SERA'S POV
I release the fire.
Everything turns silver.
The explosion is massive—bigger than anything I've done before. It rips through the attacking dragons like a hurricane. They scream as my fire burns them, sending them crashing back through the hole in the roof.
But I can't stop it.
The fire keeps coming, pouring out of me in waves. It spreads across the walls, the floor, melting stone. The entire hallway starts to collapse.
"SERA!" Dravyx shifts back to human and grabs my shoulders. "Stop! You have to stop!"
"I can't!" The fire is burning through me, consuming me. "I don't know how!"
His hands glow silver. He presses them against my chest, right over my heart. "Listen to me. The fire responds to your emotions. You're afraid, so it's wild. Calm down. Breathe."
"The palace is falling apart!"
"I don't care about the palace!" His silver eyes lock onto mine. "I care about you. Breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out."
I focus on his voice. His face. His eyes. Slowly, my breathing matches his. The fire starts to recede, pulling back into my skin.
Finally, it stops.
I collapse against him, exhausted. "I almost killed us."
"But you didn't." He holds me steady. "You controlled it. Eventually."
Around us, the hallway is destroyed. Walls are melted. The floor has holes. But we're alive. And the attackers are gone.
Lyria runs up, her face covered in soot. "The attack is over. We drove them off. But we lost twelve guards." She looks at the destruction around us. "What happened here?"
"Training accident," Dravyx says quickly. "Is the palace secure?"
"For now. But they'll be back." Lyria's expression darkens. "And next time, they'll bring more."
"Let them." Dravyx's jaw clenches. "We'll be ready."
He helps me walk to my chambers. My legs are shaking. Using that much power drained everything.
Inside my room, he sits me on the bed. "Stay here. I need to check on the defenses."
"Dravyx, wait." I catch his hand. "Scorvath planned that attack. He knew exactly when to strike. During the council meeting when you'd be distracted."
"I know." His expression is grim. "But I can't prove it. Not yet."
"What if he tries again?"
"He will. He has two nights to stop this bond from completing." He kneels in front of me. "Sera, I need to ask you something. And I need you to be honest."
"Okay."
"Are you doing this because you want to? Or because you feel you have no choice?" His eyes search mine. "Because if it's the second one, I'll find another way. I won't force you into a bond just to save myself from a curse."
I think about his question. Really think about it.
Three months ago, I had a home. A family. A future. Then it was all ripped away by lies and betrayal. I was made into nothing.
But here, in this palace, with this dragon king who looks at me like I matter—I feel like someone again. Someone powerful. Someone worth protecting.
"I'm doing this because for the first time in my life, someone sees me," I say quietly. "Not as a tool. Not as an obstacle. Not as something to use and throw away. You see me as a person. As an equal." I meet his eyes. "That's worth fighting for."
Something softens in his expression. "You're more than an equal, Sera. You're—" He stops, seeming to struggle with words. "When I'm near you, the loneliness I've carried for centuries just... fades. You make me feel alive again."
My heart stutters. "Dravyx—"
"But that doesn't mean I'll rush you." He stands. "We have two nights. I want to spend them getting to know you. Really know you. Not as a potential mate. As a person." He heads for the door. "Rest. I'll have food brought up. Tomorrow, we start real training."
"Wait." I stand up. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"The curse. How does it actually work? What happens on the third night?"
He turns back, his expression pained. "At midnight on the third night, dragon fire tries to complete the mate bond. It burns through both of us, connecting our souls. If you're my true mate, the fire recognizes it and the bond forms. If you're not..." He looks away. "The fire burns you from the inside. Slowly. Painfully. Until there's nothing left."
I swallow hard. "How long does it take?"
"For the other two brides? Hours. They screamed until dawn." His voice breaks slightly. "I held them. Tried to ease their pain. But there was nothing I could do. The curse made me watch them die because of me."
"That's horrible."
"That's Morgath's revenge." He faces me again. "She wanted me to suffer. To know that my touch kills. That I'm poison to anyone who tries to love me."
"But if I'm your mate—if the bond works—she was wrong."
"If." He says the word like it hurts. "I felt sure with the others too, Sera. I thought maybe they were the ones. But they weren't." He moves to the door. "I won't let myself hope this time. It hurts too much when I'm wrong."
He leaves before I can respond.
I sit on the bed, my mind spinning. Two nights. In two nights, I'll either become the Dragon Queen or die screaming in dragon fire.
And Dravyx doesn't think I'll survive.
A knock on the door makes me jump. "Come in."
It's not a servant with food. It's Lyria.
She closes the door behind her and leans against it. "We need to talk."
"About what?"
"About the fact that you're in danger from more than just Scorvath." She crosses to the window and looks out. "The attack today wasn't random. Those dragon-slayers were hired. Well-paid. And they had one target—you."
"Scorvath hired them?"
"Probably. But there's something else." She turns to face me. "One of the slayers we captured said something before he died. He said, 'Lady Vivienne sends her regards.'"
My blood runs cold. "What?"
"Your stepmother. She's working with Scorvath." Lyria's expression is serious. "They've formed an alliance. She helps him stop the bond, and in return, he promises to destroy your father and give her full control of your family's lands."
"She's trying to kill me from hundreds of miles away?"
