Chapter 28

Daughter of Betrayal

Kael found her before dawn.

Evelynn sat on the cold floor beside her bed wrapped in blankets she didn’t remember pulling around herself, staring blankly at the fading moonlight beyond the windows while the bond still trembled violently between them.

Not panic now.

Grief.

Shared grief.

The chamber doors opened quietly this time.

Kael entered without speaking.

He looked worse than she had ever seen him.

Not angry.

Not dangerous.

Destroyed.

Dark circles hollowed beneath gold eyes while tension carved deep through his expression like he hadn’t fully returned from the memories either.

For several seconds neither of them spoke.

What could they even say after something like that?

Evelynn finally broke the silence first.

“She was pregnant.”

Kael stopped walking.

The pain through the bond sharpened instantly.

Not surprise.

Confirmation.

Slowly, he closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

The single word nearly broke her again.

Evelynn looked away toward the window. “You didn’t know.”

“No.”

His voice sounded rough enough to hurt.

The silence afterward stretched painfully between them while snow drifted softly across the cliffs outside Black Citadel.

Then suddenly the bond shifted.

Not from Kael.

Someone else approaching.

Urgent.

Moments later, hurried footsteps echoed outside the chamber before Serin burst through the doors carrying several old scroll cases clutched tightly beneath one arm.

He stopped immediately upon seeing both of them.

Then visibly decided emotional disasters could wait.

“Malek sent these.”

Kael’s expression darkened instantly. “What happened?”

Serin swallowed once. “The old priest reopened the sealed royal archives beneath the sanctum.”

That sounded terrible already.

Serin carefully placed the scroll cases onto the table near the fire.

“He said you both needed to see them immediately.”

Kael moved first.

The moment he touched the oldest scroll case, the bond pulsed sharply again.

Recognition.

Dread.

Evelynn stood slowly and crossed the room beside him while Serin stepped backward toward the wall with the expression of a man watching destiny personally ruin his week.

Reasonable.

Kael broke the ancient wax seal carefully.

Inside rested old parchment documents brittle with age alongside a small silver emblem burned black around the edges.

The Ashford crest.

Evelynn’s stomach dropped immediately.

Kael unfolded the first document.

And went completely still.

The silence in the room changed.

Heavy.

Deadly.

Evelynn stepped closer automatically. “What is it?”

Kael handed her the letter without speaking.

Her eyes scanned the page once.

Then again.

And the world tilted beneath her feet.

To the Royal Court of Valoria—

The child carries both bloodlines. If the Dragon King discovers her survival, the bond may awaken again. House Ashford will accept permanent exile and silence in exchange for the child’s protection.

Evelynn’s hands began shaking.

Both bloodlines.

No.

No, no, no—

She grabbed another document desperately.

Then another.

Every page only made things worse.

Records of hidden births.

Sealed agreements.

Royal signatures approving the removal of the Ashford family from noble records.

One line burned hardest into her vision:

The child must never know what she is.

Evelynn suddenly couldn’t breathe properly.

Her mother knew.

Her family knew.

Her entire life had been built around hiding her existence from Kael.

And then—

when the Dragon King began losing control again—

the human kingdom sent her back anyway.

Not to save her.

Not even to save Kael.

To see if the prophecy was true.

“Oh my God…”

Kael looked at her immediately.

The bond flooded with alarm.

Evelynn stumbled backward away from the table, gripping the old documents hard enough to wrinkle them.

“They knew,” she whispered.

The words barely sounded real.

“They knew my entire life.”

The room blurred suddenly.

Every memory from childhood twisted sharply in her mind now.

The constant moving.

Her mother’s fear whenever soldiers appeared near border towns.

The way people occasionally stared at the silver necklace like they recognized it.

None of it had been random.

She had never been normal.

Never been human.

Evelynn laughed once.

Sharp.

Broken.

“Well,” she whispered, “that explains the lifelong identity issues.”

Kael stepped toward her immediately.

She stepped back.

Instinct.

The movement hit him through the bond hard enough to hurt.

Evelynn felt it too.

God.

There was nowhere left to hide from each other anymore.

“What am I?” she asked quietly.

No one answered.

That was worse.

Evelynn’s breathing became uneven now. Panic climbed too fast beneath her ribs while the black markings along her wrist suddenly burned again beneath skin.

Not painfully this time.

Reactively.

The dragonfire in the chamber flared higher.

Kael moved closer carefully. “Evelynn.”

“Don’t.”

The word came sharper than she intended.

Kael stopped instantly.

Not offended.

Worried.

That somehow made everything worse.

Evelynn pressed one hand hard against her forehead. “I spent my entire life thinking I was unwanted because I was ordinary.”

Her voice cracked slightly.

“But I was never ordinary, was I?”

The bond twisted painfully between them.

Kael looked like he wanted to reach for her.

Didn’t.

Smart choice.

Evelynn stared at the documents scattered across the table. “They used me.”

No one argued.

Because it was true.

The human kingdom sacrificed her the moment she became politically useful.

And Kael—

Kael had spent three hundred years mourning a child he never knew survived.

The silence became unbearable.

Then quietly, Kael said:

“You are not responsible for what they did.”

Evelynn looked up sharply.

Something dangerous flashed through her expression.

“Neither were you.”

That hit harder than shouting could have.

The bond pulsed violently.

Pain.

Guilt.

Relief.

Kael’s jaw tightened visibly.

Evelynn suddenly understood something terrifying then.

He still blamed himself for everything.

The war.

Lyriana.

Her death.

The child.

Three centuries of grief had hollowed him out so completely he no longer knew how to exist without guilt.

And somehow—

the people truly responsible had hidden safely behind lies and treaties the entire time.

Another memory surfaced suddenly from the documents.

One final sealed note tucked beneath the others.

Kael opened it slowly.

The handwriting looked rushed.

Desperate.

Lyriana’s.

Evelynn recognized it instantly somehow.

Kael’s hands tightened slightly around the page before he began reading silently.

Then his breathing stopped.

The bond shattered with emotion so violently Evelynn nearly fell.

Love.

Grief.

Horror.

Kael stared at the letter like it physically wounded him.

Evelynn stepped closer despite herself. “What does it say?”

For several long seconds, he couldn’t answer.

Then finally, voice barely above a whisper:

“She knew they would betray her.”

The room went silent.

Kael slowly handed her the letter.

Evelynn read the final lines with shaking hands.

If they cannot control you, they will fear you. And if they fear our child, they will use her too.

Protect her from both kingdoms.

Evelynn’s chest caved inward.

Because three hundred years later—

every word had come true.