Selene's crown nearly slid from her head as she sprinted down the steps of the dais, her cloak billowing behind her like a stormfront. She reached the bed in seconds, hands trembling as she cupped Anna's face, brushing back sweat-damp hair with frantic, shaking fingers.
"Anna—Anna—my baby—" Her voice broke entirely, raw with fear. "What happened? Why is she—Valerius, gods, she's not waking up.
Selene's hands kept moving, touching Anna's forehead, her cheek, her pulse, as if any second her daughter might slip away again. Her composure—her legendary, unbreakable poise—was nowhere to be seen.
Valerius finally found his voice, descending the dais with long, urgent strides.
"Someone explain this," he demanded, though the edge in his tone wavered with barely contained fear as he reached Anna's side.
Draven straightened so fast it was almost theatrical, shoulders pulling back, chin lifting, every ounce of arrogance suddenly polished into something resembling courtly grace. His cloak snapped behind him as he swept into an elegant, overly dramatic bow—far deeper than necessary, and absolutely dripping with pomp.
"Your Majesties," he declared, voice booming through the stunned silence of the throne room, "allow me to illuminate the situation before any assumptions lead to… unnecessary executions."
Valerius blinked. Selene didn't; she was entirely focused on Anna, already on her knees beside the bed, hands trembling as she brushed her daughter's hair back.
Draven pressed on.
"As you both know, Princess Anna is in the Obsidian Circle and had her first training session today—"
"What?" Selene's voice cracked like a whip.
Valerius straightened, abrupt and cold. "Draven. Explain."
Draven blinked. His smile faltered. "Er—yes, well… she—she was inducted on orientation day, actually. Passed the preliminary evaluations—quite brilliantly, I might add—"
"You are telling me," Selene said, each word sharpened to a blade's edge, "that my daughter joined the Obsidian Circle without my knowledge?"
"Well—yes," Draven squeaked, "because she thought you did know. You and the Emperor both, in fact. I mean—her sisters joined around her age, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume you'd approved it, or… or that you'd discussed it as a family, or—"
He winced under Selene's stare.
"Or maybe she wanted to surprise you…?" he offered weakly.
Valerius stared at him, a muscle in his jaw ticking. Selene's expression was turning into something that made even Draven—war hero, veteran commander, breaker of rebel lines—step back.
He swallowed. Hard.
"And… ah… that's why she was in training today."
Selene's expression didn't shift, but the air around her did—like the temperature had dropped by twenty degrees.
Draven cleared his throat so loudly it nearly echoed. "Yes! So!" Draven said in a shaky voice, eager to move on before they ordered him executed on the spot. "The incident. Right."
Draven's hands gestured vaguely, as if trying to map out the scale of the chaos. "The… incident, Your Majesties, involved a member of the Circle—a third-year cadet, notorious for… let's say, overestimating her own talents." He swallowed. "She harassed Princess Anna before training began. Pushed her, provoked her, mocking her abilities—or lack thereof. Anna was… cornered, overwhelmed, and then… well…"
He paused, choosing his words carefully, knowing no description could fully capture the scene. "Her response was… sudden. Explosive. A surge of raw power. The kind of power no first-year should ever possess. It radiated outward—so strong it could be felt in nearly half the campus. Walls shivered. Wards in the training grounds reacted violently. It was, in a word… catastrophic."
Selene's fingers clenched around the edge of the bed, but she didn't speak. Valerius's jaw tightened, eyes narrowing at Draven.
"She didn't attack anyone directly," Draven continued, almost defensively, "but her power… it's unlike anything we've seen. Completely uncontrolled. A first-year shouldn't be capable of generating even a fraction of that force. And yet…" He glanced briefly at Veynar, who remained silent, watching Anna with his inscrutable gaze. "…here we are. Every spell cast at her—healing wards, stabilizing charms, protective barriers—met an invisible, insatiable barrier. Anna's unconscious form seemed to drink them in, absorbing the energy before it could take effect. It was as if her body had become a magnet for magical energy refusing to let anything outside its own will take control."
Veynar's lips twitched faintly, almost imperceptibly approving. Draven noticed and coughed, straightening. "Hence why Archon Veynar was called. He stabilized her, siphoned off the excess energy, and—well—prevented a potential disaster of monumental proportions. That's… the current situation."
