“My office is this way,” Esmeralda says, waving a hand towards a corridor in the middle of the hallway we have walked into. There are two staircases on each side that lead to the next level, and everything in here is different shades of gold and brown. The brown wooden floors match the same wood staircases. There are gold walls, which are empty of any decoration and gold chandeliers light up the room. There must be like ten of them in this room alone, talk about overkill. We walk down the long corridor, until we get to the end where there is a pair of double doors.

“Wait outside,” my father tells the guards, who each nod their heads, before he walks in the room. I walk in last, shutting the door behind me as I have a look around. There is a giant desk, two windows that overlook a field, the arena and the mountains. There are some chairs, a bookcase, and little else in here.

“Please sit,” Esmeralda says, as she takes her seat behind the desk and my father sits in one of the two chairs in front of it. I sit down in the spare chair, crossing my legs and raising my eyebrow at my father, who sighs.

“We are at war; the fire dragon rebellion has raised an army. Every day, more and more people are siding with them because of the seers,” he says, and I lean back in my seat in shock. That was not what I expected him to say to me, not one tiny bit of what he said. I knew a fire dragon killed my mother years ago, setting a dragon hunt on the fire dragons to find out who did it. Everyone loved my mother, she was a good queen who helped the poor and innocent. She made laws that helped them, opened orphanages and even adopted several dragon children, keeping them in the castle and teaching them in her spare time. No one knew why anyone would kill her and the seers never saw it.

“The seers? Why would more fire dragons side with the rebellion because of the seers?” I ask, confused.

“We have the royal seer locked up because she keeps trying to escape, and the whole of the seer village has joined the fire dragon rebellion,” he says with an angry growl following his statement. There is a royal seer family from what I remember reading, who lived in the castle, but I don’t remember them as a child. It’s likely I never met them.

“Why don’t you give her up? Let her go and maybe the seers–“

“–Enough. Do not tell me what to do, Isola. There is far more you do not understand and we cannot give up the young seer. She is too powerful, and it was her mother that made the prophecy that started the war in the first place,” he says, speaking of the prophecy that was made the day I was born. I’ve heard of it from Jace, but I never listened to what he had to say. I don’t believe that everything is destined to be, seers can be wrong.

“If I was to let her go free, and she has a vision as powerful as her mother’s, it would just feed their army and make more people side with them,” my father sighs.

“No one believes that prophecy, right?” I ask, but my father doesn’t look at me. I don’t even remember all of it, something about fire falling for ice, or something.

“Remind me of it, it’s been years since I’ve heard it.” Esmeralda cuts in, looking between us and I sit back in my seat.

My father recites, and none of us say a word as we think it over. Seers can be wrong, most of the time they are, but never wrong about everything. Some parts of the prophecy must come true, if not all of it, and none of it makes any sense to me. I assume it means a fire dragon falling for an ice dragon, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I also don’t see how fire must win. It makes no sense.

“Who is the heir of ice and fire?” I ask the only question I can think of.

“No one, they don’t exist,” my father snaps, and then puts a hand on my shoulder.

“You are the only heir of Dragca. I don’t have any siblings, and I never had another child,” he tells me what I already know, but he looks at me until I nod, relief spreading over his face as he leans back.

“Can’t our army stop the fire dragons?” I say, thinking of the large army my father has, full of dragon guards.

“We can’t get to them Isola, but we are looking for a way and we will destroy the rebellion before you take the throne. I will not hand you a kingdom at war,” he says, growls from his dragon following his word. I see frost escaping his fingers and sliding down the arm of the chair. He must be angry to lose control like that. The chair creaks, threatening to snap from the ice.

“What now?” I eventually ask when he has calmed down a little.

“You will stay here, and your uncle will watch over you. He has been appointed the new headmaster of Dragca Academy,” he says, shocking me with an uncle I barely remember. I remember Jace telling me about him, how my grandmother adopted him at a young age. That’s why he is a fire dragon, and not ice like my mother.

“Uncle? My mother’s brother?” I ask, thinking back to the man with fiery red hair I remember as a child.

“Yes, he is a fantastic fighter, a smart dragon, and he will be a good mentor for you,” he tells me.

“And Esmeralda?” I ask, looking over at her as she smiles at me.

“I am to return to the castle to protect my sister. The castle isn’t safe and my family needs me,” she replies before my father can.

“Why now? Is it because I was meant to take the throne with Jace? When they find out he is dead, and there is no way for me to take the throne without an ice dragon mate–“ I start rambling.

“–Enough,” my father cuts me off.

“But–”

“There is a reason the royal name Dragice is feared, there is a reason ice dragons have held the throne for thousands of years. You are Isola Dragice, and they will bow to you because Dragice dragons bow to no one. They will see you as their true queen, with or without a king, or I will finish them,” he says, the promise coming through his words as more ice leaves his hand, until the whole chair is frozen, and his eyes are completely white. He must be close to shifting into his dragon, and the loss of control of his gifts says it all about the anger he is feeling. I want to think he might even be worried about me, my future, but his emotionless expression makes me feel like he is more frightened about losing the throne.

