Her gold gown flowed like molten sunlight, but every muscle in her face was rigid, eyes burning as if daring me to look away from their blaze.
"You asked the Siren to be in Dragontail Legion, didn’t you?" she said, her voice low and lethal, barely more than a breath. "You cut your hand like a savage. You bowed to her and smiled when she granted your wish. The court and I have had to do so much to cover these indiscretions, so the whole island doesn’t know the truth.”
My tongue felt heavy, my heart pounding in my throat. I’d thought myself ready, until my mother’s gaze cut the words from me.
Her fury simmered quietly, coiled and controlled. That royal restraint I never mastered. Her gaze dropped to the headmaster’s desk, where today’s paper lay open.
I stepped closer, my stomach tightening as I read the headline:
“Solenhart Called to Dragontail — Trust the Siren, Trust Rionis, Trust the Gods.”
I skimmed the article, and heat rose up my neck. It had erased everything, the way I bowed to the Siren, the way I cut my hand like a Dragontail, the choice that had been entirely mine.
The queen had rewritten it.
My mother and her court did more than clean up a political mess. She forged my rebellion into a beacon, turning Dragontail into a divine sign, no longer a choice claimed in blood.
My truth reshaped into something convenient.
"You’ve been clawing for an escape since you could walk. Since the day you learned the word no," she hissed, stepping closer.
"That’s not fair—"
"I am not done, Thea Solenhart," she bit out. "You never wanted the court. Never wanted the crown. You’ve been hiding behind dramatics and flames since the first time you lit a candle. My deluded mother, your grandmother, and your father fed you too many tales.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides, heat blooming in my chest. She always spoke about them that way. My grandmother, who had raised me when duty kept my mother away, had been extraordinary. Her stories had filled every hollow place inside me. And she spoke about my father more harshly than anyone, and I didn’t know why. Even after he died, my mother still spoke of him as if he were nothing.
Yes, theirs was an arranged marriage. But he was remarkable. An Emberkeep by placement, yet he trained with Dragontail and fought beside them as Rionis' general. Perhaps she was right; he was why I dreamed of Dragontail.
I fought to steady my voice, swallowing the anger. "I did this for the island. I’ve always wanted to fight for Rionis."
"You are the throne. If you want to help the island, then you rule," she snapped. "You don’t get to choose things for you. We do everything for the island. You didn’t just reject Emberkeep. You humiliated it. You disgraced your station. You made the succession unstable."
"I didn’t ask for this. I’m not meant to rule," I spat.
The silence that followed was louder than any scream.
She pinned me with a look so fierce I winced, my breath catching as if the throne itself shattered beneath me.
"I can see that," she said coldly, walking towards me. "You are Solenhart. Your blood gives you the right to rule. All Solenharts are Emberkeep. You just had to follow your training. Instead, you stood before judges, professors, and ancient magic itself and declared that you’d rather wield in combat than wear a crown. You could even die at the Dragontail trials, and you are the only Solenhart that can truthfully claim the throne after me."
“You don’t care if I die. You only care about the throne!” I snapped.
Her expression didn’t waver. “You know, deep in your heart, that is false, Thea Solenhart.”
“I am not done,” I shot back. “I did wish for Dragontail, but that’s only one-third of the equation. The Siren and the island destined me for Dragontail. And apparently, there are Dragontail roots in our heritage, too. I could have wished for it all I wanted, but if the Siren didn’t think I was worthy of that legion, I wouldn’t have received it. My cousin will be delighted to rule.”
Her voice rose, sharp and unyielding. “You ungrateful child. You think power is earned through disobedience? Through spectacle? You think leadership is about freedom? If your cousin rules, it will be the end of our Kingdom as we know it. Bloodlines are sacred. If they rule, they will destroy the political balance. The lineage shall not be broken.”
"Too late. I’m in Dragontail. I can’t rule. I’m not in Emberkeep," I said, defiant.
Her expression twisted, something between fury and disbelief.
“I don’t care what the Siren destined you to,” she said, looking in my eyes without blinking. “I rule this island, and I will make sure you do too for the sake of Rionis. The law, established three hundred years ago, requires that the queen or king complete the Emberkeep studies and graduate from Elarion Academy. That is exactly what you will do. You may be bound to the Dragontail Legion, but you will graduate from Emberkeep as well and you will rule this island. I will make sure the court sees to it.”
Those words cut through me like a knife to the chest, sharp, precise, aimed where I was weakest. For one fleeting moment, I had believed I was free. Dragontail meant choice, a life shaped by my own hands. It did not mean duty’s chains. I thought I had escaped the future carved for me since the day I was born.
But instead, I had thrown myself into something far worse.