Chapter 2

Behind Marcus, a silver placard stood beside the gate.

Welcome Dragon King, and the Dragon Queen.

The words had been polished bright for the arrival of people Marcus had spent years trying to impress.

I pointed to the title.

“That is who I am.”

The laughter came almost at once.

“She says she is the Dragon Queen.”

“She claims she belongs to Caelan Frost.”

“Three years away, and she has lost her mind.”

Clara laughed hardest. When she finally stepped toward the placard, her smile was sharp with contempt.

“Read carefully, Sienna. We are waiting for the Dragon King’s mate, the most honored woman in the dragon clans. Not a rejected woman carrying some nameless child.”

She raised her voice for the crowd.

“Perhaps she has not heard. Last month, His Majesty spent fifty million gold marks at the royal auction for a ruby ring.”

The mention of the ring shifted the mood at once.

“Fifty million?”

“They say it was a relic from the ancient Frost Dragon dynasty.”

“Only the true Dragon Queen could wear something like that.”

Clara lifted her bare hand into the light, already imagining the ruby on her own finger.

“One gift,” she said, “and the entire Dragon Court understood her place.”

My thumb brushed the ring on my left hand.

Caelan had placed it there himself in the frost garden of the northern palace. He had knelt before me with the ancient ruby in his palm and apologized because it was only the best stone he could find.

Only Caelan Frost could call a royal relic inadequate.

Clara noticed the movement.

“What is that on your hand?”

Marcus seized my wrist before I could pull away. The grip bit hard enough to bruise, but his attention had already fixed on the ruby and the Frost Dragon crest etched along the band.

For a brief moment, doubt crossed his face.

“A good imitation.”

Clara latched on to that answer with relief.

“Yes. Of course. It has to be fake.”

Marcus turned the ring on my finger, his thumb scraping over the crest.

“Where did you get this? From the Azure Dragon who abandoned you? Or did you steal it from someone foolish enough to pity you?”

“Let go of me.”

He pulled harder. Pain shot through my finger as the ring slid free, and the ruby flashed in his palm, brilliant and unmistakable.

Even then, Marcus refused to believe it.

“The workmanship is decent,” he said. “Whoever made this knew enough to copy the royal crest.”

“It is mine.”

Clara snatched the ring from him and lifted it above her head.

“Look at this. A market counterfeit, and she wears it like a crown.”

Her attendants crowded close, eager to agree now that Marcus had decided what the truth would be.

“It does look real.”

“Too real for someone like her.”

“Good fakes always do.”

I held out my hand. “Give it back.”

Clara rolled the ring between her fingers.

“Or what? Will you summon the Dragon King to punish me?”

“Caelan gave that to me.”

He struck me across the face before anyone could speak. The blow filled my mouth with blood and snapped the laughter around us into silence.

“You dare speak the Dragon King’s name like he is yours to call?”

He caught my chin, forcing me to face him.

“A woman like you does not say His Majesty’s name. If he heard you using it to support your lies, he would have you dragged before the Dragon Court himself.”

Clara watched with open satisfaction, the ring still trapped in her hand.

Marcus released me and smoothed his coat, as if he had only corrected a servant.

“Enough. I have been more patient than you deserve.”

His voice softened into the same false mercy he had offered at the gate.

“Beg me, Sienna. Beg properly, and I will still take you in. You can work in my household, and I will allow that child in your belly to be born under my roof.”

Clara’s face tightened.

“Marcus.”

He ignored her.

“You have no clan protection, no mate willing to claim you, no title, and no coin. Without me, you and that child will not survive long outside these walls.”

Once, words like those might have broken me. Three years ago, his rejection had sent me out of Blackthorn Keep with nothing but the Dragon Goddess’s sign and a heart he had left in ruins. Now his pity could no longer reach me.

“No.”

“I do not need your charity.”

Clara laughed again, though there was strain beneath it now. She threw the ring at my feet.

“Then crawl back to whatever gutter kept you alive. When you are starving, remember that Marcus offered you mercy.”

I picked up the ring and wiped the dust from the ruby with my sleeve. The crest was still intact.

When I slid it back onto my finger, Marcus’s frown deepened.

“You will regret this.”

I left the servant’s livery where it lay and walked beyond the gate road.

Behind me, Clara called out, “Keep pretending, Sienna. When the real Dragon Queen arrives, I hope you are still brave enough to wear that fake.”

The ring sat steady on my hand.

In three days, every lord in Blackthorn Keep would see it again.