Chapter 41 – "Cracks in the Court"
The corridors of the palace echoed with whispers, too quiet to catch, yet loud enough to haunt. Mei had grown used to stares over the years—curious, skeptical, sometimes envious—but lately, something different brewed in the glances cast her way. Sharper. Hungrier.
In the royal court, tension buzzed like a disturbed hive. Advisors spoke in hushed tones, their eyes flitting to the throne where Rei now sat beside his aging mother, the Queen. As crown prince, Rei had always been respected, even admired. But now, because of her, they watched him differently too.
Mei stood by his side in her traditional handmaiden's robes, her eyes lowered, posture submissive—every gesture hiding the firestorm within. A dragon walking among humans could never be careless.
The court's silence broke when the herald announced, "Presenting Lord Kaien of the Ashen Province, Royal Advisor to the Late Emperor of the East."
The court doors creaked open, revealing a man cloaked in deep midnight blue. His stride was graceful, almost feline, and his eyes—sharp, slate gray—swept across the throne room as if he owned it. His hair was silvered at the edges, tied back in a thin cord, and an aura of dangerous intelligence clung to him.
Mei stiffened. Something in his presence felt… wrong.
As Lord Kaien bowed before Rei and the Queen, his eyes flicked toward her. Not a glance of courtesy, but a calculated gaze—as though he were fitting her into a puzzle.
"Your Highness," Kaien spoke smoothly, his voice calm, aged but crisp, "an honor to serve your court in these troubling times."
"We welcome your wisdom, Lord Kaien," the Queen responded graciously.
Rei nodded politely, but his hand gently brushed Mei's. It was subtle, nearly imperceptible, but it was a question. Did you feel it too?
Mei gave the faintest nod.
Later, after court dismissed, whispers thickened like mist. Servants traded rumors behind tapestries. One spoke of a handmaid who glowed faintly under moonlight. Another of birds that circled her window as if drawn by unseen forces.
Kaien watched all.
That evening, Rei summoned Mei to his chamber. She arrived quietly, as always, her silver hair tucked into a braid, her green eyes veiled in thought.
"You felt it, didn't you?" he asked, standing by the window where dusk painted the sky in ash and gold.
"Yes," Mei whispered. "He's not like the others. He sees."
Rei turned, his expression grim. "Sees what?"
"Not what I am. Not yet. But he's looking for something… and I'm part of it."
He crossed the room and held her hands. "Then we need to be careful. No more slipping out at night. No healing magic, no flames. Promise me."
She looked up at him, the fear buried beneath her calm cracking slightly. "If they find out what I am…"
"They won't," he said, voice firm. "I won't let them."
Outside, the wind stirred, cold and unnatural for the season. The palace lanterns flickered, shadows stretching longer than they should.
Far below, in the underground chambers of the royal archive, Kaien ran a finger along an old, sealed tome. Dust clung to the pages, but the embossed symbol on the cover remained visible: a winged serpent coiled around a crown.
He smiled.
"A dragon in the court," he murmured. "How the past repeats itself."
---
Chapter 42 – The Mask Slips
The moon hung low over the palace, casting silvery light over polished stone walkways and blossom-laden trees. The Spring Festival was in full bloom—an extravagant celebration of renewal, where courtiers danced behind masks, nobles exchanged whispered promises, and lanterns floated like drifting souls through the midnight air.
But for Mei, the celebration felt like a trap.
She stood at the edge of the courtyard garden, her long, pale-blue hair catching the moonlight, her golden eyes flicking toward every shadow that moved too unnaturally. The silk of her maid's uniform was disguised with a layer of ceremonial robes gifted by Rei, but even beneath the finery, the tension in her tail was unbearable. She felt hunted.
"You're not dancing," Rei said, emerging from behind a flowering plum tree, his royal mask tilted in his hand. "That's almost illegal on festival night."
Mei smiled faintly. "I'm watching the sky dance instead."
Rei stepped closer. He looked regal tonight—his white uniform trimmed with dark crimson, the emblem of his royal house glittering on his shoulder. But his eyes, a deep shade of storm gray, remained fixed on her with concern.
"I've noticed them too," he murmured lowly, stepping beside her. "Strangers. Eyes that don't belong to any noble house I know. At least two followed us since the main square."
Mei's heart thumped. "They're watching me."
He nodded. "And I don't think they're sent by my mother."
Their conversation was cut short by a sudden scream across the garden. A child—a servant's daughter—had broken past the protective line and was now teetering on the edge of the high pavilion steps, where the stone gave way to a steep drop into the palace's lower garden. Her foot slipped.
Instinct took over.
Mei leapt forward—too fast, too inhuman. Her body blurred as her feet barely touched the marble ground, and in a single heartbeat, she caught the child before she fell. The girl clung to her, sobbing.
But someone had seen.
Across the way, standing just beyond a hanging tapestry of roses, was a cloaked figure. He didn't shout. He didn't flee. He simply turned, melted into the shadows, and vanished into the revelry.
Mei returned the girl to her family, but her skin tingled with unease. She could feel her power humming beneath her fingertips, still warm. Too many had seen that burst of speed. Too many whispers followed her as she walked back toward Rei.
"We need to leave the festival," he said quietly. "Now."
They returned to Rei's quarters through the lesser-known halls beneath the palace. They spoke little, only exchanged glances when servants passed by. Rei's chamber was lit with only a single flickering candle. Mei stood by the window, breathing shallowly.
"I lost control," she whispered.
