Elara's POV
The frozen flame weapon hangs in the air between us, beautiful and deadly.
Morvane stares at it. Then at me. Her face twists with rage.
"Fusion magic," she hisses. "The Council said it was just a legend!"
"The Council lies about a lot of things." Azrathion moves in front of me protectively. "Leave now, Morvane. I don't want to kill you."
"You can't kill me." She laughs bitterly. "If I don't bring them her head, they'll execute my daughter. She's only fifty years old, Azrathion. Still a baby by our standards."
Pain flashes across his face. "I know. But this girl is innocent too."
"I don't care!" Ice explodes from Morvane's hands—dozens of sharp spears aimed directly at me.
I grab the fusion weapon without thinking. The moment my fingers touch it, knowledge floods my mind. How to use it. How to shape it. How to make it MINE.
I swing.
The frozen flames cut through Morvane's ice like it's paper. The spears shatter.
Everyone freezes.
"Impossible," Morvane breathes. "You just awakened. You shouldn't be able to—"
"I'm full of surprises." My voice sounds braver than I feel. The weapon pulses in my hands, responding to my heartbeat. "Leave. Now. Or I'll show you more of them."
For a moment, I think she'll attack again. Her face is desperate, torn. Then her shoulders slump.
"They have my daughter," she says quietly. "What would you do if they had someone you loved?"
The question hits hard because I know the answer. I'd do anything. Even terrible things.
"Help us fight the Council," Azrathion says. "Help us free ALL the imprisoned dragons. Including your daughter."
"Fight the Council?" Morvane laughs without humor. "They have hundreds of mages. Weapons designed to kill us. Three centuries of preparation. We'd be slaughtered."
"Not if we had the Dragonheart on our side." Azrathion's hand touches my shoulder. "She can free every dragon they've imprisoned. Unite us. Make us strong enough to win."
Morvane looks at me—really looks at me. "You're just a girl. Barely trained. What makes you think you can fight the most powerful organization in the realm?"
"Because they made me think I was weak my whole life," I say. Anger burns in my chest, hotter than any fire. "They sealed my magic. They let my family abuse me. They sent me to die as a sacrifice. And I'm still standing. So yeah, I think I can fight them."
Something shifts in Morvane's expression. Respect, maybe.
"You've got fire," she admits. "But fire isn't enough. The Council has been hunting Dragonhearts for three centuries. Do you even know why?"
"Because we can free dragons," I say.
"That's part of it." She looks at Azrathion. "You haven't told her everything, have you?"
His jaw tightens. "She just awakened. I was waiting—"
"Waiting for what? For the Council to kill her before she knows what she really is?" Morvane turns back to me. "Your magic wasn't just sealed, girl. It was sealed AT BIRTH. Which means someone knew you'd be born with the Dragonheart."
My stomach drops. "What?"
"Dragonheart magic runs in bloodlines," Morvane continues. "Specific families carry the genetic marker. The Council has been tracking these families for centuries, sealing or killing any child born with the potential."
"My family," I whisper. "The Morwens."
"Your mother's side, probably. The seal requires a blood ritual performed within hours of birth." Morvane's voice turns cold. "Which means your parents KNEW what you were. And they let the Council seal you anyway."
The world tilts.
My parents knew. They KNEW I had powerful magic and they let someone seal it. Let me grow up thinking I was defective. Let me suffer for twenty-four years.
"They chose the Council over their own daughter," I say numbly.
"They chose survival." Azrathion's voice is gentle. "The Council would have killed your entire family if they refused. It's how they maintain control—through fear."
"So they sacrificed me." My hands start shaking. Not with fear. With RAGE. "They sealed my magic, made me think I was worthless, and then sold me as a sacrifice when I was no longer useful!"
Silver fire explodes from my body. Uncontrolled. Wild.
"Elara!" Azrathion grabs my shoulders. "Control it!"
"Why should I?" Tears burn my eyes. "My whole life was a lie! Everything I suffered, every time I tried and failed, every person who looked at me with pity or disgust—it was ALL BECAUSE THEY SEALED ME!"
The fire grows hotter, brighter. The cave walls start to crack.
"If you don't control it, you'll kill us all!" Morvane shouts.
"GOOD!" I scream. "Let it burn! Let EVERYTHING burn!"
Azrathion does the only thing that can stop me—he kisses me.
His lips crash into mine and the soul-bond EXPLODES between us. His magic floods into me, black flames wrapping around my silver fire, containing it, controlling it.
I gasp against his mouth. The rage is still there but it's not consuming me anymore. His presence in my mind, in my heart, anchors me.
He pulls back slowly. "Better?"
I nod, not trusting my voice.
"Your anger is justified," he says quietly. "Everything done to you was wrong. Evil. But if you let rage control you, you'll become just like them—destroying without thinking."
