(Marina's POV)
The teacup exploded in my hands.
I looked at the broken pieces on the floor, my heart pounding like crazy. This wasn't meant to happen. The poisoned tea was meant to make Lyra sick, not turn into ash before it even touched the ground.
"Marina? Are you hurt?" Father Marcus ran into my room, his dark eyes scanning the mess. "I heard something break."
"It's Lyra," I whispered, still shaking. "Something's wrong with her. Really wrong."
Father Marcus closed the door behind him and walked over to me. His face was calm, but I could see worry in his eyes. "Tell me exactly what happened."
I sat down hard on my bed, trying to make sense of what I had just seen. "I went to give her the tea like we planned. But when I dropped the cup, she... she turned it to ash with golden fire. Just like that. No spell words, no work, nothing."
"That's impossible," Father Marcus said slowly. "Dragon power doesn't work that way. Even the strongest dragon wizards need to focus and speak magical words to use their power."
"I know!" I jumped up, walking around the room. "But she did it anyway. And her eyes... they were different. They looked older. Like she knew things she shouldn't know."
Father Marcus grabbed my shoulders to stop me from walking. "Marina, listen to me carefully. Did she say anything strange? Act differently than normal?"
I thought back to those scary few minutes in Lyra's room. "She made my hands shake. I couldn't stop them. And when she looked at me, it felt like she could see right through me. Like she knew all my secrets."
"That's not possible," Father Marcus grumbled, but he looked worried now. "Unless..."
"Unless what?"
He walked to the window and stared out at the castle grounds. "There are tales about dragon magic. Old stories that most people think are just fairy tales. They say that when a dragon wizard dies, their magic can sometimes come back stronger than before."
My blood turned cold. "But Lyra hasn't died. She's perfectly fine."
"Is she?" Father Marcus turned to look at me with those sharp eyes of his. "Are you absolutely sure the person you just talked to was the same Lyra you've known your whole life?"
I wanted to say yes, but the words stuck in my mouth. Because deep down, I knew he was right. The Lyra I had just met felt like a totally different person. Stronger. Smarter. More dangerous.
"What are you saying?" I whispered.
"I'm saying we might have a bigger problem than we thought." Father Marcus walked over to his secret magic book and flipped through the pages. "If Lyra somehow got access to ancient dragon magic, our plan to steal her power might not work anymore."
"But we've been planning this for three years!" I couldn't keep the panic out of my words. "You promised me I would get her magic. You promised I would be queen instead of her!"
Father Marcus found the page he was looking for and his face went white. "Marina, look at this."
I read over his shoulder. The old book was talking about something called "Soul Return Magic" - a type of power that could bring someone back from the edge of death with all their memories and ten times their original strength.
"This is just a legend," I said, but my voice was shaking. "This kind of magic doesn't really exist."
"Doesn't it?" Father Marcus pointed to a drawing on the page. It showed a person with bright fire coming out of their eyes and hands. "Look familiar?"
It looked exactly like what I had just seen Lyra do.
"No," I said strongly. "I refuse to believe this. Lyra is just a spoiled princess who got lucky with her magic today. She's still the same weak girl who cries when workers are mean to her."
But even as I said the words, I knew they weren't true. The Lyra I had seen today didn't look like someone who would cry about anything. She looked like someone who would burn down the whole land if you made her angry enough.
"We need to test her," Father Marcus said, closing the book. "We need to find out exactly how much her power has changed."
"How?"
A slow, evil smile spread across his face. "Prince Kael arrives today. Earlier than planned. That's not a chance, Marina. Something is happening that we don't understand yet."
I felt a chill run down my spine. "You think Kael knows something about Lyra's new power?"
"I think a lot of people are going to be very interested in our dear princess now that she's... different." Father Marcus walked to his desk and pulled out a small glass bottle filled with green liquid. "This is a truth potion. Very strong. One drop in her drink, and she'll have to answer any question we ask."
"You want me to poison her again?"
"I want you to find out what's really going on with her." He gave me the bottle. "Tonight, there's a welcome dinner for Prince Kael. You'll sit next to Lyra. When no one is looking, put this in her drink."
I took the bottle with shaky hands. The green liquid seemed to glow with its own light. "What if she notices? What if her new skills can sense poison?"
