Chapter 154 - Its a Trap

Chapter 154 - Its a Trap
Vaelira POV

Kavren’s room felt way too damn small.

Bodies filled every corner, heat and magic and frustration crowded the air until my scales itched. The tablet hovered above the desk, projecting my mother’s face in sharp, unforgiving clarity. Behind her, I could see the war room wards flaring faintly, like they were holding their breath with her.

Arielle paced. Of course she did. Nimira leaned against the wall with her arms folded, her eyes distant but sharp. Kavren sat on the edge of his bed like he was restraining himself from flipping furniture.

Soren and Calix stood shoulder to shoulder, with matching scowls set to kill. Rovin hovered near the door, quiet, watchful, and taking everything in.

And just outside the open doorway, unmistakable even without looking, was Uncle Corvan.
Along with four of his elite, standing like shadows given teeth. Sahiyra didn’t waste time.

“The academy is compromised,” she said in a calm voice. She was controlled, but obviously furious underneath. “Not fully, but enough to be dangerous. The rebellion has embedded assets among students and staff. This week is designed to draw them out.”

Arielle spun on the projection. “So let us help.”

“No,” Sahiyra said instantly.

That single word hit like a slap.

Arielle’s eyes flashed. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“Arielle,” Greyson warned from somewhere off-screen.

“I bonded two mates in one weekend,” Arielle shot back. “You raised me to fight. Don’t park me on the sidelines now.”

My mother’s gaze softened for half a second. Then hardened again. “I raised you to survive.”

Calix stepped forward. “You’re treating us like liabilities.”

“I’m treating you like my children,” Sahiyra snapped. “Which means you do not charge into a nest of vipers because your pride is bruised.”

Kavren’s hands clenched. “Then why tell us at all?”

“Because,” Sahiyra said quietly, “they’re watching you. Every bond, every courtship, every reaction. You deserve to know the truth even if you don’t like it.”

I cleared my throat, drawing her eyes to me. “And Lysara Valcaryn?” I asked.

Sahiyra’s mouth tightened. “She should never have been allowed inside those walls. She is bound, angry, and her family has deep rebellion ties.”

“That explains the obsession,” I muttered.

Soren swore under his breath. “So what do we do?”

“You watch,” Sahiyra replied. “You document. You survive the week.”

“That’s it?” Rovin asked quietly.

“For now,” she said.

Nimira finally spoke, and her voice was calm and dangerous. “If they come for us.”

There was a pause. Corvan stepped into view then, with his large arms crossed, and his eyes like razors. “Then they come through me first.”

Sahiyra nodded once. “And me.”

Arielle snarled. “You’re asking us to sit on our hands.”

“I’m asking you,” Sahiyra said, her voice like iron, “to trust that I am already moving the pieces on the board.”

Silence stretched tight. I hated it. But I understood it.

“…Fine,” I said at last. “For now.”

My mother met my gaze, with pride and fear warring in her eyes. “Good. Because when it’s time for you to act, I will not need to tell you.”

The call ended. The room exploded immediately. Arielle swore. Kavren punched his mattress. Calix started pacing. Soren muttered about killing traitors. Nimira just smiled, slow and unreadable.

I looked toward the doorway where Corvan stood watch.

“High alert,” I said quietly.

He inclined his head. “Always Princess.”

Whatever this week was going to be, it wasn’t a school orientation.

It was a countdown, and a trap. And we were the bait.
~

Corvan POV

The wolf broke faster than I expected.

Not because my men were sloppy. Quite the opposite. They were precise. Patient. Quiet in the way that makes prey unravel itself trying to fill the silence. We didn’t rush him.

We asked the same questions three different ways. Let him contradict himself. Let the fear build. Let him realize that every lie made the room colder.

By the time he started shaking, his confidence was gone.

“It wasn’t a professor,” he finally gasped, his eyes darting wildly. “He was posing as one. I dont know his name. He was cold and cruel. He scared me. He said he'd kill me.”

That earned my full attention.

“Describe him,” I ordered.

The wolf swallowed hard. “Tall. Human-looking. Dark hair. Smelled… wrong. Like old ash and something sweet underneath. He masked it. His eyes were black.”

Of course he masked himself.

“And your orders,” I pressed.

“Just recon,” he insisted. “Sniff around the cabin. Confirm you were really here. Confirm the wards were active. That’s it.”

I glanced at my men.

“Track the scent.”

One of my elites, a tiger beast-man with stripes like shadowed flame, dropped instantly into a crouch. He inhaled once, deeply, and his pupils narrowed.

“I’ve got it,” he said. “Faint. Masked. But I can follow.”

Good. I activated my comm and sent the update to Sahiyra immediately. No embellishment. No emotion.

Imposter professor. Masked scent. Asset embedded. Wolf neutralized. Trail acquired.

Her response came back seconds later.

Proceed. Quietly. Leave no trace.

I smiled. The wolf was sobbing now, whispering prayers to gods that had never listened to him. I crouched in front of him.

“You should have stayed a student,” I told him calmly.

He looked up, with hope flickering like a dying candle.
Then I snapped his neck. Clean, and efficient.

