Kaelith's POV
"Get behind me. Now."
I positioned myself between the human healer and the window as another explosion rocked the tower. My dragon roared inside me, demanding I shift and tear apart every human soldier daring to attack my fortress.
But something held me back.
The girl—Seraphina—wasn't cowering like I expected. She stood firm despite the chaos, her chin lifted in defiance even as the floor cracked beneath our feet.
"If you go out there to fight, the poison could kill you mid-battle," she said, her voice surprisingly steady. "You're not fully healed yet."
"I don't need to be fully healed to destroy an army of humans." I felt my body begin to shimmer, scales rippling under my skin as the transformation started.
She grabbed my arm.
The touch sent a shock through my entire body—not painful, but electric. Alive. The poison in my veins actually retreated from the contact point, like it feared her.
"Please," she whispered, and something in her voice made me pause. "Don't throw away what we just accomplished. Let me finish healing you first. Then you can destroy whoever you want."
Before I could respond, Darius crashed through the door, his face grim.
"My King! The humans have breached the outer walls. They're using heartstone weapons—our warriors are falling!" His eyes flicked to Seraphina with barely concealed hatred. "This is her fault. They came for her. Give her to them and they'll leave!"
"No," I heard myself say.
Everyone froze.
"My King?" Darius looked shocked. "But she's just a human—"
"She's MY human." The words came out as a growl. "And I don't surrender what's mine to anyone."
Seraphina's eyes widened in surprise.
Another explosion, closer this time. The entire tower swayed dangerously.
"We need to evacuate this tower immediately," Darius insisted. "It's going to collapse!"
"Then evacuate it." I made my decision in an instant. "Get everyone out. Take the healer and her servant to the underground sanctuary. Guard them with your life, Darius. If anything happens to her—"
"You'll what? Kill me?" Darius's voice turned cold. "My King, you're choosing a human over your own people. Over the dragons who've served you for centuries. Have you gone mad?"
The disrespect in his tone made my dragon snarl.
I moved faster than human eyes could track, my hand around Darius's throat, slamming him against the wall. "Question me again, and you won't live to regret it."
His eyes widened with shock and something else—fear.
Good. He should fear me.
"Take them to the sanctuary," I repeated, my voice deadly calm. "That's an order from your King. Obey or die."
I released him. He stumbled back, touching his throat where my fingers had left red marks.
"Yes, my King," he said quietly, but his eyes held something dark. Resentment. Anger.
I filed that away to deal with later.
Right now, I had an army to annihilate.
"Wait!" Seraphina stepped forward, her hand outstretched toward me. "At least let me do something before you go. Let me give you more healing. Please."
The desperation in her voice surprised me. Why did she care if I died? She barely knew me. I'd threatened to kill her multiple times.
"There's no time—"
"There's always time." She closed the distance between us, her hands already glowing with that strange golden light. "Thirty seconds. That's all I need."
I should refuse. I should shift and fly out there to protect my territory like the king I was supposed to be.
But something about her—about the way she looked at me like I mattered, like I was worth saving—made me stay.
"Thirty seconds," I agreed.
She pressed her glowing hands against my chest, right over my heart where the poison was worst. The warmth that flooded through me was incredible—not just physical healing, but something deeper. Something that touched the cold, dead places inside me that I thought were gone forever.
The black veins across my chest receded dramatically, fading to almost nothing. Power surged through my body, stronger than I'd felt in two centuries.
"How..." I stared at her in wonder. "How are you doing this?"
"I don't know," she admitted, breathing hard from the effort. "But I know you need to come back alive. So please... be careful."
Something in my chest tightened at those words.
When was the last time anyone had asked me to be careful? To come back alive? When was the last time anyone had cared if I lived or died beyond what it meant for them?
I cupped her face gently, my thumb brushing her cheek. "I'll come back, little healer. I promise."
Then I turned and leaped from the window, my body transforming mid-air into my true form.
Seraphina's POV
I watched Kaelith transform into the most magnificent creature I'd ever seen.
His dragon form was massive—easily the size of three houses stacked together. His scales were black as midnight and gleamed like polished obsidian. His eyes burned molten gold, and when he roared, the sound shook the entire mountain.
He was terrifying and beautiful and completely unstoppable.
"Come on!" Darius grabbed my arm roughly, his fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. "Move!"
He dragged Lyria and me out of the room, down spiraling staircases that seemed to go on forever. Other dragons rushed past us—some in human form carrying weapons, others already shifted and flying through broken windows toward the battle outside.
"You've doomed us all," Darius hissed as we ran. "The King is obsessed with you. He's making stupid decisions because of you."
"I didn't ask for any of this!" I shot back, trying to keep up with his brutal pace.
"Didn't you?" His eyes were cold. "You came here, wormed your way into his confidence, used your supposed healing powers to manipulate him—"
"I'm not manipulating anyone!"
