“Anastasia is dead,” Mildred whispered with tears in her eyes.

Mildred the cow-shifter and her cousin Ero, the calf-shifter, were hiding away in the palace garden.

Ero shook his head with a defiant set to his jaw. “No. I don’t know whose corpse that was, but it definitely wasn’t Ana’s. Ze is smaller than that.”

Mildred pressed her lips together. “Then whose corpse was that? Why would there be a dead body of a red dragon in Revi’s bathtub?” She cried out, “And how can you be so calm?”

“Because it can’t be Ana,” repeated little Ero. He furrowed his brows. “Revi likes Ana, doesn’t he? So no matter how evil he is, he won’t kill zir.”

Mildred gritted her teeth and was silent for a few moments. Finally, she said, “Assuming that wasn’t Ana we saw there, what can we do? Report the powerful dragon lord Revi? His guards didn’t stop us from leaving the mansion, which is odd, but do you suppose Queen Freya would take us more seriously than she would the dragon nobility?”

“Why not?” Ero quipped again. “I’m her grandson.” He didn’t understand why Mildred was being so negative. It was scary to see a dead body, but that dragon was clearly larger than Ana, though it was still smaller than the average teenage dragon.

His cousin sighed, and brushed a strand of black hair from her face. “There’s so much you don’t know about the world. People, especially dragons, are brutal and merciless.”

Ero grimaced. “That’s what you all say, like you think I’m dumb.” Mildred looked like she wanted to argue, but Ero was faster. “But I don’t want to get stuck on these little things. I want to save Ana.” He directed his gaze towards the palace.

Mildred bunched up her shoulders, muttering, “Freya’s not going to care.”

Then, Ero suddenly inquired, “How’s Vera?”

His cousin looked startled at the mention of her daughter, and her eyes grew wide. “She’s fine at home with her dad. Why do you ask?”

The calf-shifter studied Mildred’s face. “What’s wrong?” He may be young but he was astute.

Mildred glanced down at the weeds near her. “Nothing. Well, she’s still sick, just the same as before.”

Ero frowned. “No. Something has changed, though. I can feel that there’s something you’re not telling me.” Though Mildred was in the habit of hiding things, he thought.

She trampled one of the weeds underfoot. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?” She looked pointedly away from him. “Fine, let’s talk to Freya.”

***

Anastasia growled at Revi, the gold dragon shifter, and Phaeton, the ice unicorn. “You won’t get away with this!”

Revi and Phaeton had knocked zir out with a sleeping hex. When ze awoke, ze was trapped inside a crystal cage.

Ana had tried to morph to dragon, but something implanted in zir back electrocuted zir, forcing the red dragon shifter to stay in zir human form.

Ze glared at the gold dragon shifter and ice unicorn. They were back in Revi’s mansion, not in his underground passageway, but somewhere on the upper floors of his mansion. Ana hadn’t visited his place enough times to remember exactly where they were. But now, ze wanted nothing more than to strike back against them.

Revi said with an infuriating calm, “Ana, this is the best solution, trust me. It’s a little uncomfortable but you won’t get hurt this way.” His smile turned wistful. “I care about you too much not to protect you.”

Nausea churned in Ana’s gut. “If you really ‘cared’ about me, you wouldn’t imprison me.” Ze kicked at the crystal wall, but got nothing but a throbbing foot and an undamaged wall.

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Revi shook his head. He had the gall to pretend to be sad. “I know how bad this looks, but I’m doing this for your own good. This operation will be huge. If I don’t keep you tucked away in this safe corner, you will get hurt.” He cut a glance at Phaeton. “It’s your turn now.”

The ice unicorn whinnied his glee. “I didn’t realize Ana would be so gullible, but oh well, desperate sovereigns — and heirs — are the easiest to manipulate.”

Revi lightly tapped the ice horse’s flank. “There’s no need to rub it in. And Ana, I do feel very sorry about this. But you’ll understand in time, and I hope you will forgive me.”

“I’ll never forgive you,” Ana said with a snarl.

Revi just dipped his head with a mournful face, then left the room with the ice unicorn.

