Isla's POV
Lady Helena slams the book shut inches from my face.
"What is Princess Celeste's favorite breakfast?" she demands.
"Toast with honey butter and fresh berries. Tea with two sugars. No milk."
"Her riding instructor's name?"
"Master Phillip from the western estates."
"The year her grandmother died?"
"Eight years ago. Summer fever."
Lady Helena circles me like a hunting wolf. I've been awake for thirty-six hours straight. My eyes burn. My throat is raw from repeating facts over and over. The bruises from her wooden rod cover my arms and legs in purple and yellow patches.
Three days of torture compressed into brutal, sleepless hours. Three days of becoming someone else.
"You'll do," Lady Helena finally says. "Barely. Don't embarrass me in front of the Dragon King, or I'll make sure your brother suffers for it."
She leaves without another word.
I collapse against the desk, my whole body shaking. It's done. The training is finished. Tonight, guards will come for me. Tomorrow morning, I leave for the North.
Tomorrow, I stop being Isla Merrick forever.
But first, I need to see Thomas one more time.
I wait until Lady Helena's footsteps fade completely. Then I slip out of the study room and navigate the servant passages I know by heart. No more sneaking through open grounds where guards can catch me. This time, I'm smarter.
The passages are dark and dusty, built centuries ago so servants could move through the palace without being seen by nobles. My feet know every twist and turn even without light.
I emerge behind a stack of hay bales near the stables. Guards patrol the main entrance, but there's a loose board on the back wall that I've used since I was ten years old.
Thomas sits in his corner, coughing into a rag. The sound is worse than beforewetter, deeper. He's getting sicker.
"Tommy," I whisper.
He jumps, then sees me and his whole face transforms. "Isla! I thoughtafter last night, I thought they wouldn't let you come back."
"I had to see you." I crawl through the hay and wrap my arms around him. He's so thin. I can feel every rib through his shirt. "How are you feeling?"
"Worse." He doesn't lie to me. Never has. "The medicine ran out yesterday. I asked one of the stable masters for money to buy more, but he said no."
Rage burns in my chest, but I push it down. Getting angry won't help. "You're going to get better medicine soon. The Queen promised. The good kind that actually works."
"About that." Thomas pulls back to look at my face. "Why is the Queen helping us? And where are you really going? Don't lie to me, Isla. Please."
My throat closes up. I've lied to nobles and guards and Lady Helena for three days straight. But lying to Thomas feels impossible.
"I'm going on a trip," I manage. "For the Queen. It's important work."
"What kind of work?"
"I can't tell you. But it's going to keep you safe and healthy. That's all that matters."
Thomas's eyes fill with tears. "You're scaring me. This doesn't feel right. Something bad is happening, and you won't tell me what."
"Nothing bad is happening to you. I promise."
"But what about you?" His voice cracks. "What's happening to you?"
I can't answer that. Can't tell him I'm about to marry a dragon shifter who could kill me if he discovers the truth. Can't explain that one wrong word or gesture means we both die.
"I'll be fine," I lie. "I'm always fine."
"No, you're not." Tears spill down his cheeks. "You pretend to be fine because you think I'm too sick and stupid to notice. But I notice everything, Isla. I see how tired you are. How your hands shake when you think I'm not looking. How you skip meals to save money for my medicine."
"That's what sisters do," I whisper.
"Sisters don't disappear on mysterious trips for evil queens!" Thomas grabs my shoulders. "Take me with you. Whatever you're doing, wherever you're going, let me come. We can face it together."
"I can't. You have to stay here."
"Why?"
"Because the Queen said so."
"Then don't go!" Thomas's voice rises to a desperate shout. "If the Queen is making you do something dangerous, just say no! We'll run away together. We'll leave the kingdom. We'll find somewhere safe and"
"There is nowhere safe." I grip his arms. "Not for us. We're nobody, Tommy. We have no money, no family, no way to protect ourselves. If we run, the Queen's guards will hunt us down within a day."
"So you're just giving up? Letting her send you away?"
"I'm saving your life!" The words explode out of me. "This is the only way to keep you alive. The only way to get you the medicine you need. So yes, I'm going. And you're staying. And that's final."
Thomas stares at me, his thin chest heaving. Then he throws his arms around my neck and sobs into my shoulder.
"I don't want you to go," he cries. "Please don't leave me alone. I'm scared."
