POV: Elara
The moment the words stirred in my head, the light in the candle twisted. It rose higher, redder, hotter, and flickered in a shape I didn't understand. I looked at Kael.
He had gone still.
His eyes, so often cold and unreadable, were locked on mine with something I had never seen before.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Wonder. And underneath it… a flicker of fear.
"I don't know what's happening to me," I said quietly, almost to myself.
"You're changing," Kael replied, voice low. "That's what's happening."
He stepped forward. I didn't move.
"You should be afraid," he said.
"Of you? " I whispered.
"Of yourself."
Then he turned and left me standing in the dim room, looking at the dying flame.
The next morning, the castle was strangely quiet.
The nobles must have felt it too, that something was changing. The air itself seemed heavy. Like the walls were holding their breath.
I didn't see Kael all day.
Until evening.
Nerissa found me outside the weapon room. "The king is injured," she said coldly. "He wants you."
"He's what? "
"You heard me. Go."
I rushed down the hallway, my heart racing.
Kael sat on the edge of a stone bench in the war room, his black armor peeled halfway down his chest. His shoulder was slick with blood.
Two deep gashes tore across his skin, fresh and angry.
"What happened? " I asked.
"Sparring," he said like it was nothing.
"That doesn't look like sparring."
He didn't argue. Just looked at me, his face paler than usual.
"Come here," he said.
I grabbed a clean cloth and dipped it in water… my hands were steady, but inside, I was shaking. Not from fear this time, but from something else… something rising.
I knelt in front of him and pressed the cloth to his wound. He didn't move, but I felt him watching me… closely, too closely.
"I've been in battles that tore kingdoms apart," he muttered. "But nothing burns like dragon wounds."
I froze.
"Is that what this is? " I asked. "Do you think I did this to you? "
"No," he said slowly. "But it feels… the same."
I bit my lip. Blood was soaking through the cloth faster than I could stop it.
"Hold still," I said, reaching for a fresh bandage.
As I pressed it down, his blood dripped onto my hand.
Then everything changed.
The air went hot.
The skin on my arm shimmered. Crimson light spread from the place where his blood touched mine, slithering down my fingers.
Scales.
Faint, shimmering scales rippled over my skin like water stirred by wind.
Kael stared at my hand.
"What… are you? " he breathed.
"I… I don't know." My voice cracked. "I swear I don't, "
The light pulsed again. I backed away, shaking.
Kael stood slowly, not taking his eyes off me.
His face was unreadable now. The careful, cold king is returning to the top.
He took a single step back.
"Kael…" I reached for him, and he flinched.
It felt like a slap, I didn't mean…
He turned away. "Leave."
"What? "
"I said leave."
My mouth opened. Closed.
"Is this what you're going to do now? " I asked quietly. "Run every time I become something you don't understand? "
"I don't run," he growled, facing the wall. "I strategize."
"Then strategize this. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't want your throne. Or your eyes. Or your blood lighting up my skin like I'm cursed."
He didn't talk.
I left before I started crying.
Nerissa was waiting for me in the hallway.
"So," she said with a pleased smile, "he saw what you are."
"Go away, Nerissa."
"Must feel good," she went on, stepping in front of me. "Knowing he finally sees you for the monster you are."
I tried to shove past her, but she grabbed my arm.
"Don't touch me."
"Or what? " she sneered. "You'll glow? Burn me? Go ahead."
"I'm warning you."
"You're nothing. You think he'll still protect you now? He's disgusted by you. Just like the rest of us. Dragon whore."
The word hit harder than her hand.
But she didn't stop there. She slammed me against the wall, her arm pushing into my chest.
I gasped.
"You don't belong here," she spat.
Pain grew in my side, and still… my dog was silent.
She didn't come.
Not to protect me, not to rage, not to scream.
Gone.
Useless.
I slid down the wall as Nerissa walked away laughing. My hands were scraped, and my mouth tasted blood. I curled into myself on the cold stone floor and stared at my hands.
My fingers were shaking.
But then…
A spark.
Right in the heart of my left hand.
Bright, small, red.
It flickered once, then faded.
And I didn't feel fear.
I felt rage.
Later that night, I didn't sleep.
I sat by the small light of the candle and watched it flicker, mirroring the way the fire inside me curled behind my ribs.
"Why won't you speak to me? " I whispered again, hoping maybe my wolf would answer this time.
Nothing, but something else did.
The silence wasn't empty anymore. It was watching, listening, waiting, and I wasn't sure if it was mine… or if something old had simply taken root in me, using my skin as a cage.
I stared at my hand again. And right there, before my eyes… A trail of smoke drifted from my fingertip.
Then, it sparked.
A thin line of fire slithered up from my skin, dancing between my fingers like it knew me.
Alive, hot, and hungry. I gasped, but didn't pull it away. I watched it curl, shape itself, flicker in rhythm with my breath, and deep inside me, something laughed.
Not mean, not kind… the thing Just awake and the fire whispered one word:
Soon.