"Then we'll know for sure that she's not the same person anymore." Father Marcus's voice was ice cold. "And we'll have to kill her much sooner than planned."
The word 'kill' hit me like a punch to the gut. I had always known that was part of the plan, but hearing it said out loud made it real in a way that scared me.
"What if I can't do it?" I whispered. "What if I'm not brave enough?"
Father Marcus put his hands on my shoulders again, but this time his grip was tight and painful. "Marina, listen to me very carefully. If Lyra really has old dragon magic, she's not just more powerful than us. She's more powerful than anyone. She could destroy entire countries if she wanted to."
"She would never do that. Lyra's too kind."
"The old Lyra was kind," he said. "But what if this new Lyra isn't? What if getting this power changed her into something evil? What if she decides that she doesn't want to share her kingdom with anyone?"
I hadn't thought about that. What if Lyra's new power came with a price? What if it made her cruel and selfish like the dark wizards in the scary stories?
"You're right," I said slowly. "If she's really changed, then she might hurt innocent people. I have to protect the country from her."
"Exactly." Father Marcus smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You're not abandoning your cousin, Marina. You're saving everyone from a monster."
I nodded, feeling better about the plan. This wasn't about jealousy or wanting to be queen. This was about protecting people from a dangerous wizard who might have lost her head.
"I'll do it," I said, putting the poison bottle in my pocket. "I'll find out what's wrong with Lyra."
"Good girl." Father Marcus kissed my forehead like he used to when I was little. "Remember, this is for the good of the kingdom."
After he left, I sat alone in my room and thought about everything that had happened. Part of me still couldn't believe that sweet, innocent Lyra could be dangerous. But the more I remembered those cold, knowing eyes, the more sure I became that something terrible had happened to her.
Maybe she had made a deal with dark spirits. Maybe she had been taken by an evil dragon ghost. Maybe she had found a banned spell book and used magic she didn't understand.
Whatever had happened, I was going to find out tonight.
I walked to my mirror and practiced smiles. I needed to look normal and friendly when I saw Lyra at dinner. I couldn't let her think that I knew something was different about her.
"Hello, dear cousin," I said to my image, making my voice sweet and innocent. "How lovely you look tonight."
But as I practiced my fake smile, something strange happened. For just a second, my reflection smiled back at me with a totally different expression. A wicked, hungry smile that I had never seen on my own face before.
I blinked hard and looked again. My image was normal.
"I'm just nervous," I told myself. "It's just my imagination."
But deep down, I wondered if Father Marcus was right about more than just Lyra. What if the magic we were trying to steal changed everyone it touched? What if I was already becoming someone different just by being part of this plan?
I pushed the thought away. It didn't matter what happened to me, as long as I saved the land from whatever Lyra was turning into.
I walked to my window and looked down at the grounds where Lyra would meet Prince Kael in a few hours. From up here, I could see servants setting up tables and chairs for their secret meeting.
But I could also see something else that made my heart stop.
Standing in the shadows near the yard was a figure in a black cloak. Someone who shouldn't be here. Someone who was meant to be hundreds of miles away.
The person looked up at my window, and I caught a glimpse of glowing red eyes.
It was Witch Morwyn, the dark sorceress who had taught us the magic-stealing trick. She wasn't supposed to come here until next month.
But if she was here now, it meant something had gone very, very wrong with our plan.
I grabbed my coat and ran toward the door. I needed to get down to the grounds and find out why Morwyn had come early.
But as I reached for the door handle, I heard something that made my blood freeze.
Lyra was singing.
Her voice was coming from somewhere in the castle, and it was the most beautiful and frightening sound I had ever heard. The song had no words, just a haunting tune that seemed to call to something deep in my soul.
But here's what made it really scary: I could feel the song changing me. With each note, I felt more angry, more jealous, more ready to do terrible things to get what I wanted.
Lyra wasn't just singing. She was using magic to affect everyone in the castle.
And if she could do that, it meant she was already much more dangerous than any of us had thought.
I covered my ears and ran out of my room, but the song followed me through the halls.
By the time I reached the grounds, I was ready to kill my cousin with my bare hands.
And from the look in Witch Morwyn's red eyes, that might be exactly what she wanted me to do.