The Dragon King's Discarded Flame

Chapter 2

The grand dining hall was a cavern of black marble and vaulted ceilings, designed to intimidate. Kaelia sat at the far end of the impossibly long table, picking at a plate of roasted fowl she couldn't stomach. The Aether-burn was making her nauseous, a dull, rotting ache spreading beneath her ribs.

The heavy mahogany doors swung open. Rhydian strode in, his massive frame clad in battle leathers, his dark hair swept back from his aristocratic, angular face. Beside him, clinging to his arm like a delicate parasite, was Seraphina.

Kaelia didn't rise. She didn't offer a greeting. She simply picked up her goblet of water and took a slow sip.

"You are late for the midday meal," Kaelia noted, her tone perfectly flat.

"Seraphina was feeling faint," Rhydian said, pulling out a chair for his mistress directly to his right—a seat traditionally reserved for the King's most trusted advisor, not a houseguest. "I had to ensure she was settled before we descended the stairs."

"How exhausting for you both," Kaelia replied, setting her goblet down with a sharp clink.

Seraphina’s eyes darted to Kaelia, brimming with immediate, weaponized tears. "I am so sorry, Your Highness. I know my presence is a burden. I told Rhydian I should just take my meals in my room, but he insisted."

"I insist because you need your strength," Rhydian said, patting Seraphina’s hand before turning a cold, disapproving glare on his mate. "There is no need for your passive aggression, Kaelia. Seraphina is a hero of this Court. She deserves our utmost hospitality."

"Hospitality is one thing," Kaelia said, leaning forward slightly. "Discussing the theft of my unborn children in the antechamber is quite another."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

Rhydian froze, his hand halting halfway to his wine glass. Seraphina let out a small, dramatic gasp, pressing her hands to her chest as if Kaelia had just shot an arrow through it.

"Were you eavesdropping on your King?" Rhydian demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous, rumbling register.

"I didn't have to eavesdrop, Rhydian. You were broadcasting your betrayal quite loudly," Kaelia shot back, her dignity holding her spine rigid despite the trembling in her hands. "Did you really think I would just hand over my triplets? Did you think I would simply pack my bags and move to the wastelands so you could play happy family with your former lover?"

"How dare you speak to me of betrayal?" Rhydian stood up, his chair scraping violently against the stone floor. "You are my mate, Kaelia! You are supposed to support this Court, yet all you do is sneer at the woman who bled so I could live!"

"I am carrying your children!" Kaelia yelled, slamming her hands on the table and rising to meet his glare. "I am the one bleeding for you now! Look at me, Rhydian! Really look at me!"

She reached into her pocket, pulling out the wax-sealed scroll Masterson had given her. "I went to the healer today. I have something you need to read. Something that explains exactly what this pregnancy is doing to me."

She shoved the scroll across the polished table. It slid to a halt inches from Rhydian's hand.

But before Rhydian could reach for it, Seraphina let out a piercing, agonizing shriek.

"Ah! My chest!" Seraphina collapsed out of her chair, hitting the floor in a heap of pastel silk. She writhed on the marble, clawing at her throat. "It burns! Rhydian, she’s burning me!"

"Seraphina!" Rhydian roared, completely abandoning the scroll. He dropped to his knees beside her, gathering her into his arms.

"Her magic!" Seraphina sobbed, pointing a trembling, accusatory finger at Kaelia. "She’s using her royal Aether! She’s jealous of me, Rhydian! She’s trying to crush my heart!"

Kaelia stared in utter disbelief. "I haven't cast a single spell. I haven't moved from this spot!"

"Liar!" Rhydian bellowed. His eyes flashed from their normal storm-grey to the slit-pupiled, fiery crimson of his dragon beast. "I can feel the Aether fluctuating in this room! You dare attack an innocent woman in my halls?"

Kaelia opened her mouth to argue, to explain that the Aether fluctuation was her core literally rotting inside her body, but the words were stolen from her lungs.

Rhydian unleashed his King’s Aura.

It hit Kaelia like a physical wall of gravity. The sheer, suffocating pressure of an Alpha Dragon’s dominance slammed down on her shoulders. Her knees buckled instantly, hitting the hard marble floor with a bone-jarring crack.

"Rhydian... stop," Kaelia choked out, fighting for breath. The pressure was compressing her lungs, squeezing the decaying magic in her chest. Pain, hot and blinding, flared through her meridian. "The babies..."

"Do not use my children as a shield for your viciousness!" Rhydian snarled, standing over her while keeping Seraphina tucked safely behind his leg. The crimson in his eyes was blinding, his fangs elongated in his fury. "I have tolerated your coldness. I have excused your lack of empathy. But I will not tolerate violence against Seraphina."

"I... didn't... touch her," Kaelia gasped, bracing her hands on the floor to keep from collapsing completely under his magical weight. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She was a Sun-Flight royal; under normal circumstances, she could have easily repelled his aura. But the Aether-burn had left her desperately weak, and she had to protect the babies.

"She’s lying, Rhydian," Seraphina whimpered from the floor, clutching his pant leg. "She wants me dead. I should just leave. Let me go."

"No one is leaving, except the Queen, who needs to learn her place," Rhydian commanded.

He reached down and snatched the sealed medical scroll off the table. Kaelia looked up, a spark of desperate hope flickering in her chest. *Read it. Please, just read it. You will see I am dying.*

Rhydian didn't even glance at the seal.

"You think you can pass me your petty demands and grievances on paper to justify your jealousy?" he sneered. "I have no time for your tantrums, Kaelia."

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the scroll into the roaring fireplace.

"No!" Kaelia screamed, reaching out as the parchment landed in the flames. The wax seal melted instantly. The paper curled, blackened, and turned to ash in seconds. Her death sentence, her only proof, gone.

"Apologize to her," Rhydian demanded, his voice echoing with absolute authority, pressing the Aura down harder on Kaelia's trembling spine.

"What?" Kaelia whispered, staring at the ashes in the hearth.

"You will apologize to Seraphina for attacking her," Rhydian said coldly. "And you will do it on your knees."

Kaelia slowly turned her head to look up at her fated mate. The man who had courted her beneath the starlight. The man who had sworn his soul to hers. He was looking at her with nothing but disgust, while the woman behind him peeked out with a victorious, venomous smirk.

The last, fragile thread of Kaelia’s love for Rhydian Thorne snapped.

She did not cry. She did not scream. The golden magic deep within her soul coiled tight, freezing into a weapon of pure, calculated vengeance.

"I apologize," Kaelia said, her voice dropping into a hollow, dead monotone. "I apologize, Lady Seraphina, for any distress my presence in my own home has caused you."

Rhydian blinked, seemingly caught off guard by her sudden, emotionless surrender. He withdrew his Aura.

Kaelia stood up slowly, dusting off her skirts with shaking hands. She didn't look at Rhydian. She looked right through him.

"If we are finished here," Kaelia said quietly, "I will return to my chambers. I am feeling... unwell."

Rhydian frowned, a flicker of something resembling unease crossing his features. "Kaelia..."

She didn't wait for him to finish. She turned and walked out of the hall, her head held high. She had her mission now. She just needed him to sign the Severance Edict, and then she would burn his entire world to ashes.