five centuries ago."
My dragon roared with fury.
Someone was planning to fake another mate bond. To trick me again. To destroy everything.
"Where's Elara?" I demanded.
"Still in her tower. Under guard."
"Double the guards. No one in or out." I stood despite the dragonbane weakness. "If the Order has someone inside Veridia's royal family, then Elara either knows about this plot..."
I didn't finish the sentence.
Because if Elara knew—if she was part of this—then everything she'd done tonight was an act.
The warning. The pleading. The risking her life.
All lies.
And I'd almost believed her.
"Find out everything," I told Theron. "Question every human who came with her. Search their things. I want to know who sent Elara here and why."
"And the princess?"
I stared at the door she'd walked through hours ago.
"Watch her. Closely. If she's innocent, we protect her. If she's guilty..." My hands clenched into fists. "Then pray to whatever gods she has. Because I'll show her what dragons do to liars."