I woke up fast, my heart beating hard in my chest. The dream still felt real, like something was still watching me. That voice in the darkness wouldn't leave my head, even with Meli's happy laugh filling my room. [i]Resurrection or Destruction[/i]. The words felt important, but I didn't know why.

I sat up slow and ran my normal hand through my hair. My draconic hand opened and closed by itself. Was the voice familiar? I couldn't tell. It felt more like a feeling than a sound, like it went straight into some deep part of me. Maybe it was something about dragons. Or something older.

[i]"Don't repeat your father's madness,"[/i] Adam's voice came into my head. It happened a lot these past three months. [i]"Be what they should have been."[/i]

I got out of bed and went through my morning routine. In the washroom, cold water waited in a basin. No one heated it because they knew I didn't usually take baths in the morning. I liked that they knew my habits. Elena, Garrick, and Isolde had done so much for me over the years. I tried not to make extra work for them.

The cold water felt like a shock on my skin, but it helped wake me up. I washed quick, still thinking about that voice. The last. What did that mean? The last Solarian? The last hope for dragons? Both?

I dried off and put on simple clothes good for working in the orchard. Long sleeves and my usual glove hid my golden arm. As I walked to the dining area, I heard Meli's voice again. [b]"Make way, the Lord of the House is up!"[/b]

[b]"Don't,"[/b] I said when I came in. My voice came out too sharp. The title felt like a joke, even if it was true. Lord of what? An orchard? Three old retainers and a cold egg that might never hatch? I felt a little bad when I saw Meli's face. [b]"Just don't call me that."[/b]

I sat down at the table. Elena's pancakes smelled amazing and made the room feel warm and safe. It was so different from the cold dream and the trouble outside. I looked at the window, at that road cutting so close to our land. It was like a wound through the grove.

[b]"Isolde,"[/b] I said, looking at the seamstress. She was probably already working on something with her needle and thread. [b]"Another letter came yesterday, didn't it? About selling the orchard?"[/b]

This was the third one this month. Maybe the fourth? The first letters were polite and offered good money. Now they were more like orders, with threats hidden in official words. Soldiers came twice already. They didn't need to say what would happen if we kept saying no.

Things in Ophidia were complicated. News from the north told different stories. The big cities in the middle were doing well. The madness that took over my father's last years was gone. People weren't scared anymore. Trade was good. The capital had been rebuilt. For a lot of people, the revolution gave them what they wanted.

But the edges were different. Small villages that used to get help from the crown, even when that help was strange and random, were now forgotten. Everything went to the middle, to help the new rulers stay strong. And Edenvale, wild and sacred Edenvale, was being cut apart bit by bit.

[i]"I still have contacts,"[/i] Adam told me once, back before he got really sick. The old knight sat in his corner, cleaning his sword like he always did. [i]"In the capital. All over Ophidia. People who remember what House Solarian was before the madness. People who would help you if you tried to take back the throne."[/i]

I asked him why. Why would anyone help the son of a mad king? Why support what was left of a family that destroyed itself?

[i]"Because they remember your mother,"[/i] Adam said. [i]"And because they want to see if you're like Edric or like Liliveth."[/i]

I picked up my fork and cut into Elena's pancakes. They were perfect like always. Light and soft with a little sweetness. My small family sat around the table for breakfast, the same thing we'd done for twenty-four years.

But outside, the road got closer. More letters kept coming. And in my room, hidden away, a dragon egg got warmer every day.