Feigning offense, Sonem bellowed. “How dare you? It seems during your years wandering the countryside, you’ve forgotten how to respect your elders.”

  “That’s a lot coming from the piece of shit that poisoned his own elder sister, don’t you think? On that subject, I’ve been wondering why it is that Father became ill so suddenly-”

  The crowd audibly gasped.

  He was no longer feigning offense. “Even if you’re my sister, you have no right to slander me so! I assure you, once the day’s events conclude, you’ll regret your words.”

  “The only thing I’ll regret is waiting to punish you for your sins, Sonem. It’s clear that you haven’t learned a thing since the day the dragon rejected you. Everyone knows you don’t get burns like those while rescuing old ladies from house fires, after all.”

  The crowd audibly gasped at the mention of a dragon. It was of course widely rumored that the kingdom owed its existence to the blessing of dragons, but their existence was formally a state secret, and the public had no idea of their involvement in succession battles.

  It was technically a crime for me to reveal this information in such a crowded venue, but that wouldn’t matter once I was queen. Right now, it was important to establish without doubt that I was the rightful heir, and he was unfit.

  Sonem grinned madly. “So what? You’re not the only one favored by a dragon, little sister. I just had to find one that knew what a real ruler looked like.”

  My blood ran cold. I had failed to consider this – had Sonem somehow found another dragon, one willing to indulge his whims and grant its approval? What kind of bargain had he struck to attain such a thing? What designs did it have for the kingdom?

  “You made a bargain with a dragon other than the kingdom’s guardian? That’s insane! What the hell did you offer it?”

  He slowly backed away from me, laughing all the while. “It’s not hard to convince a lizard to see reason, little sister, especially when you’re a king! I answered a few simple questions, and it readily offered me its gifts. As it happens, he and I see eye-to-eye on many matters.”

  This was the worst thing he could have offered. A promise to a dragon was dire enough, but any knowledge a dragon lacked was a secret vital to the success of the kingdom. If the dragon truly shared his worldview, it likely wished harm on all of us.

  “What the hell were you thinking, you lunatic? You’ve doomed the kingdom!”

  If a hostile dragon wanted information from a royal badly enough to offer gifts in exchange, there was only one thing it could possibly want. The location of the hearth. And Sonem had likely handed it over without thinking, because it meant nothing to him.

  “So what? It all exists for us, anyway.”

  The kingdom meant nothing to him. People meant nothing to him, after all, even if they shared his blood.

  Before I could consider this further, he raised his left hand, and pitch-black light radiated from the crest emblazoned on it. “Why don’t I make this truly a day to remember by demonstrating my gift?”

  As he spoke, hundreds of silken threads erupted from the crest, flying forth and attaching themselves to the honor guard. I understood then why he had only brought a handful of personal guards; he planned to make use of the attendees.

  As the threads wrapped tight around them, the knights nearest the stage drew their swords and began to advance towards me, wobbling on their feet like the work of a clumsy puppeteer. I could tell that manipulating them took some amount of concentration on his part.

  I heard screams from the crowd and forced myself to ignore them. Even if Sonem was dead set on using the attendees as hostages, I had to focus - no matter the cost. As I prayed for Aifé, Frost and Helian’s safety, I heard Ernest’s voice behind me:

  “Resound, o crashing waves!”

  A gleaming blue trident flashed past me like a bolt of lightning, striking the knight closest to me square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The two knights on either side of him continued to advance, only for a blast of water to erupt from the trident, launching them off the podium. The trident then dissipated into a cloud of mist – presumably, it was needed elsewhere.

  Nice crest, Ernest. Thank you for your assistance, as always.

  As much as Sonem had taken me by surprise, it seemed he failed to anticipate this outcome. He stumbled backwards in shock before scrambling to regain control of his remaining puppets.

  Virtue heeded my call and manifested in my hand. I swept its flames before me, attempting to sever the threads, but to no avail. It seemed that my crest was ill-suited to counteract another’s.

  At that moment, a massive shadow passed over the podium, and Sonem gazed up at it, smiling. As if I didn’t have enough problems already…

  I turned to my left, where Helian and Frost were busy brawling with Sonem’s puppet knights. “Helian!”

  She kicked a knight in the gut before stealing his sword and cutting off his arm. “Yes, Rosa?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “The center of the palace garden! Protect the hearth from that dragon, or we’re all dead!”

  “Are you sure?”

  Frost spoke up. “Just go, I can handle the knights! Probably!” As she said this, golden light erupted from her hand, and three knights crumpled to the ground. It seemed Gold’s gift was perfect for our situation, and I had one less thing to worry about.

  Helian frowned, then nodded and sprinted off, shoulder-checking a knight on the way, sending him flying into a nearby fountain that promptly disintegrated into shards of porcelain.

  Surprisingly, during this time Sonem had not pressed the advantage. It seemed he believed his victory was certain, and he thought it was amusing to watch me struggle.

  “You’ve always been an idiot, Sonem.”

  He tilted his head. “Oh? Tough talk from someone who got outsmarted this easily.”

  “No, I’m not talking about that. In the first place, you never understood what it meant to be rejected by a dragon, and you never understood what it meant to be chosen by a dragon. If you really wanted to be king, you should have asked it for knowledge, not for a crest.”

  Sonem smiled. “I don’t know, this crest seems pretty useful. And what’s yours do in comparison? All you have is that little lance. Breathing fire is nice, I suppose, but not very good if you can’t get close to me.”