"I'm scared too," I admit, holding him tight. "But I'm more scared of losing you. I can survive anything as long as I know you're safe."
We sit together in the hay while Thomas cries himself into exhaustion. His tears soak through my shirt. His whole body shakes with coughing and fear and the unfairness of being fourteen and sick and about to lose the only person who loves him.
I rock him like I did when he was little and had nightmares. I sing the old lullaby our mother used to sing before she died. I memorize the weight of him in my arms, the smell of hay and horses that always clings to his hair, the sound of his wheezing breath.
This might be the last time I ever hold my brother.
Finally, his breathing evens out. He's fallen asleep with his head on my shoulder and tear tracks on his face.
I lower him gently onto his blanket and tuck it around him. He looks so young and vulnerable in sleep. So breakable.
"I love you, Tommy," I whisper. "Be strong. Get better. And remember that everything I'm doing is for you."
He doesn't hear me. Doesn't know I'm saying goodbye.
I force myself to stand. Force myself to walk away. Force myself not to look back because if I do, I'll never leave.
The servant passages feel longer in the darkness. Every step takes me further from my brother and closer to a future I don't want.
I emerge in the corridor near my tiny servant quarters. Guards wait outside my doorthree of them, fully armed.
"Time to pack," the largest one says. "You leave at dawn."
They follow me into the cramped room I've called home for twelve years. I own almost nothing. A spare dress. A comb. The book of fairy tales my mother left me.
"Pack faster," another guard orders.
I shove everything into a cloth bag with shaking hands. This is really happening. In a few hours, I'll be in a fancy carriage heading north. Heading toward dragons and snow and a marriage built on lies.
The guards march me to a preparation room where servants I don't recognize help me into the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. They style my hair with pins and ribbons. They paint my face with powder and rouge.
When they hold up a mirror, I barely recognize myself. I look like Princess Celeste. I look like someone important.
I look like a stranger.
"Sleep," one of the servants says, pointing to a bed that's far too soft and expensive for someone like me. "You'll need your strength for the journey."
But I can't sleep. I lie awake staring at the ceiling, counting down the hours until my old life ends.
Just before dawn, a knock sounds on the door. A guard enters and hands me a sealed envelope.
"From the Queen," he says. "She wanted you to read it before you leave."
My hands tremble as I break the wax seal. Inside is a single piece of paper with three sentences in Queen Morgana's sharp handwriting:
"Remember your training. Remember your mission. Rememberone mistake, and your brother dies."
The paper slips from my fingers and flutters to the floor.
One mistake.
That's all it takes to destroy everything.
Another knock. "The carriage is ready, Princess Celeste."
Princess Celeste. That's me now. That's who I have to be every second of every day for the rest of my life.
I stand on shaking legs and walk to the door. Guards flank me on both sides, ready to make sure I don't run.
We move through the pre-dawn palace toward the courtyard where my carriage waits. Servants line the hallways, whispering and staring at the princess who's brave enough to marry a monster.
If only they knew the truth.
We reach the grand entrance. Through the open doors, I see an enormous carriage decorated with the royal family's crest. Six white horses stamp their hooves, steam rising from their nostrils in the cold morning air.
This is it. The moment everything changes forever.
I take one step forward.
Then I hear ita terrible, wet coughing from somewhere behind me. A sound I'd recognize anywhere.
Thomas.
I spin around and see him being dragged through a side door by two guards. He's fighting them weakly, still coughing, calling my name.
"Isla! Isla, wait!"
"Keep moving," my guard commands, shoving me toward the carriage.
"No! Let me say goodbye! Just one more minute, please"
"The Queen's orders. No contact with anyone from your old life. You're Princess Celeste now. You don't know any stable boys."
They push me into the carriage and slam the door shut. Through the window, I see Thomas collapse in the guards' arms, coughing so hard he can't breathe.
Then the carriage lurches forward, and we're moving.
I press my face against the window, watching my brother grow smaller and smaller until the palace disappears behind morning fog.
The Queen's note burns in my pocket.
Seven days until I reach the Dragon Kingdom.
Seven days until I meet the husband who might kill me if he learns the truth.
Seven days to perfect the lies that will keep Thomas alive.
The carriage picks up speed, carrying me north toward mountains and monsters and a marriage I never wanted.
And in the distance, I swear I hear thunder.
Or maybe it's something else.
Something with wings.