Chapter 32
King Frederik
"This is a horrible idea, Your Majesty," Cornelius says from beside me, his weathered face drawn with concern. "We should turn back before it's too late. The Shadowlands are dangerous enough, but marching into dragon territory with this small force is suicide."
"No," I snap, my hand tightening on the reins of my horse.
"There have been reports that Solace entered the Shadowlands in search of the dragons.
That traitor went looking for them, and if she can make it through, so can we.
It's time I do something instead of sitting in my castle waiting for others to fail.
We march through that passageway and take back what is ours.
I am due my riches. I've waited long enough. "
My cousin Margot rides up on my other side, her expression carefully neutral but I can see the doubt in her eyes.
"Frederik, perhaps we should reconsider the timing.
The warriors who've returned speak of impossible defenses, of magic that makes approach nearly suicidal.
And you've gathered this force so hastily, without proper preparation or planning. "
"Preparation?" I laugh, the sound bitter and sharp.
"I've been preparing for this for decades, Margot.
Every warrior I've sent, every expedition I've funded, it's all been preparation.
And now I have intelligence that there's a way through, that Solace found passage.
If a Beta can manage it, surely I can with trained warriors at my back. "
I gathered up these people just hours after announcing we'd hold a ceremony for Kaia a week from then.
The ceremony was supposed to be a somber affair, a chance for the kingdom to mourn the lost princess before moving forward with new leadership.
But I'm not going to wait around for someone else to bring me my riches, not after that last warrior stumbled back through the gates yesterday saying it was a hopeless journey.
Hopeless. The word echoes in my mind with mocking clarity. Nothing is hopeless if you want it badly enough, if you're willing to take what you're owed by force if necessary.
The warrior who returned, a young Alpha named Silas who'd been so confident when he left, came back burned and broken.
His armor was scorched, his skin blistered in places where dragon fire had caught him.
He'd babbled about flying beasts and magic that turned the very air to flame, about defenses that no mortal force could breach.
But he also mentioned something else before the healers took him away. He said he saw Solace, alive and well, being escorted into a massive white castle by dragon guards. He said she looked unharmed, comfortable even, like she belonged there. Like she'd been welcomed rather than captured.
That's when I knew. That Beta always was too ambitious for her own good, too attached to my daughter and after taking her life, she ran. She saw an opportunity and took it, damn the consequences for everyone else.
So I called together every able warrior I could find, promised them wealth and glory beyond measure, and we set out within hours.
Margot protested, Cornelius tried to reason with me, but I wouldn't hear it. This ends now. I will get my riches, I will reclaim my daughter’s body and her spirit, and I will strike down that traitorous Beta for her crimes.
Now we're at the edge of Embrath, a place I haven't been for nearly four decades.
The last time I stood here, I had Isolde with me.
She was newly captured, bound with iron chains that burned her dragon skin, weakened by magic-suppressing cuffs I'd acquired from a dark mage who promised they'd keep her compliant.
I remember the fear in her eyes when she realized where I'd brought her, what I was showing her.
Her home, visible in the distance but impossible to reach.
I told her then that if she tried to escape, if she tried to return to her people, I would burn every village in Valoria until she surrendered.
That her freedom wasn't worth the lives of innocent wolves.
She never tried to run after that. She stayed, played the role of dutiful queen, gave me a daughter. But she never stopped hating me. I could see it in her eyes every time she looked at me, that barely concealed loathing mixed with resignation.
Good riddance when she finally died. Though I'll admit, I'd hoped to get more use out of her first. More children, preferably sons.
Access to her dragon magic that she kept locked away no matter how I threatened or cajoled.
Some indication of where her people kept their wealth so I could claim what was rightfully mine through marriage.
But she gave me nothing except one disappointing daughter who couldn't even shift properly.
"Your Majesty," Helena speaks up from further back in the column. "The scouts report that the passage ahead is clear but there's strange magic in the air. They recommend we proceed with extreme caution."
"Extreme caution is what's kept us from our goal all these years," I mutter. "We proceed at full speed. I want to reach that castle before nightfall."