POV: KAEL'5
"She is the fake."
The Oracle's words echoed in my head like a curse. I stared at the girl in my arms—the princess who wasn't a princess. The human who carried dragon tamer blood but wore a stolen name.
Elara's face had gone white. Her heartbeat thundered so loud even Theron could probably hear it.
"Explain." My voice came out as a growl. "Now."
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Tears filled her green eyes.
"I..." Her voice cracked. "I can explain. Please, just let me—"
"Let you what? Lie again?" I released her and stepped back. My dragon roared inside me, furious and confused. We'd felt something with this girl. Something real. But it was all built on lies. "How much of it was false? Your name? Your title? Everything?"
"My name is real." She stood on shaking legs. "I am Elara. That part is true."
"But you're not Princess Elara of Veridia."
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Rage burned through me—hot and bright and dangerous. My eyes must have been glowing gold because Lyra stepped forward carefully.
"Your Majesty, perhaps we should—"
"Leave us." I didn't look away from Elara. "All of you. Now."
"Kael." Theron's voice held warning. "Don't do anything you'll regret."
"OUT!"
The word came out with dragon force behind it. The cave walls shook. Dust fell from the ceiling.
They left quickly. Even the Oracle retreated into the shadows, her white eyes disappearing into darkness.
Elara and I were alone.
"Talk," I said. "Tell me everything. And if you lie even once, I'll know."
She wrapped her arms around herself. "Where do I start?"
"The beginning. Who are you really?"
"I'm nobody." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Just a commoner's daughter. I was swapped at birth with the real princess. Queen Isolde raised me as Princess Elara, but I was always just... a replacement. A spare."
The words hit like stones. "You've been pretending to be royalty your entire life?"
"I didn't know!" Tears spilled down her cheeks. "I thought I was the princess. I thought that was my family, my life, my identity. They only told me the truth when they sent me here. When they needed someone expendable to marry the monster."
Monster. There was that word again.
"Is that what you think I am?" I stepped closer. "A monster?"
"No." She met my eyes, and I saw truth there. Finally. "Not anymore. But that's what they taught me. That's what everyone in Veridia believes. That dragons are evil. That the North is full of creatures who kill and destroy."
"And yet you came anyway."
"I had no choice." Her hands clenched into fists. "Isolde said if I didn't marry you and make you fall in love with me, she'd execute my real parents. The commoners who gave birth to me. She'd burn their entire village as traitors."
Understanding crashed into me like cold water.
"You were sent here to seduce me." The pieces fell into place. "To make me trust you. To make me..." I couldn't finish. Couldn't say the word love. "Then what? Betray me? Kill me?"
"No!" She stepped forward. "I was supposed to make you attached to me. Then Isolde would reveal the real princess as your true mate. The dragons would be forced to honor peace terms to protect me. It was political manipulation, not murder."
"Not murder?" My laugh was bitter. "Just using me like a puppet. Using my curse—my people's suffering—as leverage for human politics."
"I know." Her voice broke. "I know how terrible it sounds. But please understand—I thought I was saving lives. My parents' lives. And maybe... maybe even yours. If the marriage brought peace, maybe no one else would die."
"Noble." The word dripped with sarcasm. "Lying to me for months was noble."
"I didn't lie about everything!" She grabbed my arm. Her marked hand blazed gold against my skin. "These feelings are real. This connection we have—it's real. The way I defended your kingdom at dinner, the way I've been learning your language and your customs, the way I..." She stopped.
"The way you what?"
"The way I started falling for you." The words came out small and scared. "That wasn't part of the plan. That wasn't supposed to happen."
My dragon stirred. Confused. Angry. But also... interested.
Because her heartbeat wasn't lying now. Neither was the heat in her marked palm or the way she looked at me—like I was both her salvation and her doom.
"You expect me to believe that?" I pulled away. "After everything?"
"No." She dropped her hand. "I don't expect anything. I just wanted you to know the truth. Finally. All of it."
"Not all of it." I circled her slowly. "You still haven't explained the dragon tamer blood. If you're just a commoner's daughter, how do you have ancient magic in your veins?"
"I don't know." She held up her marked hand. "The Oracle said my blood is real. My heart is true. But I don't know anything about my real parents except they were farmers or merchants or something ordinary. Isolde never told me details."
"Or she lied about that too." My mind raced. "What if you're not as random as you think? What if Isolde chose you specifically for the swap?"
