Chapter 3

Aubree POV:

Hours later, quiet sobbing pulled me out of the dark, and I forced my heavy eyelids open.

Gray morning light filtered through a tiny crack in the woodshed wall, doing nothing to warm the damp, moldy air.

"My Lady is awake! Sister Chloe, she's awake!" Daisy cried out in relief.

I turned my head stiffly and saw another girl in neat, coarse linen kneeling beside the plank bed—Chloe, my senior dowry maid who handled intelligence and our trained messenger hawks.

"Water..." My voice scraped like sandpaper against gravel, my throat still burning from the metallic toxin.

Chloe quickly pulled a leather waterskin from her tunic and supported my neck, feeding me several sips of lukewarm water.

As the liquid cooled my throat, I closed my eyes and sorted through the memories I had absorbed during the night.

One lethal fact stood out immediately: the poison the original Aubree drank was dissolved Dragonslayer Gold, the ultimate forbidden substance in this realm.

That dark-red metal could pierce dragon scales and extinguish Dragonfire. Even for a Dragonless human, its residue would rot the heart veins within three days if left untreated.

I raised my right hand and pressed two fingers against my left wrist, checking my pulse with the field-medic skills from my past life.

Thankfully, the original girl had spilled half the cup in the jolting carriage. With a few specific wild herbs to purge my stomach, I could clear the remaining toxin on my own.

"My Lady, we must send word to the Duchy," Chloe whispered, her eyes blazing with anger. "On your wedding night, His Highness stayed in that scheming Cora's courtyard while the front hall feasted with Dragonfire-warmed wine. He didn't even send a healer to check if you were alive."

Hearing Damien's name caused zero ripple in my chest; to me, he was nothing more than a hostile target on a mission board.

"We will contact my father, and we're walking out of here clean," I said, pushing myself up against the damp wall.

"But... you've already entered the palace gates," Daisy said, wringing her hem. "Under Dragonreach law, a Dragonless wife has no right to petition for nullity of marriage."

I let out a short, mocking laugh and touched the tip of my nose. "Who said I care about their laws? I'm going to execute a Rejection Ritual."

Both maids gasped sharply. In a world ruled by Dragon-born, a Dragonless woman initiating a Rejection Ritual against a Pure-Blood Prince was unheard-of treason.

"Chloe, how much emergency coin did you smuggle in on yourself?" I cut straight to business.

"Only five gold coins sewn into my belt. All ten miles of your dowry chests were seized at the front gate by the steward under the excuse of palace inventory," Chloe said through clenched teeth.

"Find me something to write on. If there's no parchment, tear your inner skirt," I ordered.

Chloe immediately ripped a clean strip of white cotton from her petticoat and handed me a piece of charred firewood from the corner.

Leaning against the wooden board, I used the charred wood to scrawl a short, encrypted message in the private military cipher only my father, Duke Alistair, could read.

"Send this to the Duchy with your messenger hawk. Deliver it straight into my father's hands," I said, rolling the cloth into a small copper tube from Chloe's pouch.

"The palace sky is covered by a Dragon Scent detection net." Chloe hesitated. "A strange hawk flying out of the side court will be shot down by the Dragon Guards."

"Then release it through the kitchen chimneys during tonight's banquet," I replied calmly. "They're holding a second feast to celebrate Cora's title tonight. The smoke from roasting spirit-beasts will mask the hawk's scent."

Before Chloe could answer, heavy footsteps echoed down the outside stone path, accompanied by the clinking of iron armor.

The iron chain outside rattled violently, and the rotting wooden door was kicked wide open, letting blinding sunlight flood the shed.

Four arrogant palace guards stood at the entrance, their captain holding a thick hemp rope in his gauntleted hand.

"Get out here! There's a grand show waiting for our Royal Consort," the captain barked.

I slipped the copper tube deep into my cuff and pressed Chloe's wrist to stop her from reaching for her hidden dagger.

Standing up slowly, I brushed the sawdust off my plain skirt and looked the captain dead in the eye.

"Lead the way," I said, my icy stare making the veteran Dragon-kin guard freeze for a split second.