Maya's POV - Back in the Dungeon, Present Time
"You're lying."
The words come out harsher than I intend, but my brain can't process what this woman just said. Another Maya Chen? Trapped here twenty years?
"I wish I was lying." The woman—Sarah, she said her name was Sarah Chen—grips the bars between our cells. "But look at my necklace. Really look."
I squint through the darkness. The compass design... it's not just any compass. It's the logo from Chen Industries. My father's company. The one Lisa inherited after I died.
"That's impossible," I whisper. "That logo didn't exist until 2015."
"Exactly." Sarah's smile is sad. "I'm not from your time, Maya. I'm from twenty years ahead of you. The year 2045. And I've been stuck in this medieval nightmare since 2025."
My head spins. "But how—"
"The same way you got here. A lab explosion. Betrayal. Death that wasn't quite death." She laughs bitterly. "Except I wasn't betrayed by family. I was betrayed by a corporation that wanted my time-displacement research. They killed me to steal it, and the explosion sent me here instead of to hell."
"Time displacement research." My engineer brain latches onto the phrase. "You were working on time travel?"
"Theoretical time travel. I never got it working—or so I thought. Turns out dying in a massive energy discharge while holding the prototype is enough to punch a hole through time." She gestures around the dungeon. "Lucky me."
"If you've been here twenty years, why are you in prison? Why didn't you—"
"Change the world? Become rich and powerful? Live like a queen?" Sarah cuts me off. "I tried, Maya. For ten years, I tried everything. Introduced innovations, saved lives, showed them science. You know what happened?"
I think of the five poisoned people. The false accusations. The trap closing around me.
"They called you a witch," I say quietly.
"They called me worse. They burned three villages I helped, claiming I'd cursed them with demon knowledge. Killed fifty people I'd trained as doctors, calling them my evil disciples." Her voice breaks. "I watched children I'd saved die on pyres because their parents were terrified of the knowledge I'd given them. So I stopped. Went silent. Let them lock me up as the 'Mad Prophet' who speaks nonsense. Better to be considered crazy than dead."
The weight of her words crushes me. Twenty years of trying to help, only to watch it all burn.
"That's why you said my cure would kill Prince Kael," I realize. "You've been here long enough to know about the politics. The traps."
"The cure you're planning uses Heartleaf extract, right? Mixed with Silverroot and Dawn's Tear?"
"Yes—those counteract Shadowthorn poison perfectly. I've studied the chemistry—"
"The chemistry is right. The politics are deadly." Sarah moves closer to the bars. "Lord Damien has already paid the royal herbalist to substitute poison for Heartleaf. When you deliver the 'cure' to Prince Kael, he'll die. And you'll be executed not just as a witch, but as a confirmed assassin. No one will ever believe your science again."
Horror floods through me. "How do you know this?"
"Because the exact same thing happened to me fifteen years ago. Different prince, same trap." She touches her scarred wrist. "I barely escaped. Spent five years hiding before they caught me and threw me down here."
"Then how do I—" I stop. "Wait. You said Commander Theron is walking into a trap too. What trap?"
"Theron is a good man. Genuinely wants to help you. But the moment he brings you those herbs from the garden, Seraphina's spies will see. They'll report to High Chancellor Mordecai. And tomorrow morning, Theron will be arrested for conspiring with a witch." Sarah's eyes are fierce. "They'll torture him to find out what you told him. Then they'll execute him alongside you as a warning to anyone else who might help you."
"No." The word comes out strangled. "I can't let that happen. Theron is risking everything—"
"To save you, yes. But you can't save him by letting him help you. Not this way." Sarah reaches through the bars and grabs my hand. "Listen carefully. There's only one way out of this that doesn't end with everyone you care about dead."
"What way?"
"Prince Kael has to want to save you. Not because you offer him a cure. Not because you prove your innocence. But because he chooses to believe in you despite the evidence." She squeezes my hand. "And that means you need to tell him the truth."
"The truth about being from the future? He'll think I'm insane!"
"He already knows I'm from the future. I've been his secret advisor for eight years." Sarah's smile is grim. "Why do you think they call me the Mad Prophet? Kael pretends I'm a crazy prisoner he keeps around for entertainment. But really, I've been teaching him mathematics, strategy, science—everything I remember. Preparing this kingdom for the changes that need to come."
My mind reels. "Kael knows about time travel?"
"He knows something impossible happened to me. He doesn't fully understand it, but he trusts my knowledge." She pulls back. "And right now, he's testing you. The arrest, the dungeon, putting you next to me—it's all a test to see if you're like me. Another impossible woman with impossible knowledge."
"But he seemed so angry when he arrested me—"
"Because he has to fool his council. Mordecai and the others want you dead. If Kael shows any favoritism, they'll move against him. He's dying, Maya. Weak. One wrong move and they'll remove him and install a puppet." Sarah's expression softens. "But he wants to believe you're innocent. Wants to believe your science is real. He's just terrified of being betrayed again."
Understanding crashes over me. "His parents. The assassination."
"Killed by people he trusted. It broke something in him. Made him cold because cold men can't be hurt." Sarah moves to her cell door. "But you can thaw him, Maya. You can show him that not everyone who seems impossible is actually dangerous. And once he trusts you—really trusts you—he'll move heaven and earth to protect you."
