Chapter 3 - The Hunter in the PalaceThe second bolt snapped.

The chamber erupted into chaos.

“Move!”

Grant ordered the guards forward.

Darius shoved Alona toward the hidden staircase.

“Go.”

She hesitated.

“What about the others?”

“We're buying you time.”

The golden dragon chirped frantically.

The blue-black egg cracked open.

Black smoke poured out.

Thunder shook the ceiling.

Alona stared.

“They're hatching.”

Silas shouted, “Take them with you!”

“I can't carry three dragons.”

“You won't have to.”

“What?”

Silas pointed toward the staircase.

“The crypt was built for them.”

Another explosion tore through the doors.

The guards flew backward.

A figure stepped through the smoke.

He wore a long black coat covered with silver scars.

His face was pale.

One eye was dark.

The other glowed red.

Darius immediately recognized the symbol on his collar.

The Crowned Fang.

An order thought extinct for four hundred years.

Darius raised his sword.

“You.”

The stranger smiled.

“Champion Prescott.”

“You should be dead.”

“People have said that before.”

The man looked at Alona.

The smile vanished.

“There she is.”

Alona backed away.

Darius positioned himself between them.

“You don't touch her.”

The hunter tilted his head.

“You still think this is about the girl?”

His gaze shifted to the eggs.

“No.”

He whispered.

“This is about what she remembers.”

Alona froze.

“I've never met you.”

“You don't remember the fire.”

Her heartbeat stopped.

“What fire?”

The hunter smiled.

“Exactly.”

A memory flashed.

Orange flames.

A woman's voice.

Hands pushing her into a wooden chest.

Someone screaming.

Then silence.

Alona stumbled.

“Stop.”

The hunter took one step forward.

“You were six.”

Darius noticed her expression.

“Alona?”

She covered her ears.

“I don't remember.”

The hunter raised his hand.

“Your mother knew they were coming.”

Alona looked at him.

“My mother?”

“She hid you.”

Silas shouted.

“Don't listen to him!”

The hunter laughed.

“Why? Because the old scholar knows the truth?”

Silas's face drained of color.

The hunter continued.

“Lena Mercer wasn't a farmer.”

Alona's breath caught.

“She was the last Dragon Guardian.”

Thunder exploded overhead.

The blue-black egg cracked open.

A tiny black dragon emerged.

Smoke streamed from its nostrils.

Its eyes locked onto Alona.

It roared.

The hunter actually stepped back.

For the first time, fear crossed his face.

“It's awake.”

The silver egg began to shine.

He cursed.

Darius lunged.

Their swords collided.

The impact shook the chamber.

Darius was stronger.

Faster.

But the hunter moved like someone who had fought Alphas for centuries.

He twisted.

Darius barely avoided the blade.

Grant attacked from the side.

The hunter blocked.

Ronan joined them.

Three warriors against one.

The hunter laughed.

Then he whispered a word.

“Bloodseal.”

The floor exploded.

Everyone was thrown backward.

Alona fell against the hidden doorway.

The golden dragon landed safely beside her.

The black one crawled forward.

Then the silver egg opened.

A white dragon emerged.

Its scales were silver-gray.

Its eyes were violet.

Unlike the other two, it did not approach Alona.

It stared directly at the hunter.

Then it opened its tiny mouth.

A beam of pale light struck him.

The hunter screamed.

For the first time, his calm expression disappeared.

He stumbled through the broken doorway.

“You have no idea what you've awakened!”

Darius moved to finish him.

But Alona shouted.

“Wait!”

Everyone stopped.

The hunter looked at her.

She didn't know why she had spoken.

Something inside her had whispered the command.

The hunter smiled.

“Now you hear them.”

He jumped backward through the shattered window.

Grant rushed forward.

There was no body below.

Only black smoke.

Ronan turned toward Alona.

“What did he mean?”

She looked at the three baby dragons.

All three were watching her.

Then the golden dragon touched its forehead to her palm.

A voice echoed inside her mind.

Not words.

A memory.

A woman kneeling beside three giant dragon eggs.

Lena Mercer.

Her mother.

She was crying.

“Forgive me.”

Alona gasped.

The memory continued.

Lena looked toward a shadow standing behind her.

A man.

He wore the same symbol as the hunter.

Then Lena whispered:

“If they find Alona, tell her…”

The memory broke.

Alona screamed.

The three dragons cried out with her.

The palace windows shattered simultaneously.

Across Frostmir, every dragon statue began bleeding black liquid.

Silas stared outside.

“What is happening?”

The silver dragon lifted its head.

Its violet eyes glowed.

Silas whispered the final words of an ancient prophecy.

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