Elara's eyes widened. "Why would she—"
"Because dragon tamers are dangerous." I stopped in front of her. "The last tamer bloodline died two hundred years ago. Or so we thought. If Isolde knew you carried tamer blood and swapped you with the real princess, she could control you. Use you. And if I killed you for betraying me, she'd eliminate the only living person who could unite dragons and humans."
Horror crossed Elara's face. "She set me up to die."
"She set us both up." Fury burned through me again. "She sent you here knowing I'd eventually discover the lie. Knowing I'd probably kill you for it. Removing both a political threat and a magical one."
"But the dragonbane. Cassian's attack." Elara's voice shook. "That wasn't part of Isolde's plan. Cassian said he arranged it himself to save me. To kill you before you could hurt me."
"Cassian." I growled the name. "Your childhood friend who's locked in my dungeons right now."
"He's not evil." She said it quickly. "Just misguided. He thinks he's protecting me from monsters."
"Everyone's a hero in their own story." I turned away. "Even the villains."
"What are you going to do?" Her question was barely audible. "Now that you know everything?"
Good question.
I should kill her. She'd lied to me, deceived me, come here as part of a political trap. She wasn't the fated mate who could break my curse. She was just a pawn in a larger game.
But she was also a dragon tamer. The first in two centuries. And despite everything, despite all the lies, my dragon still felt that pull toward her.
Not the mate bond. Something different. Something we didn't have a name for.
"I should execute you for treason," I said finally. "But I won't."
Relief flooded her face. "Thank you—"
"Because you're more useful alive." I faced her again. "You're going to help me break this curse. Your tamer blood, your connection to dragons—we'll use it. And when this is over, when my people are safe, then you'll face judgment for your lies."
"I'll do whatever you need." She nodded quickly. "Anything to help."
"Good." I moved toward the cave exit. "Because tomorrow, the real test begins. I'm taking you to the Dragon's Heart—the source of all magic in the North. If you're truly a tamer, it will accept you. If you're not..." I didn't finish.
"And if I'm not?"
"Then the magic will burn you alive from the inside out." I looked back at her. "Most humans die within seconds. Even fae can't last more than a minute. Only true tamers can survive the Dragon's Heart."
Her face went pale. "And if I die?"
"Then I'll know you were just a human girl playing dress-up." My voice was cold. "And your death will release me from any obligation to protect Veridia. Your kingdom sent me a false bride. That's an act of war."
"You'd destroy them?" Horror filled her eyes. "All those innocent people?"
"All those people who think dragons are monsters?" I smiled without warmth. "Yes. I would. Because monsters don't forgive betrayal, Princess. We avenge it."
I left her there in the cave, shaking and afraid.
But as I climbed back toward the citadel, my dragon spoke to me for the first time in hours.
*She's not lying about her feelings.*
I know.
*She could be the key to everything.*
Or she could be the weapon that destroys us all.
*The Dragon's Heart will tell us which.*
Yes. Tomorrow, we'd know the truth. Either Elara would prove herself as a true tamer and become the most valuable person in my kingdom...
Or she'd die screaming, and I'd burn Veridia to ash.
Either way, the games were over.
No more lies. No more pretending.
Tomorrow, fire would reveal the truth.
But as I reached my chambers and looked out over the citadel, something made me pause.
A messenger hawk sat on my balcony. Dark wings. Red eyes. The kind used for urgent, secret communications.
I grabbed the message from its leg.
The seal was Veridia's—but not the official royal seal. This was older. A symbol I hadn't seen in five hundred years.
My blood went cold as I broke the seal and read:
*Your Majesty,*
*The girl you hold is not the weapon. She is the shield.*
*The real princess comes. Her name is Seraphine. She carries magic and light. She is your fated mate.*
*But beware—she also carries the curse that destroyed your kingdom five centuries ago.*
*My ancestor made it. Her ancestor will finish it.*
*Unless the fake princess stops her.*
*Choose wisely, Dragon King.*
*The real monster wears a crown of stars.*
No signature. No name.
But I knew what this meant.
The real Princess Seraphine was coming. My actual fated mate. The one who could break the curse.
And according to this message, she was also going to destroy everything.
I looked down at the message again, my hands shaking.
Because if this was true—if Seraphine was both my salvation and my doom—then Elara wasn't the threat.
She was the only thing standing between me and total destruction.
And tomorrow, I was going to test her with fire that could kill her.
I'd just made the biggest mistake of my immortal life.