  As he spoke, he waved his hand, and four knights moved in formation to block my path towards him.

  “If you’d asked for knowledge, Sonem, you would know that I have more than a lance.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  Virtue dissipated into shards of light that were carried away by the wind. The crest on my other hand began to shine brilliantly. “You’ve always been an idiot, Sonem. You were born stupid, and you’ll die stupid.”

  He couldn’t process what he was seeing. “What the fuck? You have two?”

  “You were born afraid, Sonem, and you’ll die afraid.”

  He laughed pitifully, desperate to seem strong. “So what if you have two? It still doesn’t matter. I have an army, and you have-”

  “You were born weak, Sonem, and you’ll die weak.”

  His hands began to shake as the words took hold. “What are you doing? What is this?”

  “You’ll never want to live half as much as I want to kill you, Sonem, and that’s why you’re going to die here today.”

  His grip on the threads binding the knights loosened, and the web slackened. The knights, now deeply confused, looked to each other for an explanation.

  I cleared my throat and commanded them with my gift. “You will step aside.”

  Still in the grip of their confusion, the knights stepped aside. I strode forward.

  Sonem drew the beautiful sword at his side and charged me, bellowing. “Fine. Just you and me, then!”

  His first swing was clumsy, missing me by inches as it cut a wide horizontal arc. I stood firm.

  His next swing was more precise, within an inch of my chin. I stood firm.

  His third swing was desperate, arcing towards my throat. At the very least, the fool knew to go for the kill instead of prolonging things. But that was all he knew.

  I drew a knife from the holster on my right thigh, intercepting his blade with one hand. He struggled to press forward, and his arms shook from the effort. He began to understand the depth of his weakness.

  “If you wanted to kill me, you should have used poison. You’ve never been strong enough to win an honest fight, Elder Brother.”

  He screamed incoherently and stepped back before charging at me with his blade held straight ahead.

  Virtue answered my call, appearing in my other hand, and I caught the tip of his blade in its maw, holding it still. The muscles in his arms bulged as he attempted to pull it free.

  I braced myself and wrenched firmly, and his ornate blade snapped in half, glittering jewels tumbling to the ground, scraps of gold filigree floating in the wind. “You should have brought a proper sword, Elder Brother.”

  He spat on the ground and cursed. “You fuck! I’ll kill you!”

  As he attempted to summon his threads again in a blind panic, I charged forward and swung my knife.

  “This is for Annalise.”

  My childhood lady-in-waiting, Annalise, had pale blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. Her specialty was flower-arranging, but she was fantastic at brewing tea and had a talent for embroidery, so I had her accompany me whenever I went to lessons.

  The day before my seventh birthday, Sonem took offense at a comment she made about a tapestry hanging on the wall and ordered her caned by one of his knights. The punishment continued until Father finally arrived.

  Annalise was never able to stand up straight again. Sonem was confined to his room for a week.

  Sonem’s left arm parted cleanly from his shoulder, blood spraying freely from the severed veins like water from a fountain. He screamed and stumbled backward.

  “This is for Lucille.”

  Lucille was a maid stationed in the Rose Palace, where Mother and Haruko resided. During one of his visits to the palace, Sonem took offense at the quality of the tea served to him and threw it directly in her face before smashing the kettle over her head, causing severe burns and a concussion. She needed over three months to heal.

  Sonem was confined to his room for two weeks.

  He was now hunched over, grasping desperately onto his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. I parted his right hand cleanly from his arm, and blood flowed readily. I could tell that his blood pressure was dropping, and he struggled to stay upright. As he screamed incoherently, I summoned Virtue’s flames to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding.

  After all, I wasn’t done with him yet.

  “This is for Jeremy.”

  Jeremy was our sword instructor’s youngest son, and when Sonem caught sight of him on the training field one day, he ordered the eight-year-old boy to duel with him using a practice blade. After winning effortlessly in three swings, he struck the unarmed boy directly in the knee using his heirloom sword, cutting through until he struck bone.

  Jeremy’s leg had to be amputated, and his path as a swordsman was cut short. His father resigned and departed the capital, never to return.

  Sonem was confined to his room for two weeks.

  I drove Virtue’s tip through Sonem’s left thigh and unleashed flames, causing acrid smoke to spew forth from his leg. His face contorted in agony, and he began to gurgle, acid rising from his throat, as he collapsed onto the ground.

  “This is for Haruko.”

  Our elder sister Haruko was wise and kind. She always made time to teach us and was patient when we made mistakes. Everyone believed that Father would name her his heir, and we were certain that the kingdom would flourish under her rule.

  Someone poisoned her tea with a mixture of slow-acting toxins and acids that ate away at her internal organs and caused her limbs to rot, prolonging her death for weeks.

  Sonem smiled at her funeral.

  I drove my knife directly into his gut and twisted it before pulling hard to my right, opening a gash that released its contents onto the ground around him.

  “This is for Mother.”

  How could she possibly have wanted to stay? How could she have wanted to be his mother? How could she have lived in a world like this, knowing what waited in the future? When I saw the deep sadness in her face every day, it made me wonder if I was responsible for it too, somehow. But I knew that three people were responsible.

  One of them had died of old age; killing another would have been regicide; and the third, I swore I would strangle to death with my bare hands.

  I knelt slowly, staining my knees with his blood, and after placing my hands around his neck, began to squeeze.