Aria's POV
"My mother is alive."
I stare at the photo on my phone screen, my hands shaking so hard I can barely hold it. The woman in the chains looks older, thinner, but it's definitely her. Same warm brown eyes. Same small scar above her left eyebrow from when I accidentally hit her with a toy as a kid.
"That's impossible," Zara breathes, looking over my shoulder. "She died ten years ago. You went to her funeral."
"Then who did I bury?" My voice cracks.
Kael takes the phone gently from my hands, his jaw tight as he reads the message. "It's a trap."
"I don't care." I snatch the phone back. "If there's even a chance she's alive—"
"They'll kill you the moment you show up alone," Lysander says bluntly. "This is clearly bait to separate you from your dragons."
"He's right," Kael says, his golden eyes burning with worry. "Aria, you just revealed dragons exist. You humiliated powerful people. Someone wants you dead, and they're using your mother to lure you out."
I press my hands against my face, trying to think through the panic. My mother. My kind, gentle mother who taught me to read and never raised her voice. Who died—or disappeared—when I was twelve.
The same year I met Kael.
I drop my hands and look at him sharply. "You said you found me when I was twelve. Crying in an alley because bullies destroyed my books."
"Yes." Kael's expression is guarded.
"That was three days after my mother's funeral." My heart pounds. "Three days after she supposedly died of a 'sudden illness' that no doctor could explain. You appeared in my life the exact moment she disappeared from it."
Silence.
"Aria—" Kael starts.
"Did you know?" I demand. "Did you know she was alive this whole time?"
"No!" He reaches for me, but I step back. "I swear on my life, I didn't know. I found you because I sensed your dragon affinity awakening early. It happens sometimes when a potential tamer experiences trauma. I thought your mother's death triggered it."
"But what if it wasn't her death?" My mind races. "What if someone took her to trigger my awakening? What if they've been waiting for me to get my powers before—"
"Before using her as leverage," Lysander finishes grimly. "It's exactly what I would do if I wanted to control a Dragon Tamer."
The bond between Kael and me pulses with his emotions—guilt, rage, protectiveness. He truly didn't know. But that doesn't change what I have to do.
"I'm going," I say firmly.
"Absolutely not—"
"Kael, she's my mother!" Tears burn my eyes. "I buried an empty coffin. I mourned her for ten years. If she's been suffering this whole time, held prisoner because of me, because of what I was born to be—" My voice breaks. "I have to save her."
"Then we go together," Kael says. "Me, Lysander, and the entire dragon flight if necessary."
"The message says come alone. If I bring you, they'll kill her."
"If you go alone, they'll kill you both."
We glare at each other, neither backing down.
Zara clears her throat. "Um, sorry to interrupt the intense bonded moment, but we have a bigger problem." She points at the sky.
Helicopters. At least five of them, circling overhead with searchlights.
"The Council," Lysander curses. "They responded faster than I expected."
"The Council?" I ask.
"The governing body of all beast tamers," Kael explains quickly. "They enforce laws, register new tamers, and investigate illegal activity. Like breaking into the Taming Grounds and revealing extinct species."
"We need to leave," Lysander says. "Now."
But before we can move, the helicopters descend. Ropes drop, and armed tamers in black uniforms slide down, surrounding us. Their bonded beasts appear—wolves, hawks, bears—all snarling and ready to attack.
A woman steps forward. She's about fifty, with steel-gray hair and cold blue eyes. A massive tiger stands beside her, its stripes glowing with power.
"Aria Winters," the woman says. "I'm Commander Sarah Stone of the Beast Tamer Council. You're under arrest for illegal taming activities and harboring dangerous unregistered creatures."
"Creatures?" Kael's voice drops to a growl. "We're dragons, not creatures."
The commander's eyes widen slightly, but she recovers quickly. "Dragons are classified as extinct. Whatever you are, you're unregistered. That makes you illegal."
"You can't arrest her," Zara shouts. "She just awakened today! She hasn't done anything wrong!"
"She bonded with an unregistered beast. She's caused a public disturbance. And according to multiple witnesses, she threatened a fellow tamer." Commander Stone pulls out handcuffs. "Aria Winters, you're coming with us. The dragons too, if they cooperate."
I feel Kael prepare to transform through our bond. Feel his rage building.
Don't, I think desperately. If you fight the Council, you'll prove we're dangerous. They'll hunt all dragons.
They're trying to separate us!
I know. But we need to be smart. I take a shaky breath. Trust me.
Through the bond, I feel his struggle. His every instinct screams to protect me. But finally, reluctantly, he steps back.
"Fine," I say out loud. "I'll go with you. But my dragons stay free."
"That's not how this works," Commander Stone says.
"Then you have a problem." I let power flow through the bond, and golden light flares around Kael and Lysander. "Because if you try to take them by force, they'll defend themselves. And I really don't think your wolves and tigers can stop two dragons."
The commander's beasts whimper, sensing the truth.
"Stand down," she orders them, frustrated. To me: "You have twenty-four hours to report to Council headquarters for a formal inquiry. If you don't show up, we'll issue a warrant for your arrest and your dragons."
"I'll be there," I lie.
Because in twenty-four hours, I'll either have rescued my mother or died trying.
The commander signals her team. They retreat to the helicopters, but I can feel their eyes on us as they lift away.
The moment they're gone, Kael grabs my shoulders. "You're not actually going to turn yourself in."
"No. I'm going after my mother."
"Aria—"
"I have twenty-four hours before the Council comes after me anyway. I might as well use them." I pull up the photo on my phone again, studying every detail. The chains. The dark walls. The fear in my mother's eyes. "Can you track where this was taken?"
Lysander takes the phone, examining it closely. "The stone walls look like a basement. Old construction. Possibly pre-war era. And there's—wait." He zooms in on something in the corner. "That's a family crest. I recognize it."
"Whose?" Kael demands.
"The Ashford family."
My blood turns to ice. "Marcus's family?"
"His grandfather, specifically. Lord Edmund Ashford owns several properties around the city, including an old mansion that's been abandoned for decades." Lysander's face darkens. "If your mother is being held anywhere, it's probably there."
Marcus's family has my mother. Marcus, who just proposed to my stepsister. Marcus, who called me worthless.
"Did he know?" I whisper. "This whole time we were engaged, did he know his family was holding my mother prisoner?"
"Only one way to find out," Zara says grimly.
I look at Kael. At Lysander. At the golden bond connecting me to the most powerful creatures in existence.
"Then we're going to the Ashford mansion," I say. "And if Marcus or his family hurt her, I'll show them exactly how dangerous a Dragon Tamer can be."
Kael's fierce smile matches my own. "Now you're thinking like a dragon."
But as we prepare to leave, my phone buzzes again. Another message from the unknown number:
Unknown: Smart girl, figuring out the location so quickly. But you should know—your mother isn't the only thing we have. We also have your father. Your real father. The one your mother never told you about. The Dragon Tamer who disappeared twenty-three years ago. He's been in our custody since before you were born. Come alone, or we'll kill them both. And then we'll come for you.
A second photo appears. A man with golden eyes identical to mine. Chained next to my mother.
"Oh my God," I breathe. "I'm not the first Dragon Tamer. My father was one too."
And suddenly, everything makes terrible sense.