"Then explain why our King—who hasn't cared about anything but revenge for two hundred years—is suddenly willing to risk everything for one insignificant human!"
I had no answer for that because I didn't understand it either.
We burst through a hidden door into an underground chamber. The walls were smooth stone, and torches provided flickering light. About twenty other people were already there—servants, children, elderly dragons who couldn't fight.
They all stared at us with open hostility.
"That's her," someone whispered. "That's the human who brought the army here."
"She should be thrown to the soldiers!"
"She's cursed our King!"
Darius shoved me toward a corner. "Stay here. Don't talk to anyone. Don't move. Just... exist quietly until this is over."
He turned to leave.
"Wait!" I called out. "Where are you going?"
"To fight. Unlike some people, I actually protect those I care about." The insult was clear.
He disappeared back through the door, leaving Lyria and me surrounded by people who looked at us like we were disease.
An explosion above us shook dust from the ceiling. The battle was getting closer.
"Miss," Lyria whispered, pressing close to me. "I'm scared."
"Me too," I admitted.
Minutes crawled by. More explosions. Screaming. The sounds of battle filtered down even through the thick stone.
Then—silence.
Absolute, terrifying silence.
Everyone in the sanctuary held their breath, waiting.
The door burst open.
We all jumped, expecting Darius or another dragon warrior.
Instead, Lord Damien walked in, flanked by human soldiers carrying those horrible heartstone weapons.
My blood turned to ice.
"Well, well." Damien's smile was cruel and triumphant. "Hello, Seraphina. Miss me?"
Behind him, more soldiers poured into the sanctuary. The dragons who'd been sheltering here backed against the walls, some shifting into defensive positions, but they were outnumbered and trapped.
"How did you find this place?" I demanded, my voice shaking.
"We had help." Damien gestured, and another figure stepped through the door.
Darius.
My heart stopped.
"You," I breathed. "You're the traitor."
Darius didn't even look ashamed. "I'm a patriot. The Dragon King has been compromised by human influence—by you. He's making decisions that will destroy our people. Someone had to stop him."
"By betraying him to his enemies?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"By removing the problem." Darius pointed at me. "You. You're the problem. The King is obsessed with you, and that obsession is weakness. Once you're gone, he'll return to being the ruthless leader we need."
"So you're just going to hand me over?" My voice cracked.
"Oh, it's more than that." Damien stepped closer, his expression full of malicious pleasure. "Elena sends her regards, by the way. She wanted me to tell you that she's enjoying your mother's necklace very much."
Rage burned through my fear.
"You made a deal," I realized. "You and Darius. He tells you how to get in, and you kill me. What did he get in return?"
"A promise that once you're dead and the King returns to his senses, humans will leave dragons alone," Darius said coldly. "It's a fair trade. One human life for lasting peace."
"You're a fool," I spat. "You think they'll keep that promise? They're using heartstone weapons! They want to kill ALL dragons, not make peace!"
Doubt flickered across Darius's face.
Damien laughed. "She's right, you know. We are planning to kill all dragons. But you were so desperate to get rid of her that you believed whatever we told you." He signaled to his soldiers. "Grab the healer. Kill anyone who tries to stop us."
Soldiers moved forward.
The dragons in the sanctuary prepared to fight, but they were weak, old, or young. Against heartstone weapons, they didn't stand a chance.
Lyria grabbed my arm. "Miss, what do we do?"
I had no idea.
I was trapped underground with no escape, surrounded by enemies, and the one person who'd promised to protect me was fighting a battle far above us.
Kaelith didn't even know what was happening down here.
By the time he returned, I'd be dead.
Damien reached for me, his smile victorious.
And then something inside me snapped.
I wasn't going to die here.
I wasn't going to let Elena and Damien win.
I wasn't going to be the helpless victim anymore.
The rage and fear and desperation inside me exploded outward in a wave of pure golden light—the same light that had healed Kaelith, but a thousand times stronger.
Everyone in the sanctuary was thrown backward by the force of it.
When the light faded, I stood in the center of the room, my hands still glowing, my whole body trembling with power I didn't understand.
"Don't," I said, my voice echoing strangely, "touch me."
Damien stared at me in shock. "What are you?"
I had no answer.
But before anyone could move, the entire underground sanctuary began to shake violently.
Not from explosions above.
From something coming FROM BELOW.
The stone floor cracked open with a deafening roar.
And through the crack, I saw something that made my heart stop.
Eyes.
Massive, glowing red eyes staring up at us from the darkness beneath the fortress.
Something ancient and terrible was waking up.
And my power had called to it.
"What have you done?" Darius whispered in horror.
The crack widened.
A clawed hand—bigger than a horse—reached through.
Whatever was down there was coming up.
And it was hungry.