SOMEWHERE IN THE SHADOWS
Queen Vespera sank deeper into the heated pool, letting the flower-infused liquid cover her sagging shoulders. Steam rose around her while servants fanned her with giant leaves. Drones hovered near the ceiling, their red eyes recording everything.
She hated being watched. But she hated being forgotten more.
Connie knelt at the edge of the pool. Her pale blue scales trembled. She had just returned from the long journey across the great river, and her body showed it—scratches on her arms, mud caked between her claws, exhaustion darkening her eyes.
"Report," Vespera whispered.
Her voice was dry and rattling. Like bones shaking in a leather bag. But it carried across the chamber like a blade.
Connie bowed lower. Her forehead touched the stone floor.
"My Queen, Alpha Kayden has injected himself with a test serum. He held his human form for eight hours. His scientist claims that with more lycan blood, the curse can be broken permanently."
Vespera's claws gripped the edge of the pool. She loved good news. But while this was good news to Kayden, it was bad news to her.
"Curse," she spat. "He still believes it is a curse."
"He walked among humans, my Queen. He bought an apple from a vendor. He wore shoes, like real shoes, like a man. His human form has returned to him without any glitching."
Connie said the word man like it was sacred. Like it was something to aspire to.
Vespera laughed.
It was a horrible sound—dry, rattling, like bones shaking in a bag. The servants flinched. Even Connie, who had served the Queen for decades, could not hide her shudder.
"That is his story," Vespera said. "His ancestors' lie. A witch cursed them. Turned them from men into lizards. Blah blah blah."
She rose from the pool.
Water cascaded down her body. Her scales were dull grey, spotted with patches of white. Her flesh hung loose beneath her arms. Her frills, once proud and colorful, now drooped like wilted flowers.
She was old, flabby and terrifying.
But her eyes—her cloudy, snake eyes—burned with something that had not dimmed with age.
"Listen to me, child," Vespera said, wading toward the edge. "My people were never human. We were born lizards. We will die lizards. There is no curse. There is only nature."
Connie kept her head down. "Yes, my Queen."
"Kayden believes he will become a man and live happily ever after. He is a fool. He will become a man and die within a century. His bones will rot. His skin will wrinkle. His teeth will fall out." She climbed out of the pool. A servant rushed forward with a silk robe. Vespera waved her away. "But as a lizard? As a lizard, he could live forever. He could be mine forever."
General Thrax stepped forward from the shadows. She was muscular, scarred, her dark scales gleaming like armor. She commanded Vespera's elite guard, and she had killed more werewolves than anyone in the camp.
"My Queen," Thrax said, "what are your orders?"
Vespera wrapped the robe around herself. It barely contained her bulk.
"I need Kayden," she said simply. "He is my mate. The ancestors revealed it to me in a dream. If he marks me—if he claims me—I will become stronger. I will look younger. My scales will darken and my body will tighten. I will be fertile again."
Connie's eyes widened. "You wish to breed with him, my Queen?"
"I wish to save him from himself." Vespera walked to a holographic screen and tapped it. An image appeared—Kayden. Young. Strong. Golden-scaled. His eyes were the same shade as the sun. "He is chasing a ghost. A cure that does not exist. I will show him the truth. I will make him see that his lizard form is not a curse. It is a gift. The gift of longevity. The gift of power."
She dragged a claw across his image.
"He will resist at first. He has been told lies for three hundred years. But I am patient. I have waited this long. I can wait a little longer."
Thrax stepped closer. "And the lycan, my Queen? The virgin with the powerful blood?"
Vespera's cloudy eyes turned cold.
"We kill her."
The room went silent.
"We kill her," Vespera repeated, "before she can give him his cure. If Kayden cannot become human, he will have no choice but to accept what he is. And what he is..." She smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "Is mine."
Connie's voice trembled. "But my Queen, what if the lycan's blood could help you too? What if it could make you young without Kayden's mark?"
Vespera turned and her eyes glowed.
"I am a full lizard, child. Not a shifter. I have no human form. I have never had a human form. The lycan's blood might heal a wound or calm a fever, but it cannot change what I am." She touched her sagging throat. "Only Kayden's mark can restore me. Only his claim can make me fertile again. I do not need the girl's blood. I need her gone."
She walked to a large cage in the corner of the chamber. Inside, a werewolf crouched against the bars. His fur was matted. His eyes were hollow. He had been here for months—fed just enough to stay alive, tortured just enough to stay broken.
"You see this creature?" Vespera said, gesturing to the wolf. "He believed he was cursed too. He believed he was born human and turned into a beast. But he was wrong. Just like Kayden."
She opened the cage. The werewolf tried to run. She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him effortlessly.
"There is no curse," she whispered. "There is only nature. And nature made us what we are. Kayden's people were born human and turned into lizards by magic. My people were born lizards. We are not the same."
She dropped the wolf and he collapsed, gasping.
Connie watched without emotion. She had seen this before.
"My Queen," Connie said carefully, "does Kayden know about you? Does he know you exist?"
Vespera laughed again.
"Not yet. But he will, very soon."
She turned to General Thrax.
"Prepare a kill team. I want the lycan dead before Kayden can get his claws on her. I do not care how. I do not care what it costs. Just make sure she never gives him his cure."
Thrax saluted. "It will be done, my Queen."
Vespera looked at the holographic screen one more time and Kayden's golden eyes stared back at her.
"You are mine," she whispered. "You just do not know it yet."