"She's trying to make sure you never come back to claim your inheritance. Or your revenge." Lyria sits beside me. "Sera, if you survive the three nights—if you become Queen—you'll have the power to destroy everyone who hurt you. Vivienne knows that. So does Scorvath. They're working together to make sure you die."
"But the council voted to allow the bond."
"Four council members voted yes. Three voted no. And one of those four is old and sick. If he dies before the third night—and I have reason to believe Scorvath might arrange that—the vote changes to 3-3. Tie vote means the bond is rejected by default."
My stomach twists. "So even if Dravyx and I want this, even if the bond is real, they can still stop it?"
"Yes. By killing you, killing the council member, or—" She hesitates.
"Or what?"
"Or by making Dravyx reject you himself. Breaking his will. Making him think you're not worth the risk." She looks at me carefully. "He's been hurt before, Sera. Badly. He won't admit it, but watching those two brides die broke something in him. If Scorvath can make him doubt the bond, make him fear he's wrong again, Dravyx might reject you himself. To 'save' you."
"I won't let him."
"Good." Lyria smiles slightly. "Because I like you. And I think you might actually be the one. I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
"Really?"
"Really. The bond is forming fast—faster than any recorded bond. That means something." She stands. "But you need to be ready. Tomorrow, I'll start training you properly. Teaching you to control your fire. Teaching you to fight."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because Dravyx is my best friend. Has been for three hundred years. And I'm tired of watching him suffer." She moves to the door. "Also, between you and me? I really want to see Scorvath's face when you become Queen and he has to bow to a human."
She leaves with a grin.
I change into a nightgown someone left folded on the bed. It's soft and warm—nothing like the rough servant clothes.
As I crawl under the covers, exhaustion finally hits me. I close my eyes.
And dream of silver fire. Of Dravyx's voice. Of a bond forming between us like threads of light.
But in the dream, the threads start to burn. To break. And I hear Scorvath laughing.
I wake to someone screaming.
I bolt upright. It's still dark outside. The screaming is coming from down the hall.
I run to the door and yank it open. The guards posted outside are gone.
More screaming. Then a crash.
I follow the sound down the corridor. Other dragons are emerging from their rooms, looking confused and frightened.
The screaming is coming from Dravyx's chambers.
I burst through his door without thinking.
He's on the floor, thrashing, his body half-shifted—scales erupting across his skin, his eyes glowing pure silver. He's trapped in a nightmare, caught between human and dragon form.
"Dravyx!" I kneel beside him. "Wake up!"
He doesn't hear me. He's screaming words I can't understand—dragon language mixed with agony.
I grab his shoulders. His skin burns hot, almost too hot to touch. "DRAVYX!"
His eyes snap open.
For a moment, he doesn't see me. He sees something else. Something that makes him look absolutely terrified.
Then recognition floods in. "Sera?"
"You were having a nightmare."
He sits up quickly, pulling away from me. His breathing is ragged. Scales still shimmer across his chest and arms. "You shouldn't be here. It's not safe when I'm like this."
"What was the nightmare about?"
He doesn't answer. He stands and walks to the window, his back to me. Slowly, the scales recede. His breathing calms.
"The brides," he finally says. "I dream about them dying. Every night. Their screams. The smell of burning flesh. The way they begged me to make it stop." His hands grip the window frame. "And I couldn't. I just had to watch."
I move to stand beside him. "That won't happen with me."
"You don't know that."
"I do." I touch his arm gently. "The bond is already forming. I can feel it. Can't you?"
He looks at me. In the moonlight, his silver eyes are luminous. "I feel it. But I felt it with them too. Until I didn't."
"Dravyx—"
"You should go back to your room." His voice is gentle but firm. "We both need rest. Tomorrow is our first full day together."
I want to argue. Want to tell him he's wrong, that this is different. But I see the pain in his eyes and know he needs space.
"Okay. But tomorrow, you're going to tell me everything. About the curse. About Morgath. About what you're so afraid of."
"Everything?"
"Everything." I head for the door. "No more secrets."
"Sera?"
I turn back.
"Thank you. For waking me. For—" He stops. "Just... thank you."
I walk back to my chambers, my mind racing.
Inside, I lock the door and lean against it.
Two nights left. Two nights to convince Dravyx that this is real. That I won't die. That we can break this curse together.
But how do I prove something even he doesn't believe in anymore?
I crawl back into bed, but sleep won't come.
And then I feel it.
A warmth in my chest. Like a thread connecting me to something—someone—nearby.
I close my eyes and follow the feeling.
It leads straight to Dravyx's chambers.
The bond. It's already there. Fragile but real.
I can feel his emotions. His pain. His fear. His desperate, hidden hope.
And underneath it all, something else.
Love.
He's already falling in love with me.
But he's too afraid to admit it.
A sound makes my eyes snap open.
My window is open. I know I closed it.
Someone's in my room.
I sit up slowly, reaching for the silver fire inside me.
A figure steps out of the shadows.
Not Scorvath. Not a guard.
A woman in a dark cloak.
She pulls back her hood, and my heart stops.
It's my mother.
My dead mother.
Standing in my room.
Smiling.
"Hello, darling," she says in Mother's voice. "We need to talk about your father. Your real father. The dragon who actually sired you."