Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
The morning sun crept high above the peaks, washing the Ascension Grounds in a golden light that felt too bright, too cheery for what my gut was already bracing for.
We walked as a squad, our boots echoing in rhythm against the worn stone, but I could feel something was wrong before we even cleared the inner gates.
Then I saw her.
Inderia stood beside Theron on the raised platform, cloaked in ice-blue silk that shimmered with metallic threads, each fold of the gown flowing like liquid silver. Her golden hair was twisted into a crown of braids, pinned with elaborate jewels. A smile played on her lips, calculated and smug.
She looked like the court had been waiting for her return. And that she knew it.
Theron stood tall next to her, draped in a formal storm-gray regalia that clung to his broad frame like armor laced with politics. The black sash of his station crossed over his chest—an heir’s insignia gleaming at the center of it. He didn’t look like a prince anymore.
He looked like a king in waiting.
We moved into formation, our squad finding our assigned position near the front, just as the rest of the Fourth Guild filled in around us. Zander stood across the courtyard with Crownwatch, eyes narrowed. He hadn’t noticed me yet, but his gaze was locked on them.
The major stepped forward, voice booming once the last pair of boots found ground.
“We have the pleasure of announcing a royal union,” he said, crisp and loud enough to silence the murmurs.
The cheers came instantly, mostly from the nobles and the high-ranked riders. Whistles, clapping, scattered shouts of celebration.
But Zander… didn’t move.
He stood stone-still, staring at Theron like he was trying to peel back layers. Like something wasn’t right.
And I knew that look. It was the same one he wore in battle when everything looked too clean, too easy.
Inderia turned toward the crowd, her smile dazzling, clapping lightly as she cast her gaze over the squads like she was already queen.
And then she looked at Zander.
“Of course,” she called, her voice as sweet as poisoned honey, “some weddings are a long time coming, aren’t they, Prince Zander?”
A ripple of confusion spread through the ranks. Several heads turned. Every dragon that had landed near us stirred.
Zander’s jaw flexed.
“After all,” Inderia continued, her hands folded demurely over her stomach, “it would be such a shame if old promises were forgotten, especially those sealed in royal blood.”
Tension cracked through the air like lightning. I felt my stomach twist as every rider from Fourth Guild turned toward Zander, whispering.
My own blood went cold.
Zander’s shoulders stiffened as he took a single step forward. “This isn’t the place.”
“Oh,” Inderia purred, “but I think it is. After all, the Fourth should know who their next princess will be.”
He didn’t speak.
Didn’t deny it.
Didn’t move.
And that silence was louder than any oath.
Theron’s hand slid to Inderia’s arm, fingers brushing over the fine silk of her sleeve with something too tender to be diplomatic. The kind of touch that said mine, and not just in the way of kings and crowns.
“My nuptials will proceed in the coming weeks,” Theron declared to the crowd, voice rising like a trumpet.
Cheers erupted, nobles clapped, riders raised their fists, and the distant drums of the ceremonial cliffs thundered once in approval.
Zander… exhaled. Just slightly. His shoulders eased beneath his formal leathers as if he’d been bracing for something worse.
Inderia turned, smiling up at Theron as if he’d hung the moons himself. Then, slowly, she angled her gaze toward Zander. Her lips curled.
“And you are next.”
That fragile peace cracked.
Zander moved, deliberate, controlled, until his boots met the first step of the platform, but before he could say a word, Theron lifted his hand and pointed beyond him.
“Remand,” he called. “I wish a word with you and the Rebec girl.”
I swore under my breath and stepped forward, the stone beneath my boots suddenly feeling far too loud.
Remy was already moving beside me, and he didn’t look any happier than Zander did.
We stopped at the foot of the dais. Theron stood tall above us, radiating the kind of false calm that made my skin crawl.
He turned to Inderia and then looked at Zander. “It’s time you fulfill your obligation to Lady Inderia.”
Zander’s jaw clenched.
Then Theron’s eyes cut to me, and something in them gleamed with amusement. “As for you, Remand,” he said, voice laced with mock civility, “I want your honest opinion on the Sentinel. Can this commoner bring that dragon to heel?”
Remy didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
But his eyes… they flared like twin sparks about to ignite.
“Dragons do not heel,” he said, each word carefully pronounced. “Kaelith chose Ashlyn. And considering Kaelith predates the unification treaty, I’d be very wary of treating her like a dog.”
Silence.
Remy stepped forward calmly.
“The Sentinel is the most powerful and revered dragon on the isle. I would advise extreme caution.”
