Chapter 3

Marina's POV

The square was packed with people the next morning. Everyone talking at once, voices overlapping, hands gesturing wildly. I stood at the edge of the crowd and listened.

"You should have seen it!" A middle-aged woman was practically bouncing. "Those dragon servants treated her like dirt!"

My chest got tight but I kept my face blank.

"What happened?" someone asked.

"Coral arrived at the Dragon Palace in that beautiful carriage, right? The moment she stepped down, the dragon maids made her walk. Wouldn't even let her ride the last hundred meters to the gate."

Another voice jumped in. "That's not even the worst part! They made her take off her wedding dress right there at the entrance. Said mixed-blood clothing was 'inferior' and gave her this ugly gray robe to wear instead."

The crowd gasped. I didn't.

"She tried to refuse," the first woman continued, dropping her voice to this scandalized whisper. "But Dragon King Thalassos just looked at her and said 'If you're unwilling, go back home.' And Coral changed right there, in front of everyone."

My nails dug into my palms. I remembered my first time at the Dragon Palace in my previous life. They'd tried the same thing with me and demanded I strip off my "inferior" clothes and wear their gray servant robe.

But I'd refused. I stood there at the palace gates and told them no.

Thalassos had been furious. We stared at each other for what felt like hours and neither of us backed down. Finally he waved his hand and told the servants to let me keep my clothes.

Because he hadn't gotten what he wanted yet. I still had value to him then.

An old woman near me shook her head. "Poor child. To be humiliated like that on her wedding day."

"It gets worse," another voice whispered. The crowd leaned in and I found myself doing the same. "I heard from someone who knows a palace servant that Coral and the Dragon King already did it before the wedding. She was so desperate to lock down her position."

The realization crashed through me and suddenly everything made sense.

"She gave herself too easily," an elder muttered. "Now he has no reason to respect her."

I walked away from the crowd and headed back to my room. My mind was racing but everything was becoming crystal clear.

Coral thought she'd stolen my destiny, my prize, my happy ending.

She had no idea that by sleeping with Thalassos before the wedding, she'd thrown away her only leverage. To him she was already obtained, already his, a done deal. He could treat her however he wanted now because she'd already proven she'd accept anything to stay.

You were always too impatient, sister.

I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. In my previous life Thalassos trying to break down my walls, actually putting in effort to win me over.

That's why he'd valued me at all.

But Coral had handed herself.

I packed my bags two days later. According to tradition every mixed-blood woman had to leave the settlement for a time to find a male to father her children, and it was my turn now with Coral gone.

For the first time in a hundred years I felt light. There was no pressure crushing down on me, no desperate scramble to find the perfect partner, no weight of destiny making every choice feel life-or-death. Coral was already in the Dragon Palace living my old nightmare and she wouldn't be watching me anymore.

I was free.

I headed north and took the mountain road. The air got cooler and cleaner with each mile. I stopped in small towns, ate local food, talked to merchants and travelers. I learned about places I'd never seen in my previous life because I'd been locked in that castle pumping out dragon babies.

In one village I met a traveling healer named Sage. She was older than me with laugh lines around her eyes and herb-stained fingers. We hit it off over shared meals and long walks through the countryside.

"You seem like you're running from something," she said one evening. "But also like you're finally running toward yourself."

I smiled because that was exactly right.

She taught me about medicines and poisons, which plants could save lives and which could end them. I memorized everything because you never know when that kind of knowledge might save your ass.

In an ancient city's market I found a dusty bookshop tucked between two larger stores. The owner was ancient with shaking hands as he showed me his collection of old texts.

"These are about bloodline magic," he wheezed. "Purification rituals. Very rare."

I bought three books without even trying to bargain. That night in my inn room I read them by candlelight and most of it was superstition and nonsense, but there were hints of real magic buried in the folklore.

Maybe there's a way to strengthen mixed-blood children. Make them more powerful than anyone expects.

Two months passed and I ended up in a quiet town with this beautiful library built of white stone. I spent my days there reading everything I could find about magic and bloodlines and dragon lore.

That's where I first saw him.

He was sitting by the window completely absorbed in an ancient tome, his fingers tracing the faded text. Young, maybe thirty, with soft features and scholarly clothes. Something about the way he held himself told me he had magic humming under his skin.

I watched him for three days. He came every morning, read until evening, spoke politely to the librarians. He never used his magic in public but I could sense it there, waiting.

A wizard. An educated one with gentle hands and kind eyes.

Perfect.

On the fourth night I waited until the library closed. I knew which inn he was staying at by then because I'd learned his habits. The sleeping spell I'd learned from Sage's herbs worked like a charm and he never even stirred as I slipped into his room.

I was careful. I used magic to make sure he'd sleep through it all and wouldn't remember anything when morning came. Part of me felt guilty but mostly I just felt determined because this was my choice, my life, my future I was building.

When it was done I dressed quietly and looked at his sleeping face one last time. He really did have kind eyes even in sleep.

If I'm pregnant at least my child's father will be someone smart. Someone gentle. Someone who'd be a good man if he ever knew.