Chapter 55 Faye’s Report
Drakon’s POV
“Your Majesty, we need to talk.”
Faye burst into the war room without knocking. Her eyes were red, her wings trembling faintly behind her.
I didn’t look up from the maps spread across the table; troop movements, supply lines, strategies for crushing the Southern Kingdom.
“If this is about Elara...”
“It’s about the rescue mission,” Faye cut in. “About Lily. About the truth you need to hear.”
I wanted to dismiss her. Send her away. But she’d risked her life tonight.
“Report,” I said coldly.
“We found Lily at the Northern Prison. Exactly where Elara said she’d be.” Faye swallowed. “Locked in a tower cell. Malnourished. Terrified. Bruised. Everything Elara told you was true.”
Something twisted painfully in the hollow space where the bond had been.
“How many casualties?”
“Two.” Her voice broke. “Aurora and Crystal. They died protecting a twelve-year-old child from Queen Morgana’s guards.”
I closed my eyes. Two dead. Because of this mission. Because of Elara’s sister.
“Where is the child now?”
“In the healing ward. The physicians are examining her.” Faye stepped closer. “Drakon, you should see her. She keeps asking for Elara. She doesn’t understand why her sister isn’t there.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Yes, it is!” Faye snapped. “Because Lily proves Elara wasn’t lying. She was blackmailed. Forced. She isn’t a villain, she’s a victim.”
“She’s a traitor who helped invade my kingdom!” I slammed my fist down. “Two of your faeries are dead. How many of my people died because Elara gave Morgana our defenses?”
Faye flinched but didn’t retreat. “I don’t know. But I know she was trying to save her sister’s life. What would you have done in her place?”
“I would have told the truth. Trusted my allies. Asked for help instead of lying for months.” The words burned. “She had dozens of chances to confess. She chose deception every time.”
“Because she was terrified!” Faye grabbed my arm. “Because Morgana threatened to torture and kill a child. Because Elara saw no way out!”
“There’s always another way.”
“Is there?” Faye challenged quietly. “If she’d confessed on your wedding night, would you have believed her? Would you have risked your people to save a stranger’s sister? Or would you have assumed it was a Southern Kingdom trick?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
She was right.
“That doesn’t excuse betrayal,” I said at last.
“No. But it explains it.” Her voice softened. “I’m not asking you to forgive her. I’m asking you to understand that she had no good choices.”
“And the bond?” I demanded. “Was that forced too? Or did she fake it to manipulate me better?”
“The bond was real.” Faye met my eyes. “False bonds don’t form. They either exist or they don’t. Which means she truly loved you.”
The emptiness throbbed.
“Then why does it hurt so much?”
“Because love doesn’t disappear when trust breaks,” Faye said gently. “It just turns painful.”
“I don’t love her,” I said. “I hate her.”
“You hate what she did. Not who she is.” Faye stepped back. “Lily wants to see her sister. Will you allow it?”
“No.”
“Drakon...”
“Elara is a prisoner awaiting trial. She gets no visitors. No comfort.”
“Which is what, then?” Faye whispered. “Death?”
“Maybe.” The word tasted like poison. “I haven’t decided.”
“You need to decide soon.” She turned toward the door. “Queen Morgana’s forces are at our borders. She demands Elara by dawn.”
“I know.”
“And whatever you choose,” Faye said softly, “make sure it’s justice not revenge.”
She left.
I stood alone with the maps. With my rage. With the hollow ache in my chest.
Lily was real. The blackmail was real. Elara’s impossible situation was real.
So were her lies. Her betrayal. The deaths caused by her information.
How did I weigh them?
A messenger burst in. “Your Majesty! Queen Morgana has moved up her deadline. She demands an answer within the hour. She’s threatening executions.”
“What executions?”
“Twenty of our soldiers captured during tonight’s battle.” His face was pale. “She says she’ll kill one every hour until you surrender the imposter.”
My blood turned to ice. “How long until the first?”
“Fifty-three minutes.”
Less than an hour.
Protect Elara and watch my soldiers die.
Hand her over and save twenty lives.
The choice should have been simple.
But I couldn’t do it.
Couldn’t hand her over to torture and death. Couldn’t let Morgana claim her.
Even now. Even after everything.
“Tell Queen Morgana,” I said slowly, “that I refuse. The prisoner stays here. If she executes my soldiers, I’ll consider it an act of war.”
“But, Your Majesty...”
“Those are my orders!”
The messenger fled.
I collapsed into my chair, head in my hands.
I had just sentenced twenty loyal men to death.
For her.
Because I was weak. Because love had ruined me.
A knock sounded. “Your Majesty, there’s something else. It’s urgent.”
“What now?”
“We found inconsistencies in Elara’s maps.” The scout spread them out. “Positions that don’t make sense unless Southern soldiers are already inside our borders.”
My head snapped up.
“Scouts confirmed it,” he continued. “Camps. Supply caches. At least three hundred enemy soldiers hidden within our territory. They’ve been here for weeks.”
Three hundred.
“They used Elara’s information to avoid patrols,” the scout said. “They’re positioned to attack from inside when the invasion begins.”
The maps blurred as rage surged back stronger than before.
“Mobilize every available unit,” I ordered. “Hunt them down. Eliminate them before Morgana’s main force arrives.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. And the prisoner?”
I stared at the proof of her betrayal so vast it stole my breath.
“The prisoner,” I said coldly, “will answer for everything.”
The ache in my chest screamed.
But I ignored it.
Because justice mattered more than love.
And Elara was about to learn what justice truly cost.