POV: Elara
The dragon has awakened. I felt it now, not just in my blood, but in my bones. Every step deeper into the tunnels beneath the kingdom made the fire inside me stronger and steadier. It didn't burn me anymore. It belonged to me.
Kael led us through twisting stone passageways, the elder with us moving quietly. The caves were cut ages ago, hidden from the world above.
"Where are we going? " I asked, my voice low.
Kael's grip on my hand never eased. "To those who haven't forgotten the truth. Those who still remember what this country was built on, and what we must become to protect it."
The elder finally stopped before a set of iron doors covered in old symbols. He pressed his hand to the center rune.
The doors opened.
Inside was a big basement hall, lit with blue flame lamps. At least a dozen people stood in a circle, hooded but uncovered. Their eyes, sharp, knowing, full of quiet power, landed on me.
"Elders," Kael said with a nod.
One of them stepped forward. A woman with long gray hair and eyes like ice. "We've been waiting."
"You're part of the Elder Council," I breathed.
"No," she corrected. "We were removed from the court when we refused to condemn hybrids like you. We faked our deaths. Hid below while greed rose above. Seraphina's family poisoned the throne."
"Why help me? " I asked, wary.
"Because you are what we feared… and what we hoped," another said. "The prophecy didn't speak of a destroyer. It spoke of a fixer. One born of two bloods. One with the fire to burn the rot."
Kael looked at me. "We train. We prepare. We take the throne back."
My heart thudded. "But the court already thinks I'm dead."
Kael's eyes darkened. "Then let them choke on that lie. Let them rule in fear, waiting for the day the fires return."
Above ground, confusion had already started.
Seraphina sat on the chair now, wrapped in royal blue, a smug smile on her painted lips.
"King Kael is dead," she announced to the gathered lords. "The hybrid has been dealt with. Order is restored."
But the rumors told a different story.
"Why nobody? "
"Why no ashes? "
"Did she burn or vanish? "
Luca stood beside the chair, arms crossed, eyes cold. "The people are uneasy. They need blood, not riddles."
"They'll have it," Seraphina snapped. "We'll make an example of any who dares speak the dragon's name again."
She turned to the captain of the guard. "Send men to the tunnels. Burn them all."
Below, I trained.
Every day.
Every hour.
With Kael watching. With the secret Elders leading me. With my own body becoming something else.
"Again," Kael called, standing across from me in the room.
I spread my arms, reaching inside for the heat. My blood pulsed, and scales shimmered softly over my arms, only for seconds.
"Control it," the older woman said. "Don't force it. Feel it."
"I am feeling it," I hissed. "It's like holding a storm in my ribs! "
"Good," Kael said, stepping forward. Now let the storm listen to you.
He came close, eyes fixed on mine.
"You are not cursed, Elara," he said softly. "You are chosen. Use it."
I took a deep breath.
I closed my eyes.
And this time, I didn't push.
I let the fire come to me.
My fingers sparked.
My back raised.
And a roar rang inside my head, not my dog.
Something older.
Something flying.
The room shook.
A few Elders stepped back.
Kael didn't.
"Open your eyes," he said.
I did.
Flames danced along my arms, but they didn't burn.
"I… I did it."
"You did," he said, smiling just a little. "But we're not done yet."
Later that night, as we sat near a low-burning fire deep in the caves, Kael sat beside me, his hand touching mine.
"You never stopped fighting," he said. "Even when I failed you."
I looked at him. "Why are you here, Kael? Is it guilt? Duty? "
"No," he said simply. "It's you. I'm here because it's always been you."
He leaned in, put a soft kiss on my forehead.
"Next time," he muttered, "I won't let go."
The next day, the scouts returned.
"They've crowned Seraphina. Luca declared himself king's partner. The court is celebrating."
Kael nodded. "Let them."
"They've ordered raids on the old bloodlines," one leader added. "They're hunting anyone who might carry the dragon spark."
Rage surged in my chest.
"No more hiding," I said.
Kael looked at me. "Are you ready? "
"Not yet," I answered. "But I will be."
We stepped into the center training room. The Elders watched quietly.
I closed my eyes, reached into the fire one last time.
But something was different.
The fire didn't crawl across my skin this time.
It lifted.
I screamed, not from pain, but from power.
Kael rushed forward. "Elara! "
But I couldn't stop it.
My bones moved.
My back burned.
And then,
Rip.
Wings.
Large. Crimson. Veined with gold.
They burst from my back like blades, unfurling with a rush of heat.
I gasped, dropping to my knees.
Kael caught me.
His voice shook. "You… you just, "
"I shifted," I panted. "Not into a wolf."
"A dragon."
I looked at him, eyes burning with a glow I couldn't hide anymore.
"Let's end this."
Far above, thunder rolled across the sky, no storm in sight.
The court laughed, unaware.
But the dead do not kneel.
They rise.
And the girl they burned?
She was coming back with wings, fire, and revenge.
I was no longer the girl who was dragged in chains, who scrubbed blood off royal floors, who cried alone in the dark. That girl had burned with the fire they lit for me.
What rose from the ashes… was something else.
Kael knelt in front of me, his chest rising and falling as his eyes took in what I'd become. I could see the war in him. Awe and fear. Love and sorrow. But he didn't move.
He reached out and touched the base of my wing. "You're not just a queen, Elara," he said. "You're a reckoning."
I stared at my image in the shiny blade that an Elder held out. My eyes glowed like liquid gold. My skin shimmered softly with the hint of scales that faded in and out. And the wings... wide and fierce, stretching like flags of war.
A reckoning.
Yes.
But inside, I still bled. I still remember every nasty word. Every bruise. Every time they said I was too much, too broken, too dangerous to love.
And now?
Now they'd beg me to spare them.
"They thought killing me would end the prophecy," I whispered, rising. "But they only birthed it."
The room fell silent.
One of the younger Elders stepped forward. "We follow you, Elara. Not because you are Kael's. But because you survived what should have destroyed you."
"No," I said softly. "Because I became what should have destroyed me."
A beat passed. Then Kael stepped beside me.
"The moment we rise, Seraphina will unleash her forces. She has Luca. The court. The army."
"Then we remind them," I said, wings folding tight behind me, "what happens when you try to burn a phoenix and bury a dragon."
Kael smirked. "That line's going to haunt the songs they sing after we win."
I didn't smile.
"This isn't about songs," I said. "It's about justice. For every hybrid killed in silence. For every girl who was told she wasn't worthy. For every voice that was forced to stay quiet while monsters ruled."
Kael touched my hand. "And what if we lose? "
I met his eyes.
"Then we lose loud," I said. "Wings spread. Teeth bared. Fire breathing. But we never kneel again."
"They tried to bury me in silence. So I'll rise with noise that shakes the throne." And I would, because I wasn't just living… I was coming.