Chapter 12: Breaking Point

Pain.

That was the first thing Faye registered.

A deep, searing ache radiated through her side, pulsing with every unsteady breath. Her limbs were heavy, sluggish, as if something was weighing her down.

The world around her was dim, firelight flickering at the edges of her vision. A cave? No—a ruin. The faint scent of moss and old stone filled the air.

Movement.

She wasn't alone.

"…she's waking up."

That voice—Kael. Low, edged with something unreadable.

Another voice followed, harsher. Riven. "She shouldn't have been unconscious this long."

A softer sigh—Lyra. "She nearly bled out, Riven. Give her a damn second."

Faye forced her eyes open.

Shapes came into focus—Kael crouched near her, his gaze locked onto hers, sharp and assessing. Lyra sat nearby, arms crossed, her usual confidence dimmed by something close to worry.

Riven stood apart from them both, tense, hands clenched into fists. His jaw was set, his shoulders rigid—anger barely held in check.

Not at her.

At himself.

At all of them.

Faye tried to sit up. A mistake.

Pain lanced through her side, sharp and unforgiving.

Kael was there before she could collapse again, his grip steady but careful.

"Easy," he murmured. "You lost a lot of blood."

She swallowed hard. Her throat was dry, raw. How long had she been out?

Before she could ask, Riven exhaled sharply.

"We need to talk," he said.

Not a question.

Faye forced herself to focus.

Riven met her gaze, and for the first time, she saw something in his expression that wasn't just frustration.

It was fear.

"You know why they're hunting you, don't you?"

Faye stiffened.

She knew pieces. Enough to understand that her existence was a problem. That she was a threat.

But Riven's words carried something heavier. Something more than just politics or power plays.

"They sent Wraithborn assassins after you, Faye," Lyra said quietly. "Not mercenaries. Not bounty hunters. The Wraithborn Pact doesn't waste their time unless the target is…" She hesitated.

"Marked for eradication," Kael finished.

Silence.

The weight of the words settled over all of them.

Faye's breath came faster. Eradication. Not capture. Not leverage.

Death.

"…why?" she finally asked.

Riven's expression darkened. "Because of what you are."

He hesitated, then continued, voice grim.

"You're the last of the Frostborn line, Faye. The blood of the Draconic Sovereigns runs through your veins. And that bloodline was never meant to survive."

The words hit her like a blow.

Faye had always known she was different. That her connection to the Frost Dragon was something beyond the usual bonds between dragon and rider.

But this—this was something else entirely.

Riven pressed on.

"The old orders—**the ones that ruled before the Dominion fell—**they hunted your kind to extinction centuries ago. Anyone with Frostborn blood was killed before they could awaken."

Lyra's voice was quiet. "But your family survived."

Faye felt the old, familiar ache stir in her chest.

Her family. Gone. She had never known why. Only that they had been taken from her, leaving her with nothing but fragments of memory and an unshakable sense of loss.

Kael's gaze remained steady on her.

"They weren't just killed," he said. "They were erased."

Faye's pulse pounded in her ears.

"They tried to wipe out the bloodline completely," Riven continued, his voice edged with something that almost sounded like guilt. "Burned records, destroyed entire villages. The Frostborn were too powerful. Too dangerous."

Faye barely registered her own voice when she spoke.

"…because of the Frost Dragon."

Kael nodded. "The last of its kind. And the only creature capable of challenging the balance of power in the entire realm."

Her dragon.

Riven ran a hand through his hair, frustration clear in every movement. "You don't understand, Faye. If you live—if you awaken your full power—the entire world changes. Every kingdom, every ruling house, every faction—they will never allow it."

Faye swallowed hard.

It wasn't just about her.

It was about what she represented.

A survivor of a bloodline that should have been wiped out. The last piece of a power that had been feared for centuries.

She clenched her fists, her mind racing.

Her family hadn't just been killed.

They had been hunted to extinction.

And now, they were coming for her.

Again.

Kael's voice was quieter this time.

"They won't stop, Faye." His gaze never wavered. "Not until you're dead."

The cave was silent.

Faye exhaled slowly.

Her side burned, her body weak. But deep in her chest, beneath the exhaustion and the pain, something hardened.

They wanted her erased?

Then they would learn why the Frostborn had been feared in the first place.

She met Kael's gaze. Then Riven's. Then Lyra's.

And she made her decision.

"We make the first move," she said.