"No." Rei placed his hand on the desk, fingers twitching. "You saved a life. But now someone knows you're not just a girl from the countryside."
Silence.
Mei turned to him. "You don't regret bringing me here?"
He shook his head, instantly. "I'd do it again. Even if it costs me the crown."
Before Mei could speak, something caught her attention.
There—on her pillow—was a carved object. Small. Smooth. Like bone, but blackened with ash. A dragon scale, unmistakable in its ridged, crescent form.
She walked over and picked it up with trembling hands. Etched into its surface were runes—ancient draconic, worn but legible to her eyes.
Reveal thy name to the flame, or be devoured by shadow.
Rei stood behind her, looking over her shoulder.
"What is that?"
Mei didn't answer right away. Her hands gripped the scale like a lifeline. "A message," she said at last. "From someone who knows what I am. And they're not threatening me—they're inviting me to choose."
---
Chapter 43 – The Advisor's Shadow
Rain fell softly over the royal archives the next morning—thin, misty threads that clung to the windows like silk veils. The festival was over, but its shadows remained. In the corridors, courtiers whispered behind fans and guards lingered near corners they once ignored. A silent tension wrapped the palace like fog.
Rei sat in the private study attached to the western wing. His tea had gone cold, untouched. He was reading a parchment marked with the emblem of the Queen's Seal—though it was the name signed at the bottom that made him bristle: Lord Kaien of Nymoria.
"You summoned him?" Rei asked aloud, his voice sharper than he intended.
The man standing before him was Lord Senji, the Queen's seneschal, an elder loyal to the old bloodlines. He bowed his head.
"Her Majesty wished to bolster the court's knowledge in esoteric matters," Senji said. "The world grows stranger. Kaien's expertise lies in ancient lore, and the Queen believes—"
"She believes dragons may walk among us," Rei finished bitterly.
Senji flinched.
Rei sighed and dismissed him with a wave. The old man left without a word, and Rei stood, pacing. His hand kept drifting to the hilt of his ceremonial sword—he had not worn it this frequently since his knighting years ago.
He couldn't shake the image of the cloaked figure at the festival. Of the scale. Of Mei's trembling hands.
There was a knock.
Rei turned just as the doors opened, and Lord Kaien stepped in.
He was tall—too tall, almost unnaturally so—with long silver hair tied in a warrior's knot and robes of midnight and cobalt. His eyes were amber, slitted like a hawk's, and they glinted with amusement beneath the etched mask of civility.
"Your Highness," Kaien said, bowing low. "An honor to finally speak with you alone."
Rei gestured stiffly. "You've been walking the palace grounds often."
Kaien's lips curved. "A scholar needs sunlight and whispers to thrive."
"You study folklore, I hear."
"And bloodlines. Secrets. Lost civilizations." Kaien sat uninvited, spreading scrolls before him. "There are stories of dragons once bound to the service of kings. Of maids who weren't maids. Of flames hidden behind human skin. Have you heard such tales?"
Rei's heartbeat spiked.
"I prefer histories that don't end in fire," he said coolly.
Kaien leaned forward, eyes locked to Rei's. "Then we are different men."
The conversation ended soon after. But Rei knew something had shifted.
---
Elsewhere in the palace, Mei knelt beside the rose pond, watching the koi swim in lazy spirals beneath the pink blossoms. She should've felt calm here. This was the garden where Rei first taught her the noble customs. Where she once stumbled through pouring tea. Where she had laughed.
Now it felt like a stage. Watched.
"Lady Mei."
She turned. A handmaiden approached—a quiet girl named Hana who rarely spoke above a whisper.
"This was left for you."
Hana handed her a scroll, sealed with a strange wax imprint: a dragon coiled around a flame. Mei opened it in silence.
"We have met before. Not in name, but in shadow. I know the scent of your fire. Meet me beneath the library bell tower at dusk. Come alone."
There was no signature. But the message made her tail coil beneath her robes.
Mei didn't tell Rei.
Not yet.
---
That evening, the sky bruised to indigo. Lanterns lit the outer walls as Mei crept past the inner courtyards, wrapped in a black cloak. The bell tower sat atop the palace archives, long disused. Dust clung to every stone. The air smelled of paper and time.
Mei entered quietly.
A lone figure stood beneath the bell—hood drawn, face half-shadowed.
"I know what you are," the figure said.
Mei didn't move. "Then say it."
"A dragon. A half-blood, hiding beneath a girl's name. Flameborn."
Mei's claws slid out slightly. "And what are you?"
The hood lowered.
It was a woman—perhaps in her forties, with narrow eyes and a scar running from temple to chin. Her left eye gleamed gold.
"I am called Sura. I once served your mother."
Mei froze.
"My—what?"
"She was the last of the Crimson Sky Flight. Hunted. Captured. Betrayed by a human she loved." Sura's voice trembled. "Before they chained her, she bore a child. You."
Mei staggered.
"I… I don't remember."
"They took your memories. Bound them with flame-seal magic when they gave you to the maid's guild. I was supposed to protect you. But I failed."
Mei's breath came in gasps. "Why now?"
"Because Lord Kaien is not just a scholar. He is a flame-reaper. A slayer of your kind. He burned your mother alive."
The bell above them tolled once. A warning.
Mei's tears fell silent onto the stone.
Sura stepped forward and placed something into Mei's hands—a pendant shaped like a coiled dragon, identical to one from her dreams.
"When the time comes, you must choose who you truly are: a girl who serves the court… or a flame that reshapes it."
End of chapter 43