He straightened fully, bowing his head slightly toward both Archon and the royal parents. "I regret the lack of notification, Your Majesties, but given the magnitude of her power, immediate action was required. Delay could have been… catastrophic."
Valerius's eyes remained fixed on Anna, the tight line of his jaw unrelenting. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles whitening, as a storm of protective fury swirled behind his calm façade. "A twelve-year-old… absorbing every spell thrown at her, destabilizing the wards, nearly—" He cut himself off, swallowing hard, his gaze flicking to Veynar, "—nearly unleashing a force we cannot even comprehend. How is this… allowed to happen under the Circle's supervision?"
Selene's fingers had dug into the sheets until the knuckles were pale. Her voice, when it came, was taut, trembling not from fear but from barely restrained anger. "Draven, you brought my daughter into this without so much as a word to me… and then she nearly destroyed half the campus? Half! She is a child! And yet somehow, she survived, she wasn't… harmed beyond her own body's limits?"
Her eyes flicked to Veynar, and then back to Draven, sharp and demanding. "Explain to me exactly what is happening to her. Every detail. Now."
Veynar's gaze shifted from Anna to Selene, his expression calm but edged with gravity. "I may have an answer, Your Majesty," he said slowly, each word deliberate. "But the nature of what I am about to explain… It is delicate. It would be best if we spoke in private."
Selene's jaw tightened, her eyes never leaving Anna's still form. Valerius, though tense, nodded once, sharp and decisive. "Very well," he said, his voice carrying the authority of the throne. "Guards, wait outside. Draven, step into the hall until we call for you."
The guards moved quickly, forming a silent barrier at the doors. Draven gave a stiff bow, masking his unease with professional composure, and retreated without another word.
Valerius's gaze swept over the now-empty doorway, lingering on Draven as the last echo of his retreating footsteps faded. His hands clenched at his sides, but his voice was steady, commanding. "Speak. Now. Tell us everything you know."
Veynar's eyes, dark and calculating, flicked back to Anna, tracing the faint shimmer of energy still pulsing beneath her skin. He crouched slightly, as if weighing his words against the weight of the throne room itself. "Before I begin, I must ask… Your Majesties, to the best of your knowledge, is there any kind of seal, enchantment, or curse placed upon the princess? Something… intentional that might limit her abilities?"
Selene and Valerius exchanged a brief, tense glance, the unspoken history of their family flickering between them like a shadow neither wanted to fully acknowledge. Selene's fingers twitched at her sides, and Valerius's jaw tightened, a subtle tightening of the muscles around his eyes betraying his unease.
Veynar's gaze didn't waver from the faint shimmer radiating from Anna. He tilted his head slightly, noting the almost imperceptible hesitation between the Emperor and Empress, the way their eyes avoided the unspoken truth. "Ah," he murmured softly, a flicker of understanding crossing his features. "I see. There is… something, then. A seal. Perhaps placed long ago, hidden beneath layers of wards or intentions, restraining her growth, restraining the resonance itself. That hesitation tells me more than words ever could."
Selene's breath caught, but she remained silent, unwilling to confirm or deny. Valerius's hands clenched briefly at his sides, the faintest edge of worry creeping into his posture. Veynar's eyes narrowed, sharp and probing, as though he were peeling back decades of secrecy with a single glance. "Interesting," he said quietly. "This… restraint may explain why her power has only now begun to surface. Whatever this seal is, it may be weakening—or perhaps the princess herself is growing beyond it."
Veynar's gaze darkened as he studied Anna's faintly glowing form, the shimmer of raw power still rippling beneath her skin. "Whatever the cause," he said slowly, measured but heavy with implication, "this seal—or whatever is restraining her—is placing tremendous strain on her body. Even now, her systems are pushed to their limits, balancing the flood of energy she barely contains."
Veynar's eyes flicked up sharply, meeting both Selene and Valerius with an intensity that made the air thrum with unspoken weight. "Especially," he continued, his voice low and deliberate, "when it's trying to feed a dragon that resides within her.
Selene's hand instinctively tightened around the bed's edge, her knuckles pale. Valerius's jaw dropped slightly, eyes narrowing as disbelief and concern warred across his features. Both of them stared at Veynar, stunned that he had discerned such a profound truth, the existence of the dragon within their twelve-year-old daughter.
