One last dance

"Has the Crown Prince lost his mind?"

King Theron's furious roar crashed into my skull. Fragments of memory flashed before my eyes—pain, darkness, the small, still body of my child—and then I snapped awake, my body drenched in cold sweat.

I stared at my surroundings. The familiar dragon-carved pillars. The crimson carpet. The courtiers in their jeweled robes.

I was alive. How was this possible?

"Do you know that Lady Seraphina is a Gold dragon?" the King thundered. "Only she is worthy of you!"

"Royal Gold? A lie wrapped in scales!"

The voice dripped with contempt. I turned my head slowly.

Drakon Vexis, Crown Prince of the Scarlet Sun Kingdom, stood a few paces away. His eyes burned with hatred as he glared at me. Then he swept his robes aside and dropped to his knees before his father.

"Father, I love Lady Vania Ashford. I will take her as my princess. My mate. My bride."

His voice was iron.

My body swayed. Thoughts clicked into place like shattered shards of a mirror.

Not only had the gods returned me to this day. Drakon had returned too.

Among dragonkin, bloodline was everything. I was the only trueborn daughter of my house, a rare Gold dragon. From the day I was born, I was destined to marry the Dragon King.

At eighteen, I became his wife.

But two years passed without a child. Healer after healer examined me. There was nothing wrong with me. That meant the problem was him.

I could not bear to tell Drakon the truth.So I went home and begged my mother to teach me a forbidden magic—one that consumed my own life to conceive a child.I performed the rite in secret, bleeding myself dry, all to give him the child he could never father.

And I succeeded. I gave birth to an Ice Blue dragon hatchling.

Drakon was furious. I had given him the lowest, most base dragon imaginable.

He accused me of adultery. He summoned every Ice Blue dragon in the kingdom and forced my newborn to undergo blood tests against each one.

I had nothing to hide. But my child suffered.

Finally, I cast the truth-seeking flame. The child's soul sang in answer to Drakon's. The magic did not lie. The child was his.

That very day, news arrived from the dragon palace. My younger half-sister Vania had given birth to a Royal Gold hatchling for Prince Lysander, the King's third son. Her fame spread like wildfire. Drakon lost his claim to the throne.

In his fury, he killed my child. He threw me into a cold cell. I was tortured and starved until my body gave out.

Now I stood here, young and whole, while Drakon sneered at me.

My whole body trembled. The fear and grief crashed over me like tidal waves. My legs nearly gave way.

"Lady Seraphina..." King Theron looked at me with awkward pity.

I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I had mastered my face.

"I agree," I said quietly.

But in this life, he would never have children. That spell required pure dragon blood—and I was the only one who had it.

Drakon snorted. His eyes raked over me with pure disgust. "Of course you wouldn't dare object."

Beside him, Vania could barely hide her joy. The poor fool thought fortune had fallen into her lap. She shot me a triumphant smile.

I shook my head slightly.

Fortune or nightmare? She would find out soon enough.