"I want them to suffer," I whisper. "Everyone who did this to me. Everyone who knew and said nothing. I want them to BURN."
"Good." His smile is dark. "Hold onto that rage. Channel it. Use it. But don't let it use you."
Morvane clears her throat. "That was disgustingly romantic. But she's right about one thing—the Council needs to pay. They've destroyed too many lives."
"Does this mean you'll help us?" Azrathion asks.
"I'll do better than that." Her eyes gleam. "I'll tell you exactly how to destroy them. Because I know their greatest secret—the one they've hidden for three centuries."
"What secret?" I ask.
"The location of the dragon prisons. ALL of them." Morvane's smile turns vicious. "Sixty-three dragons imprisoned beneath the Capitol, their magic being drained to fuel the Council's power. If you freed them all at once..."
"It would destroy the Council's entire hierarchy," Azrathion finishes. His expression turns calculating. "But the seals require massive amounts of power to break. Even with the Dragonheart, breaking sixty-three seals simultaneously would—"
"Kill her," Morvane says bluntly. "The magical feedback would burn her alive from the inside out."
"Then we find another way," Azrathion says immediately.
"There is no other way. Not unless—" Morvane stops. Stares at me. "Wait. You have fusion magic."
"So?"
"So fusion magic can combine opposing forces into something new. What if you combined YOUR magic with the SEAL magic? Instead of breaking the seals, what if you TRANSFORMED them?"
Understanding dawns on Azrathion's face. "Turn the prison seals into something else. Something that frees dragons instead of imprisoning them."
"Exactly." Morvane looks at me with something like hope. "The Council used stolen Dragonheart magic to create those seals three centuries ago. Your magic is stronger—you proved that by breaking Azrathion's seal. If you can touch the seal matrix and reverse it..."
"Every dragon goes free at once," I finish. "And the Council loses all their stolen power."
"It's brilliant," Azrathion says. "It's also incredibly dangerous. The seal matrix is in the heart of the Capitol, guarded by their strongest mages. Getting you there alive would be—"
"Suicide," Morvane finishes. "But it's the only way to free everyone. Including my daughter."
Silence fills the cave as we all process this.
"I'll do it," I say finally.
"Elara—" Azrathion starts.
"They sealed me at BIRTH," I interrupt. "They made my parents choose between me and survival. They built their entire system on stolen dragon magic and lies. If I can destroy that—if I can free every dragon they've imprisoned—then everything I suffered will mean something."
I look at both of them. "So teach me. Train me. Make me strong enough to reach that seal matrix. Because I'm going to burn the Council's empire to the ground or die trying."
Azrathion stares at me for a long moment. Then he smiles—that predatory, fierce smile that makes my heart race.
"Five days," he says. "We have five days to train you for the most dangerous mission in three hundred years. Think you're up for it?"
"Make me ready," I say.
"Oh, I will." His golden eyes burn with promise. "By the time I'm done with you, little flame, the Council will wish they'd killed you when they had the chance."
Morvane snorts. "You two are insane. I love it. When do we start?"
"Now," Azrathion says. "Elara, show me that fusion weapon again. If we're going to infiltrate the Capitol, you need to master every weapon type possible."
I concentrate and the frozen flames appear in my hands again.
"Good. Now make it BIGGER."
As I pour more magic into the weapon, making it grow, a thought hits me.
"Wait," I say. "If the Council has been hunting Dragonhearts for three centuries, and they knew I was one at birth, why didn't they just kill me then? Why go through the trouble of sealing me and keeping me alive?"
Morvane and Azrathion exchange a glance.
"What?" I demand. "What aren't you telling me?"
Azrathion's expression goes grim. "The seal doesn't just suppress your magic. It also acts as a tracking spell. As long as the seal was active, the Council knew exactly where you were at all times."
Ice floods my veins. "They were... watching me?"
"Monitoring you," Morvane confirms. "Every Dragonheart child is sealed and monitored. If they show signs of the seal breaking, the Council eliminates them immediately."
"Then why am I alive?" My voice comes out small. "My seal broke. They should have killed me instantly."
"They tried," Azrathion says darkly. "That's what the sacrifice was—a convenient way to eliminate you while maintaining plausible deniability."
"But I survived. And broke your seal." Understanding crashes through me. "Which means they know exactly what I am now. Exactly what I can do."
"Yes," he says.
"So when they come for us in five days..."
"They won't be coming to capture you," Morvane finishes. Her voice is heavy. "They'll be coming to execute you. And they'll bring every weapon, every mage, every resource they have to make sure you die."
The fusion weapon trembles in my hands.
"Good," I say, and mean it. "Let them come. Let them bring everything. Because I'm not the scared, sealed girl they're expecting."
Silver fire and crystalline ice swirl together in my palms, beautiful and deadly.
"I'm the nightmare they created. And it's time they learned what happens when you try to cage a dragon's heart."