“I understand,” I tell him quietly, and his eyes return back to their normal colour.

“I will take you to your room before I leave,” Esmeralda tells me, I nod at her as I stand up.

“Come here,” my father opens his arms as he stands as well, and I step into a hug from him. It feels weird to be held by father, as I can’t remember him ever holding me, even as a child. He was always busy, always had many other things he needed to do.

“Be strong, there is so much of both me and your mother inside of you. Don’t let death destroy your heart, and we will see each other in six months, for the winter solstice,” he whispers to me. I want to agree with him, but you can’t destroy something that is already broken, and my heart is too broken to be destroyed. I don’t reply to him as I step out of his arms and walk over to the door that Esmeralda opens. The guards move to the side, two of them following us, and the other staying with my father.

“I’m sure your uncle will want to see you first thing in the morning. I will speak to the remaining dragon guards to work out a way for a guard to be with you at all times,” she tells me as we get to the right staircase and start walking up. I don’t reply to her, I just keep walking silently, wanting to get to my room and shut the door on the world.

“I am sorry for your loss, I know how crushing it is to lose your mate at a young age,” she tells me, and I turn to look up at her as she continues to talk. I can’t think about Jace right now without bursting into tears, which is not something I can do when I need to be strong right now. Jace wouldn’t want me to break down.

“Can we talk about something else?” I ask as we pass two girls. One has long ginger hair and the other black, with red tips. They both stare at me for way too long, actually stop walking to stare. I try not let it bother me, I’m used to humans being weird around me growing up. They might not actually know what is different about me, like the dragons here do, but humans aren’t stupid, they can sense something.

“I was promised to a fire dragon at ten, and we grew up together, fell in love at fifteen. The day before our mating ceremony, your mother was killed and he was one of the dragons who fought to protect her. Losing his life doing so,” she tells me, not exactly changing the subject, as she is trying to relate to me in some way, but I do feel sorry for her.

“I didn’t realise guards died trying to protect my mother, I thought the attacker caught everyone off guard when he snuck into the castle and killed her,” I say, remembering the bells going off in the castle that night. It’s one of the only things I remember like it was yesterday, is that night. My father woke me up, hiding me in the secret passageways with royal guards. I remember him coming back for me hours later, covered in my mother’s blood and he told me she was gone. I screamed at him, ran to my mother’s room, and stared at her dead body on the bed for hours before a guard picked me up and took me away.

“Five guards died trying to stop him, I knew them all, they were good men. As much as your mother was a good queen who didn’t deserve to die as she did,” she says and we get to the top of the staircase.

“I was glad when your father found the betrayer and killed him for what he did, though I am sorry that many fire dragons were killed to find the attacker,” she says and I agree with her. I can’t wait to find out who killed Jace, because I won’t stop until I do. I will train and become strong enough to kill the person that took him from me, there isn’t any other option.

“This way,” she points at one of the three corridors. We walk down to the bottom of it, which stretches into a longer straight passageway with dozens of wooden doors.

“This is yours,’ Esmeralda says, pointing at the fifth door in the row and walking over, unlocking it with a key that she hands me after opening the door.

“Please try not to lose the key, they are a nightmare to replace,” she asks me as I slide the key into my coat pocket and walk into the large bedroom after her. The room is circular in shape, with another door to the left of me, a round bed in the middle and a small window with a window seat. There’s a box at the end of the bed and a cream rug in front of it.

“The bathroom is through there, and the morning begins at seven am, Monday to Friday. The weekends are yours to study or socialise,” she says, walking past me to the door as I stop in the middle of the room.

“The guards will bring your suitcase up, I’m sure,” she says and then surprises me as she shuts the door with the guard on the other side. She walks over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders, and keeping eye contact with me.

“Your father will tell you to lay low here, to be safe, and do as you are asked. Don’t do that. You need to stand out, so the other dragons don’t push you over. You need to make friends, so you are not alone. Most of all, you need to train every hour because this war isn’t going to be over when your father wins. They will always want you dead, they will always want a fire dragon on the throne. Be smart, survive this, and get revenge on whoever killed Jacian,” she says and steps away, looking nervously at the door and back to me.

“Why tell me this? Why help me?” I ask her.

“Because I was friends with your mother, she was kind to me when I lost everything. I will protect her child because I see so much of her in you, and you are the true heir. Even as young a heir as you are now, you have power. I believe dark times are coming for Dragca and we need a true ruler,” she says and walks out the room, shutting the door behind her. I walk over to my bed, sitting down and pulling out my phone from my pocket. The battery is low, but I still get to stare at the photos of Jace, with tears running down my face until I pass out asleep.