I stood and pulled the small obsidian sigil from my pocket, with the spell Sahiyra herself had given me etched into its surface. I activated it with a pulse of magic. The body dissolved. No blood. No trace. No echo. Just gone.

I tucked the sigil away and turned to my men.

“Keep tracking,” I ordered. “I want to know where he sleeps, who he talks to, and who he thinks he’s loyal to.”

The tiger was already moving. I stepped outside. The night air was cool against my skin, and the academy lights glowed innocently in the distance.

The rebellion thought they were clever. They thought the academy was theirs. I grinned, slow and sharp.

The ball was going to be very fun indeed.
~
Unknown POV

The wolf was late. That irritated me.

I sat in the borrowed office, my fingers steepled, breathing through another man’s lungs while the wards around the room hummed softly, and obediently. The academy wore its defenses like jewelry, pretty things meant to impress the uninitiated. They whispered when touched. They screamed when broken.

I smiled at that. Late meant careless. Careless meant dead. I had warned him about the cabin, about the man inside it, about the way the air bent differently around certain predators.

Mortals never listened.

I rose and paced, my boots clicking softly against stone. Power moved under my skin, stretching, settling, and growing more comfortable with the shape I wore. This body had been strong once. Ambitious. Easy to hollow out.

Now it was mine.

The academy was perfect. Better than I had hoped. So many bloodlines gathered in one place. So many grudges stacked neatly on top of fear, pride, and old wounds that never truly healed. Sahiyra thought she had ended the past by stripping titles and locking power away.

She had only taught it how to hate quietly.

I reached out with senses that did not belong to this flesh and tasted the air beyond the walls. Bonds forming. Dragons circling. Beasts awakening instincts they barely understood.

Yes. The trial would do nicely.

Weak ones would die. Strong ones would harden. The desperate would reach for help they should never seek. And when the blood spilled, and when panic cracked through discipline, the right voices would whisper the right lies.

I paused by the window, watching torchlight move through the courtyard below. The wolf had known too much anyway. A minor loss.

Assets were replaceable. Faith was not.

I turned back to the desk and opened a ledger that no one else could see, the pages filled with names written in ink that pulsed faintly, almost alive. Some glowed brighter than others. Some flickered uncertainly.

One name had begun to burn. Vaelira. I traced it with a fingertip and felt the resistance there. Divine blood. Hybrid awareness. Annoying. Dangerous.

But everything bled eventually. Footsteps echoed faintly in the hall outside the office. I smiled and dismissed the wards, smoothing the borrowed face into something human again. Mild and forgettable.

They would never see me. They never did.

The ball was tomorrow. Music. Light. Masks. Delicious.

I could almost hear the screaming already.
~

Vaelira POV

I thought my heart had already steadied.

I was wrong.

A knock sounded again, softer this time, almost hesitant. When I opened the door, Aethren stood there holding more flowers than any sane person should be carrying.

They were breathtaking.

Blue and purple blossoms threaded with veins of silver, petals shimmering faintly like moonlit scales. Star-blooms. Night irises. Frostfire lilies. Flowers that matched my dragon form. My hair when my magic ran high.

“I… went back,” he said, almost sheepishly. “These felt right.”

Something in my chest went tight and tender all at once. Before I could speak, he stepped inside, closed the door carefully behind him, and then did something that stole the air from my lungs completely.

He dropped to his knees.

My breath caught. “Aethren...”

“I need to say this,” he said firmly, looking up at me, his eyes bright and utterly unguarded. “Before anything else twists it. Before rumors do.”

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it.

“Lysara and I were… intimate,” he said carefully. “But we never had sex. I was raised to wait. All dragons are taught that. We have one true mate. Not all of us find them. But if we do…” His voice softened. “Nothing else compares.”

Tears burned behind my eyes.

“You are mine, Vaelira,” he continued, his voice steady but thick with emotion. “My true dragon mate. I feel it in my soul. No matter what you do, or where you go, I will remain by your side. Loyal, and steadfast. You will never have to worry about my love or loyalty."

My knees felt weak. In my wildest dreams i couldn't have imagined a boy as perfect as Aethren on his knees before me right now. Lucky me!

“I get angry,” he admitted quietly. “I’m not perfect. But Lysara means nothing to me. Nothing.” His jaw tightened. “My dragon would kill her without hesitation to prove our devotion. For you, my sweet.”

That did it. They would commit murder in my name. It was slightly morbid that i was aroused by that. I could question my morality later. It all hit me right in the heart, clean and brutal and healing all at once. I dropped to my knees with him, the flowers forgotten as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He startled for half a second, then held me just as tightly, like he’d been waiting for permission to breathe.

“I’m sorry you’ll have to share me,” I whispered against his shoulder. “But just know… you’ll always be my first mate. That’s special. That means something.”

He pulled back, his eyes searching mine.

“And,” I added softly, “I waited too.”

His breath hitched.

“My family was very supportive,” I went on, smiling faintly through the emotion. “My mom told me that being able to gift that part of yourself to your mate… sharing it with the one meant for you… was the most beautiful thing she ever experienced.”

His eyes shone, silver-gold and damp. “You waited too?”

I nodded. For a moment, he looked like he might break.

He swallowed hard, clearly fighting it, then leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine, breathing me in like he needed it to stay standing.