Veynar's gaze softened fractionally, though the weight of his observation remained. "This explains much of what we witnessed earlier," he murmured, almost to himself. "Her body is not merely absorbing magic—it is attempting to feed on it but it can't because of the seal. And that… is why the strain was so severe. The seal won't let her body process the mana properly."
Selene's breath caught sharply in her throat, a mixture of fear, awe, and cautious hope threading through her panic. "You… you knew," she whispered, voice trembling. "You knew there was a dragon within her all along?"
Valerius's hands clenched at his sides, his knuckles pale, yet his eyes burned with a fierce determination. "If that's true… if what you say is true, then perhaps—just perhaps—there's a way to help her. To relieve the strain, to guide her, so she doesn't destroy herself."
Veynar's hands shifted beneath his cloak, and with a subtle flick, a faint purple glow coalesced into a small, humming orb that floated above his palm. The light pulsed gently, almost alive, as if it remembered every bit of energy it had siphoned from Anna.
"This," he said, voice calm but carrying the weight of authority, "is the excess energy she cannot yet control. It cannot be destroyed—it must be contained." He let the orb hover closer to Anna's chest, the faint shimmer of her residual power subtly pulled toward it, stabilizing the faint tremor in her body.
"The only measure I can take for now," Veynar continued, eyes meeting Selene and Valerius with a steady gravity, "is to contain the surges with power cores. Each core can absorb and hold bursts of her energy, preventing the overloads that nearly destroyed her today. I may be able to fashion one into a necklace—a constant safeguard against sudden spikes. It is not a cure all… but it will help. It will keep her from harming herself until we can find a proper way to guide her."
Selene's hand hovered above Anna, voice soft but desperate. "Do it. Whatever it takes, we'll do it."
Valerius nodded, resolve etched across his features. "Then make it so, Archon. Whatever is necessary to protect her—and to give her a chance."
Veynar's eyes flicked briefly to Valerius, sharp and knowing. With a subtle gesture, he lifted the floating orb and extended it toward the emperor. "Here" he said quietly, his voice carrying both instruction and implication. "Feed this to your bond. It will act as a conduit, help you channel, help you break through the barrier you've been stuck on. Your hesitation, your… stagnation—it will not last much longer with this."
Valerius's brow furrowed, lips parting in disbelief. The notion that Veynar had seen his personal struggle—his cultivation, the block he hadn't even shared with Selene—stirred a mixture of awe and unease. He took the orb carefully, feeling the pulse of its energy thrumming like a heartbeat in his hands.
Veynar straightened, cloak brushing the floor, and inclined his head in a formal bow, the motion precise, weighty, and entirely deliberate. "For now, that is all I can do," he said, voice smooth, measured. Without another word, he pivoted and moved toward the throne room doors. With a final glance over his shoulder at the family, he disappeared into the shadows from which he had come, leaving only the faint echo of his presence behind.
Valerius stared at the orb in his hands, pulse quickening. The implication that Veynar had discerned not only Anna's secret, but his own hidden struggle, pressed heavily on him. He looked to Selene, who was still focused on Anna, and whispered, more to himself than anyone else, "He… he knew."
Talia stood near the foot of the bed, fingers twisting anxiously in the fabric of her sleeves. Elara hovered just behind her, face pale but eyes sharp with concern. The moment Veynar disappeared, both girls stepped closer, their worry finally spilling into words.
"What… What does this mean for Anna?" Talia asked, voice trembling despite her attempt at steadiness. "All this power inside her, what happens now?"
Elara swallowed, her throat bobbing as she forced the question that had clearly been eating at her. "Will she still be able to go back to school?" she asked softly. "Or is she… is she too unstable now?"
Selene drew a slow, steady breath, brushing a strand of hair from Anna's forehead. "For now," she said gently, "she is safe. The Archon's power cores will keep her from overloading again. But much has changed, and we need to understand it fully before anything else."
Valerius stepped forward, still holding the glowing orb, his expression a blend of determination and lingering shock. "We won't lock her away," he said firmly, sensing the fear behind the girls' questions. "But she may need time. Time to adjust. Time to learn. Time to grow into this power without hurting herself."
Talia lowered her eyes, absorbing that.
Elara bit her lip. "So… maybe not right away," she murmured.
Selene shook her head gently, her voice soft but certain. "Not right away. But she will go back. And she will not face this alone."