Lyra's POV
I can't just stand here.
Kael flew off thinking I helped plan an attack on his land. The castle is shaking with explosions. People are screaming. And I'm standing in his bedroom like a useless display while everything burns.
No. Not this time.
I run to the broken window and look out. Fire rises from the southern tower—the heartstone room, Kael called it. Dragons are flying toward it from every direction, but I can see dark forms fighting them. Not dragons. Something else. Something wrong.
Through the mate bond, I feel Kael's rage and fear. He thinks I'm part of this. Thinks I distracted him with my lies while someone struck his kingdom's heart.
And maybe I did. Maybe Magnus planned this all along—send the fake lady to confuse the Dragon King while the real attack happens.
My stomach twists with guilt so sharp it hurts.
But I didn't know. I swear I didn't know.
I have to do something. Have to show I'm not the enemy.
I run out of the bedroom, my stupid fancy dress wrapping around my legs. The halls are chaos—servants running, guards shouting, fire spreading along the crystal walls.
"You!" A guard grabs my arm. "The Queen must go to the safe room!"
"No!" I pull away. "I need to get to the heartstone chamber!"
"Are you insane? That's where the attack is!"
"Exactly!"
I don't wait for permission. I run toward the blasts, following the smoke and screams. My heart pounds so hard I think it might break through my ribs.
Stupid. This is so stupid. I'm a store girl who doesn't know how to fight. What am I going to do against whoever's attacking?
But through the link, I feel Kael's pain. Someone hurt him. My husband—my mate—is hurt and fighting and scared, and I can't just hide while he bleeds.
I round a turn and slam straight into someone.
Not a guard. Not a helper.
A man in black armor with a face I know from the documents I studied. Duke Magnus.
"Well, well," he says, smiling like a snake. "The little fake lady. Running to save her dragon? How sweet."
Ice floods my blood. "You. You did this."
"Of course I did." He grabs my throat before I can scream, pushing me against the wall. "Did you really think we sent you here just to play dress-up? You were the interruption, you stupid girl. While the Dragon King was busy watching you fumble through dinner, my men were breaking into his heartstone room."
I claw at his hand, but he's too strong. Can't breathe. Can't scream.
Through the bond, I feel Kael's sudden alarm. He felt my terror. He knows I'm in trouble.
"Your job was to keep him busy for one more day," Magnus hisses. "But you couldn't even do that right. You failed so badly at being a princess that he left early to investigate. Now I have to kill you and find another plan."
His hand tightens. Black spots dance in my view.
Then something strange happens.
Heat. Incredible heat growing inside my chest. Not painful—powerful. Like I swallowed the sun.
Magnus's eyes widen. "What—"
Fire bursts from my hands.
Not normal fire. Golden fire that doesn't burn me but makes Magnus scream and stumble backward, freeing my throat.
I fall to my knees, gasping, looking at my hands. They're glowing. Actually burning with flames that don't hurt.
"Phoenix fire," Magnus snarls, holding his burned arm. "So the reports were true. You're not just a commoner—you're phoenix-blooded."
I don't know what that means. Don't understand what's going.
But I understand one thing: I have power. And I'm going to use it.
"Stay away from me," I say, my voice shaking but angry. "Stay away from Kael. Stay away from this kingdom."
Magnus laughs—a terrible sound. "You think waking your magic makes you strong? You can't even stop it. You're going to burn yourself out."
He's right. The fire is spreading up my arms now, getting hotter, harder to control. It wants to explode, wants to swallow everything.
"Your father says hello, by the way," Magnus adds lightly. "Right before I killed him."
The world stops.
"What?"
"Your precious papa. Dead. Three days ago. We didn't need him anymore once you agreed to come here." Magnus smiles. "You did all of this—betrayed your kingdom, lied to a king, destroyed your own honor—for nothing." The fire inside me roars into an inferno. "NO!"
The explosion that comes from my body is pure phoenix flame—golden and white-hot and totally uncontrolled. It blasts Magnus backward through a window. It melts the stone walls. It burns everything except me.
And I can't stop it.
The power pours out of me like a flood, too much, too fast. I'm going to destroy the whole house. Going to kill everyone.
Through the bond, I feel Kael's terror—not for himself, but for me.
He's coming. Flying as fast as he can.
But he won't make it in time.
The fire takes everything, and I'm screaming, and I can't make it stop— Someone grabs me from behind. Arms made of real flame wrap around my burning hands.
"Breathe, child," says Lady Seraphine's calm voice. "Phoenix fire reacts to emotion. Your sadness is feeding it. You must let it go."
"My father—he killed my father—"
"I know. I'm sorry. But if you don't stop this, you'll burn down the palace and everyone in it." Her phoenix fires cool mine, absorbing the excess power. "Breathe with me. In. Out. Let the fire sleep."
I sob, trying to breathe, trying to control the fire inside me.
Slowly—so slowly—the fires die down. My hands stop shining. The heat fades.
I fall in Seraphine's arms, completely exhausted.
"He killed Papa," I whisper. "It was all for nothing. I came here for nothing."
"No," Seraphine says softly. "You came here because you were meant to. Because you're phoenix-blooded. Because you're the Dragon King's true mate." She helps me stand. "And because your father isn't dead."
I look at her. "What?" "Magnus lied. I can sense life forces—it's a phoenix gift. Your father lives. He's imprisoned, yes, but living. Magnus wanted you to lose control, to destroy the house yourself. He wanted you to become the weapon."
Hope and rage fight inside me.
Kael crashes through the broken wall in dragon form, changing to human as he runs to me. His face is covered in blood and soot, his armor cracked.
Through the bond, I feel everything he feels: Relief. Confusion. Fear. And underneath it all—desperate, frightened love that he doesn't want to feel.
"You awakened," he breathes, looking at my still-smoking hands. "Phoenix fire. Seraphine was right. You're phoenix-blooded."
"I'm sorry," I sob. "I didn't know about the attack. I swear I didn't know. Magnus was using me—"
"I know." He pulls me against his chest, his heart beating against my ear. "I felt your truth through the bond. Felt your terror when he grabbed you. I know you're not the enemy."
He holds me like I'm precious. Like I matter.
"But the heartstone," he says softly. "They got to it. Not destroyed, but harmed. Corrupted with dark magic." He pulls back to look at me. "And there's only one way to cleanse corruption from a dragon heartstone."
"How?"
His golden eyes burn into mine. "Phoenix fire. Your fire. You're the only one who can save my country now."
Through the link, I feel what he's not saying: using that much power will probably kill me.