The Dragon who called me king

The Knife's Edge

The cold steel of Lyra’s dagger pressed hard against my throat, the sharp tip biting slightly into my new skin. I stood completely frozen, my hands raised in the air as I stared into her wild, furious blue eyes. She didn't recognize me. To her, I was just Prince Alden, the pampered royal heir who represented everything she hated.

"Lyra, wait!" I gasped, the smooth, foreign voice of the prince trembling in my throat. "It's me. It's Kael!"

Lyra’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure ice. She pressed the blade a fraction deeper, drawing a tiny drop of blood that trickled down my collar. "Do not speak his name with your filthy royal tongue. Kael Ashford is currently locked in the lower dungeons of the academy and my father is preparing to harvest him. I watched them drag him away."

"No, that's what they want you to believe!" I pleaded, my mind racing to find a way to prove my identity before she sliced my throat. "Listen to me! In the storage room under the Discard Dorms, your father came back from the dead. Headmaster Vance used a special silver dagger to slice my soul out of my body. They put me inside this prince and they put my twin brother inside my old skin!"

The dagger shook slightly in her hand. Her breath hitched, her eyes darting across my face, searching for any sign of a royal trick. "How... how do you know about the twin?"

"Because you told me right before the door was kicked open," I said quickly, the words pouring out of me. "You told me your father didn't execute mine for treason. You said he killed him because my father refused to let Vance breed the true royal bloodline like cattle. And my brother... he can control your sky-cutter dragon because it was born from his stolen energy."

Lyra’s face turned completely pale. She slowly lowered the dagger, her arm dropping to her side as she staggered backward, staring at me in total disbelief. "Kael? It really is you... But your face... your body..."

"It’s a puppet cage," I muttered, rubbing my sore throat. I quickly pulled open my velvet tunic, showing her the bare, smooth skin underneath. "Look. The royal crest is gone. Erebos is gone. They locked him behind a suppression seal inside my old chest and my twin brother is the one piloting my muscles now. He’s going to use my face at the coronation tomorrow to pretend he’s a hero."

Lyra gripped her bandaged shoulder, a grimace of pain crossing her face as she sank onto the edge of my luxurious bed. "This is a total nightmare. The entire kingdom is built on a lie. My father... he isn't a war hero. He’s a monster working with a creature that wears the Headmaster's skin."

"We can still fix this," I said, kneeling in front of her. "Where is Zane? Did they capture him too?"

"No," Lyra whispered, shaking her head. "When the mages focused their suppression web on you, Zane used the distraction to dive back through the hidden panel we used to escape. He’s currently hiding in the old maintenance grid beneath the city. He’s the one who helped me track the carriage that brought this prince's body to the palace."

A sudden spark of hope flared in my chest. If Zane was still free, we had a chance to strike back. "We need to get to the academy core before the coronation tomorrow. If we can break the suppression seal on my old body, Erebos will wake up. His ancient fire can undo the soul-swap curse."

"It won't be that simple," Lyra warned, her voice dropping to a tense whisper as she looked toward the locked oak door. "The palace is swarming with elite guard mages. The moment we step out of this room, they will scan your aura. If they realize Prince Alden's body doesn't contain the prince's true soul, the alarm will sound."

"Then we don't use the doors," I said, pointing toward the high stained-glass window she had just climbed through. "We go out the same way you came in."

Lyra gave a grim nod, sheathing her dagger. She helped me tear the heavy golden silk sheets from the bed, twisting them into a thick, sturdy rope. We tied one end around the heavy marble leg of the armchair and threw the rest out the window, letting it dangle against the stone wall of the castle.

"I'll go first," Lyra whispered, sliding over the ledge into the cold morning air.

I followed right behind her, my new hands feeling clumsy and unaccustomed to the rough texture of the silk. We climbed down the wall, slipping behind a row of thick rose bushes just as a patrol of armored guards marched past the courtyard below.

We sprinted through the royal gardens, dodging from shadow to shadow until we reached the grand iron drainage pipe that led out into the city’s lower sewers. Zane was waiting for us in the damp dark, holding a small brass lantern that cast a faint, flickering light on the wet stone walls.

"Kael!" Zane gasped, nearly dropping his lantern when he saw the prince's face. "Lyra, why did you bring the prince with you?"

"It's me, Zane," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The Headmaster swapped our souls."

Before Zane could even process the shock, a low rhythmic tapping sound echoed from the dark tunnel behind us. We spun around, Lyra drawing her knife once more as the faint light of the lantern illuminated a figure walking slowly through the sewer muck.

The figure stepped into the light. To our absolute horror, it was Headmaster Vance, wearing his pristine white robes, completely untouched by the filth around him. Beside him stood my twin brother, occupying my original body, his pitch-black eyes gleaming with absolute triumph.

"You really are persistent, Kael," Vance smiled, his jaw rippling as green scales briefly flashed beneath his skin. "But you see, the silver dagger didn't just swap your soul. It linked your new body directly to your old one."

My twin brother raised my original hand and to my utter terror, my own body automatically mirrored his movement perfectly, forcing me to point Lyra’s dagger right at her own throat.