Page 162 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

I felt like a person worth fighting for.

As the others fell into quiet conversation, their minds reeling from Cordelle’s revelation, I sat back slightly, staring into the shadows dancing at the edges of the table. The words on the old parchment echoed in my skull,the fall of the empowered.

How could I break the kingdom?I asked her quietly.What could I possibly do that would cause the crown itself to fall?

Her voice came slow and steady, not with fear, but certainty.

Only if you chose the wrong side. If you let them shape your power instead of forging your own path.

What does that mean?I asked.

You could break the kingdom if you joined the Blood Fae... or if the nobles themselves fell from power.

I blinked. “One of the sects?” I said aloud, the realization slamming into me like a blade between the ribs.

The others looked at me, startled.

“I don’t think the Blood Fae are the only threat,” I said, voice quiet but certain. “One of these new sects, maybe both, could try to use me. They might see me as more than just a rider.”

Riven frowned. “You think they’d try to recruit you?”

“They wouldn’t need to,” Cordelle said, adjusting his glasses. “Not directly. The Crimson Sigil could just display you. Use your image—white-haired, bonded to one of the strongest dragons, raised by assassins—as everything wrong with the nobility. A symbol of what they say is corrupt.”

“And the Varnari?” Naia asked.

I met her gaze, the knot tightening in my gut. “They’d claim I was stolen from them. That I was a magic-born commoner taken by the throne. Forced to bond with a dragon that didn’t want me. That I’m a victim of the Crown’s lies.”

“But if you sided with them...” Cordelle said, voice trailing off like it hurt to say it.

“That would break the nobility,” Naia finished softly. “And possibly the treaty with the dragons.”

Ferrula exhaled slowly. “The dragons wouldn’t accept another war tied to betrayal.”

“They might see it as a betrayal of the bond,” Jax added, his voice low and gruff. “And that’s something they don’t forget.”

The weight of it pressed against my ribs like armor that didn’t quite fit.

Kaelith,I whispered inwardly,if I ever strayed, would you stop me?

Her response rumbled like thunder.

I would tear down cities to protect you from others. But I would burn you myself before I let you become a weapon for anyone else.

A chill rippled over my skin… not from fear.

But from trust.

Because Kaelith would never let me fall without a fight.

And neither would the people around this table.

Ferrula leaned forward, her scar catching the glow of the lanterns overhead, the low hum of the dining hall fading around us as her voice dropped.

“In Diria,” she began, her tone low and even, “there was a movement. A real one. Not a whisper in alleyways, not a symbol on a tavern wall. A true uprising. The people rose up against the nobility… for good reason.”

Her eyes darkened, her voice hardening with every word. “In my homeland, it’s not uncommon for raiding parties to come through villages, sometimes rogue guilds, sometimes mercenaries. They pillage. They burn. They take. Women are expected to fight or be taken. There is no other choice.”

Naia’s jaw clenched. Riven leaned in, listening like her life depended on it.