Theron’s face didn’t move, but his knuckles had gone white against the edge of the railing.
“You will take her on a scouting mission. It would be best if your dragon and hers got used to being together.”
A deafening roar split the air, long, thunderous, ancient.
From the isle.
From Hein.
Zander stepped forward, gaze hard.
“Be very careful of your next words,” he said. “Hein is very protective of Kaelith. And he will have no issue burning your royal bedchamber to the ground.”
Theron turned on him, fury flashing. “You can’t threaten me.”
Zander’s voice was ice.
“I didn’t.”
Theron’s gaze swept across the assembled riders, but the cheers from before had long died out. The silence was thick now, taut, watchful. Even the dragons who had landed had gone still, their wings tucked tight, their eyes glowing in unblinking quiet.
The fighting between the princes was no longer court gossip whispered between mouthfuls of bread.
It was bleeding into the ranks.
And everyone knew it.
“We will discuss this in private, Zander,” Theron bit out, his voice a strained thread of control. Then his eyes shifted to Remy, cold and commanding. “Remand. Take Prospect Rebec to Elmwell Falls.”
I barely heard the command over the rush of blood in my ears.
But I saw Inderia.
Smirking.
Standing like a queen already crowned.
Why wouldn’t she smile? Theron didn’t have to chain me to a tower—he could simply order me to cross the entire Earendall Continent, scattering me far enough that I’d never stand beside Zander again.
Never fight beside my squad.
He could make me disappear under the weight of protocol and politics and duty.
And Remy?
Had he agreed to help him?
They were friends once. Allies in a war I hadn’t been there to see. And Remy didn’t want me with Zander. That much, he’d made clear.
Theron’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts.
“Leave. Now.”
Remy’s jaw ticked as he turned away from Theron without bowing.
He didn’t speak. Just muttered to me through clenched teeth, “Call your dragon.”
I reached for Kaelith.
She didn’t answer.
But less than three minutes later, she came, crashing down from the sky like a silent storm, her wings furling with a low thump of air. Katama landed beside her, graceful and poised, the two dragons mirroring each other in a way that made the silence around us shift again.
Kaelith’s golden eyes met mine, unreadable.
“The falls are only a couple of hours away,” Remy said, not looking at me. “You okay without a saddle?”
I gave a single nod, already climbing onto Kaelith’s broad back.
Remy mounted Katama beside me. We looped the ropes, securing ourselves, hands finding grooves in the smooth scale we both knew by heart.
I didn’t speak as Kaelith launched into the sky, the wind ripping at my braids.
Because the question still burned in my mind.
Whose order was Remy really following?
The wind tore at my skin as Kaelith soared high above the silver canopy, the horizon blurring into mist-draped cliffs and the wide shimmer of Elmwell Falls in the distance. We didn’t speak.
Or rather, she didn’t.
Kaelith’s silence pressed against me like stone, heavier than any scolding.
I’m sorry, I tried, reaching through the thread of our bond. I didn’t mean to stir the hatchlings. I didn’t mean to scare you.
Still nothing.
My heart cracked a little more with every beat.
Everything felt like it was falling apart, Zander, the prophecy, Kaelith’s trust, and now this forced flight with a rider who may or may not be helping the very prince trying to erase me from the court.
I pressed my cheek against Kaelith’s scales, and that was when I felt it, like a strand of breath threading through the smoke.
Hello, my little storm cloud.
I gasped aloud, nearly slipping my grip on the rope.
Siergen.
Still alive, despite the odds, he said with a teasing lilt. Were you worried?
Of course I was! I bit back. I can’t imagine this world without you in it.
Ah, he drawled, it is nice to be admired by one so beautiful.
You are so strange for a dragon, I whispered, but my pulse betrayed me. But I feared for you.
Before I could say more, Kaelith growled low in my mind.
You’re being ridiculous, she snapped at him.
If you don’t want her, Siergen shot back, perhaps you should give her to someone who does.
He didn’t say it was him.
He didn’t have to.
Kaelith’s fury ignited like a distant storm cloud crackling with heat.
You are not compatible with her.
I blinked. “Wait, what?” I murmured aloud, more to myself.
I knew riders had to meld with their dragon’s power, knew the bond was more than ceremony and scale.
But…
I wish you were my rider, he whispered across the tether. I would choose you in an instant. I don’t care what people say. You’re beautiful to me.
Silence.
Then, Siergen’s voice again, low and tight.
The humans believe that I am a runt. I never cared about any of that. But you—
His voice cracked.