"How do I make him trust me?"
"Stop trying to prove your innocence. Stop offering cures and deals. Just tell him the truth." She meets my eyes. "Tell him you're Maya Chen from the year 2025. Tell him you were betrayed and died and woke up here. Tell him everything. And then let him decide if he believes you."
"That's insane. He'll execute me for sure—"
"Or he'll recognize the same story I told him eight years ago and realize you're the reinforcement I promised was coming." Sarah's smile is knowing. "I told him one day another would come. Someone with even more knowledge than me. Someone who could help him save his kingdom properly. I told him when that person arrived, everything would change."
"You knew I was coming?"
"I knew someone would eventually. Time displacement isn't random—it's attracted to crisis points. Moments where history could shift dramatically." She gestures around us. "This kingdom is at a tipping point. It's either going to collapse into chaos or transform into something revolutionary. The universe sent you here to tip the scales."
Before I can respond, footsteps echo down the corridor. Multiple guards. Moving fast.
Sarah backs away from the bars. "They're coming. Probably to transfer you to the execution chamber. Listen to me, Maya. Whatever happens next, remember: Kael is not your enemy. The council is. And if you want to survive long enough to change this world, you need to make Kael your ally."
"How do I—"
"Trust him with the truth. It's the only thing that works." She retreats into the shadows of her cell. "And Maya? When you tell him about the future, tell him I said: the queen's gambit opens with pawn to e4."
"What does that mean?"
"He'll know. It's how he'll know you really talked to me."
The guards round the corner, torches blazing. Commander Theron leads them, his face grim.
"Lady Elara," he says formally. "Prince Kael demands your presence. Immediately."
They unlock my cell and drag me out. As I pass Sarah's cell, I catch her eye. She nods once—encouragement or goodbye, I can't tell.
The guards march me through the palace. Not toward the execution grounds, I realize. Toward the royal chambers.
We stop at massive doors carved with dragons. Theron knocks once.
"Enter," comes Kael's voice from inside.
The doors swing open, revealing a room lit by a roaring fireplace. Prince Kael stands by the window, his back to us. In the firelight, I see how thin he's become. How much pain he's carrying.
"Leave us," he says without turning.
"Your Highness, the council said—"
"I don't care what the council said. Get out."
Theron hesitates, then bows and closes the door. I'm alone with the Ice King.
Kael finally turns to face me. His ice-blue eyes are unreadable.
"Lady Elara Thornwood," he says quietly. "Or should I call you Maya Chen?"
My heart stops. He knows. Somehow, he already knows.
"I found your badge in the alley where you nearly died." He holds it up—my ID from the lab. "I've been carrying it for days, trying to understand what it means. What you are. Whether you're a threat or..." He pauses. "Or something else."
"I can explain—"
"Then explain." He walks closer, each step measured. "Explain how a medieval noblewoman has a metal badge from nowhere I've ever heard of. Explain how you perform medical miracles that defy everything my physicians know. Explain why the Mad Prophet—the woman I trust most in this world—kept whispering that you were coming."
He stops three feet away. Close enough that I can see the pain in his eyes. The hope he's trying to hide.
"Explain to me, Maya Chen, why I should risk everything to save you. Why I should believe you're real when everything in my life has taught me that trust is fatal."
I take a deep breath. Sarah said tell the truth. Trust him with everything.
"My name is Dr. Maya Chen," I begin. "I'm from the year 2025. I died in a laboratory explosion eight hundred years in your future. And when I opened my eyes, I was here. In Lady Elara's body. In your world. With no way home and no idea why."
Kael's expression doesn't change. He just watches me, waiting.
"I know you don't believe me," I continue. "I know it sounds impossible. But so does a woman who can cure infections that kill everyone else. So does knowledge that seems like magic but is actually science. So does—"
"The queen's gambit opens with pawn to e4," Kael interrupts softly.
I freeze. "How—"
"Dr. Sarah Chen taught me chess eight years ago. Uses it to teach strategy and planning." His eyes never leave mine. "She said one day, someone would come who knew that opening. Someone who would say those exact words. Someone who would change everything."
He reaches out and takes my hand—the first gentle touch I've felt in this entire nightmare.
"I believe you, Maya Chen," he says. "I don't understand you. I don't know what you are or how you got here. But I believe you're real. And I believe you might be the only thing that can save this kingdom."
Relief floods through me so powerfully my knees almost give out.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"Don't thank me yet." His grip tightens. "Because now I need you to save my life, expose a conspiracy, and help me dismantle a corrupt council that's been running this kingdom for decades. All while pretending to be my prisoner. And if we fail—if anyone suspects what we're really planning—they'll kill us both."
He leans closer, his voice dropping to barely a whisper.
"So tell me, Dr. Maya Chen from eight hundred years in the future: Are you ready to start a revolution?"
Behind us, the door explodes inward.
Guards pour in, led by High Chancellor Mordecai with a triumphant smile.
"Your Highness!" Mordecai announces loudly. "We've received reports you're conspiring with the witch. This is proof of her dark magic corrupting your mind. By order of the Royal Council, you are hereby relieved of command pending investigation."
Twenty guards surround us, weapons drawn.
Kael's hand drops from mine.
And I realize the trap just snapped shut—not on me, but on him.
They're not just trying to kill me.
They're using me to remove the king.