Chapter 21

The Kingdom Lied

For the first time since arriving at Black Citadel, Evelynn avoided Kael on purpose.

Not dramatically.

Not with some grand emotional declaration.

She simply stopped looking for him.

Stopped wandering near the western balconies late at night. Stopped lingering whenever she felt the bond stir somewhere deep inside the palace. Stopped asking servants where the king was when she noticed dragon patrols flying lower over the city.

It should have made things easier.

Instead, the distance made the bond worse.

Because now every emotion that slipped through it arrived without context. Exhaustion in the middle of the night. Sudden bursts of restrained anger during council meetings. Moments of crushing silence so heavy they settled into her chest like stone.

And underneath all of it—

that terrible loneliness.

Evelynn hated it.

Mostly because part of her no longer knew where his emotions ended and hers began.

Three days passed like that.

On the fourth morning, Serin arrived carrying breakfast and a sealed stack of parchment scrolls balanced beneath one arm.

Evelynn looked up suspiciously from the couch near the fire. “Why do you look like someone delivering bad news?”

“Experience.”

Fair.

Serin placed the tray down first before reluctantly setting the scrolls beside it.

“The archives sent these.”

“The archives know I exist?”

“Unfortunately everyone knows you exist.”

Again fair.

Evelynn frowned at the old documents. “What are they?”

“Trade records. Border treaties. Old royal correspondence.” Serin paused. “You requested information about the original covenant.”

Right.

After the dream and Malek’s stories, Evelynn had started asking questions the palace clearly wished she would stop asking.

Naturally, that only made her more determined.

Serin lingered awkwardly near the door. “The council is unhappy you’re reading restricted material.”

“The council seems unhappy about oxygen.”

“That is also true.”

Once he left, Evelynn moved to the table and carefully opened the first parchment.

Most of it was useless.

Trade routes.

Military reports.

Border disputes written in aggressively boring political language.

But buried beneath the endless records, patterns slowly started appearing.

Dates.

Missing names.

Entire sections deliberately removed.

Evelynn frowned harder with every document.

Someone had edited history.

Not carelessly either.

Systematically.

Several records discussing the original treaty between humans and dragons had entire paragraphs cut away. One document looked physically torn where signatures should have appeared.

Another referenced “the queen’s compromise” without ever naming the queen.

Strange.

Very strange.

Hours passed without Evelynn noticing.

The fire burned lower beside her while snow drifted softly beyond the palace windows. Eventually she reached the bottom of one damaged scroll sealed with the crest of the Valorian royal family.

Her kingdom’s crest.

The same one hanging above the square the day they sent her away.

Evelynn’s stomach tightened slightly.

The letter was old. Very old.

But still readable.

To His Majesty of the Dragon Throne—

The Crown accepts the terms of silence regarding the surviving bloodline. In exchange, the kingdom requests permanent removal of all records connecting House Ashford to the incident.

Evelynn froze.

Ashford.

Her name.

Slowly, she reread the sentence.

Then again.

No.

No, that had to be coincidence.

Except suddenly all the missing pieces began fitting together too neatly.

The necklace.

The murals.

Kael recognizing it immediately.

The destroyed records.

House Ashford.

Her hands tightened around the parchment.

Another line lower down caught her eye.

The child will remain unaware of her lineage. The agreement will hold so long as the Dragon King never discovers she survived.

The room went completely silent.

Evelynn stared at the page while cold spread slowly through her chest.

The child.

Her.

Oh God.

The kingdom knew.

Her entire life—

they knew.

Her mother never told her where their family came from. Never explained why they moved constantly through border towns. Never spoke about Evelynn’s father except to say he was “gone.”

And then suddenly, years later, the crown conveniently selected Evelynn as tribute to Black Citadel.

Not random.

Never random.

The kingdom sent her here on purpose.

The realization hit like ice water.

Evelynn stood so fast the chair nearly fell backward.

“No…”

She grabbed another document with shaking hands.

Then another.

Most records had been damaged or hidden, but now she knew what to look for.

Ashford.

Lyriana.

Surviving bloodline.

Silence agreement.

Every trail led back to the same thing.

The human kingdom had buried the truth centuries ago.

And when Kael began losing control again—

they sent Evelynn to him.

Not as peace offering.

Not as sacrifice.

As a weapon.

Or worse—

an experiment.

A sharp pulse of anger surged suddenly through the bond.

Kael.

Strong enough this time to nearly make her flinch.

Somewhere in the palace, he was furious about something.

But Evelynn barely noticed.

Because another realization was already clawing through her mind.

If the crown worked this hard to hide her existence…

then someone feared what would happen if Kael learned the truth.

Too late for that now.

A quiet knock interrupted her spiraling thoughts before the chamber doors opened slightly.

Serin stepped inside carrying fresh candles.

Then immediately stopped.

Evelynn still stood beside the table gripping the old parchment hard enough to wrinkle it.

Her face must have shown something terrible because Serin’s expression changed instantly.

“What happened?”

Evelynn looked up slowly.

“The kingdom knew.”

Serin went still.

Not confused stillness.

Recognition.

Oh no.

Evelynn saw it immediately.

“You knew too.”

Serin’s silence lasted one second too long.

That was enough.

Evelynn laughed once.

Sharp. Disbelieving.

“Unbelievable.”

“Evelynn—”

“They sent me here on purpose.”

Serin carefully closed the doors behind him. “Lower your voice.”

“No.”

The anger finally hit properly now.

Hot.

Humiliating.

Her entire life suddenly felt staged by people she never even met.

“They knew who I was and they still sent me into this palace.”

Serin looked exhausted already. “The human court believed the bond might stabilize the king.”

Evelynn stared at him.

There it was.

The truth.

Simple.

Cruel.

They didn’t send her here to survive.

They sent her here to calm the monster.

Her voice dropped dangerously quiet.

“And if it didn’t work?”

Serin didn’t answer.

Didn’t need to.

Evelynn looked down at the letter in her hand again.

The surviving bloodline.

House Ashford.

Lyriana.

The room suddenly felt too small.

The bond pulsed sharply again then.

Kael.

Closer this time.

His emotions shifted abruptly from anger to something sharper.

Concern.

He felt her distress now.

Of course he did.

Evelynn closed her eyes briefly.

Because suddenly one realization terrified her more than all the others.

Kael still didn’t know everything.

And when the Dragon King discovered the human kingdom had lied to him for three hundred years—

the world might burn all over again.