***

Revi’s heart thudded so hard, he could feel it in his chest as he climbed the steps back down his mansion. He had been so paranoid about getting trapped in his own building, that he never built an elevator, so he had to put up with the slow stairs.

Phaeton, as usual, was callous and amused. He whickered, “Gosh, I didn’t realize you would be this heartbroken. Life is rough, isn’t it?”

The gold dragon shifter frowned. “Like you wouldn’t believe.” He truly hoped that Ana would forgive him one day. Ze was all tough words, but Revi knew that ze had a tender heart underneath. The gold dragon shifter glanced at the vial of healing potion in his palm.

The ice unicorn cut in again, “Hey, are you sure you won’t be too soft towards Ana?”

“I won’t be,” Revi said with a grunt; he slipped the vial back into his jacket pocket. “I have no other choice, anyway.”

“Good.” The ice unicorn rippled his frosty mane. “Then I’ve chosen the right master.”

Their footsteps thumped down the stairs. He would be absolved, Revi thought. He was just doing his part for the kingdom, and indirectly, for Ana. They would all see it in time.

Before Revi left the house on his “trusty steed,” he made sure to dunk a rotting corpse of a red dragon in the bathtub as a decoy. He had illegally stolen the dragon from the morgue. It was a miracle that he managed to store it away somewhere that hid its putrid smell.

Phaeton turned his head away. “Let’s go. This is gross, and he isn’t even small enough.”

Revi sighed. “He was the smallest red dragon I could find in the morgue. It’ll be enough to pass a temporary test.”

Phaeton rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

***

Ero and Mildred reached the doors to the throne room. A tall guard with dark blond hair blocked them. “No intruders allowed. Her Majesty is busy with important guests.”

Ero glared at him. “She’s my grandma and we have something important to tell her.”

The guard looked firmly back at Ero. “I won’t tell you twice, calf-shifter.”

The calf-shifter was livid and yearned to break out his fists against the man. But Mildred gripped his arm. “Stop. Let’s just go.”

Her cousin wrested away from her grip. “How can we give up?” he yelled.

Mildred shushed him. “We’ll come back when she’s done with her meeting, okay?”

The tall guard smirked. “Yes, listen to the lass. Just wait till Her Majesty is done.”

Ero detested his taunting tone, and from the look on her face, Mildred didn’t like being casually called “lass,” either. Ero uttered, “You think you can warn someone off just because you’re big and a dragon?”

Mildred tugged his sleeve. “Come on, he’s not worth wasting your time on,” she urged. “Let’s go out and wait.”

Ero and the guard stared daggers at each other. But Mildred managed to drag her cousin out of the palace.

***

Revi rode on the ice unicorn as they dived through a portal. They reappeared in a very special room.

This room was wrapped in shades of purple. It was normally as beautiful as a present, but right now, all of these curtains, decorations, and even the pretty furniture, felt like a suffocating pillow to him.

An artificial perfume clung to the air. And pressed against a wall, was the huge bed of the princesses. Teefa lay there sound asleep, her beautiful black hair splayed over the covers in disarray. Layla was nowhere to be found.

When Revi approached the bed, Teefa’s eyes fluttered open. Even in illness, her dark brown eyes were lovely and warm. She murmured, “Revi, what are you doing here?” She darted a glance behind him. “And Phaeton, how good to see you again.”

The ice unicorn bowed, one of the rare times he ever showed deference towards anyone.

Princess Teefa just had that effect on people.

Without wasting another second, Revi pulled out the coveted vial. Teefa’s eyes widened at the sight. The gold dragon shifter cleared his throat. “We have found the cure. Just mix some drops into water, and you will recover.”

Teefa stared at them wordlessly while Revi filled up a glass from the kitchen attached to the bedroom. He sighed as he poured a few drops of the clear potion into the water, just as he had researched so long ago. He placed the vial with the remaining potion on a nearby table.

When Revi raised the glass of water to Teefa’s lips, he saw that her eyes were oddly blank. He paused and whispered, “What’s the matter?”

Teefa blinked like she had woken from a trance. But she smiled again, and parted her lips as if ready to imbibe the liquid.

Revi took a deep breath, and poured the cure down her throat.

Nobody noticed the ice unicorn tapping his horn on the vial of leftover potion. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction.