Bellatrix screamed like the universe had personally betrayed her.
"What—PUT ME DOWN—HOW DARE YOU!"
Velkaris lifted her effortlessly, holding her away from his body like something irritating he had found stuck to his scales.
The entire terrace froze.
Serena's heart slammed into her ribs.
She didn't want Bellatrix killed. Well maybe of natural causes... but certainly not due to her dragon.
"Oh gods," she whispered. "Velkaris, no."
His gaze flicked to Serena, then to Bellatrix.
Velkaris snorted. His claw released her just long enough for her to think she could run.
Before she could take two frantic steps, his teeth snagged her cloak and tossed her onto his back in one fluid motion.
Velkaris soared into the sky, dragging Bellatrix along whether she wanted to go or not.
Serena surged forward, a blur of determination as she raced toward them. With a powerful leap, she grasped his claw.
Velkaris huffed in annoyance but reluctantly lifted his leg. She climbed onto his back swiftly, positioning herself to face Bellatrix.
"I am so sorry," Serena said breathlessly, leaning forward so Bellatrix could hear her over the wind. "This wasn't intentional."
"YES IT WAS!" Bellatrix shrieked, fury and terror warring on her face. "GET ME DOWN THIS INSTANT."
Serena steadied herself, one hand finding the grooves between Velkaris's scales.
"We need to talk."
"Dragons will be on the horizon to retrieve me," Bellatrix snapped, arms crossed as if that could anchor her to the air. "And who do you think they'll side with? Not the liar who brainwashed the crown prince."
Serena's expression didn't change. "I take it you've never ridden a dragon before."
"Don't patronize me, you little twat," Bellatrix snarled, hair whipping around her face.
"What is it about me that actually bothers you?" Serena asked, voice cutting through the wind. "My background? Or the fact that I'm your son's fated mate?"
Bellatrix's expression flickered to surprise for a micro-second then her eyes narrowed at Serena in disbelief.
"Dex is my fated mate, if you hadn't figured that out yet. Now you know. But let me be clear, my mother and father were chosen mates. I never expected to find my fated mate and love is a choice you make every day. Not something I would take for granted."
Bellatrix curled her lip. "Shut up with your little peasant wisdom monologue, you sanctimonious court mattress."
"Struck a nerve there, did I?" Serena smiled with a hint of challenge in her eyes. "Noted."
Bellatrix's lips curled in a contemptuous grin, her gaze sharp as a dagger. "I see your true colors."
"Yes, well, we're flying midair on a dragon with nowhere to go," Serena shot back, a hint of defiance in her words. "I have the sense to try and be polite. You, on the other hand, seem to have let power rot what little self-awareness you had."
Bellatrix scoffed, like she'd been punched. "Coming from a participation trophy prostitute?"
"Good one," Serena said dryly, her eyes narrowing into slits. "From this moment forward, Elara's name is off-limits from your vile tongue. Test me on that and you'll regret it."
Bellatrix lifted her chin. "Is that a threat?"
Without warning, Velkaris tipped forward and dropped, wind screaming past them.
Bellatrix's shriek immediately followed.
"WHAT THE FUCK—SON OF—I AM NOT DYING BECAUSE OF SOME RAT AND HER DEMONIC LIZARD!"
The ground rushed close and Velkaris pulled up at the last possible second, only to soar upward again at a sharp angle.
"I GET IT," Bellatrix yelled, breathless and furious. "You want your little ginger, red-headed Chucky doll friend from hell left alone!"
"Good," Serena said pleasantly. "You have the ability to comprehend basic sentence structure. For a moment, I was genuinely concerned you were illiterate."
Bellatrix bristled. "WHY YOU—"
Serena cut her off. "You will stop trying to harm me. And you will stop using other people to do your dirty work when you think you're being clever."
"I have done no such things," Bellatrix snapped.
Velkaris immediately corkscrewed downward.
"FINE!" Bellatrix shrieked, voice breaking.
Serena waited until Velkaris leveled out again before speaking, unbothered, smoothing an imaginary wrinkle from her sleeve.
"Wonderful. See how easy cooperation can be?"
"Gods," Bellatrix sneered, gripping uselessly at Velkaris's scales, "I cannot wait for him to finally get rid of you."
"Your attempt to poison me is actually what prompted Dex to tell me we're fated mates. I've moved into his quarters permanently."
She didn't know what had come over her in that moment. Only that it felt incredibly good to say it out loud.
Velkaris huffed beneath them, a deep, amused sound.
Bellatrix laughed sharply. "Don't get comfortable. He always tires of them. There have been others before you." Her eyes cut sideways. "Let me guess. He gave you a silk robe."
"Cute. Pathetic. But cute." Serena laughed, a dry edge to her tone. "Call a spade a spade. You don't run castle operations for fun. You do it because you run an information network."
Bellatrix arched a brow, impressed despite herself, though she refused to acknowledge it aloud.
Serena continued unbothered, "You already knew I was living in Dex's quarters. But no, he didn't give me a robe."
A lie responding to her bluff.
Bellatrix's jaw tightened, her lips pressing into a thin line.
"What you don't know is whether I'm marked yet. Ask me directly and I'll answer."
Serena's hair was still tucked into her training suit and covering the mark on her neck. It wasn't intentional, but she sure as hell wasn't going to reveal it unless Bellatrix said please.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "You're not marked. If you were, you'd be crowing about it."
She barked out a harsh laugh. "You think I'm afraid of a little septic tank Barbie from hell like you? Please. I've watched powerful men take girls just like you and break them."
Serena looked at Bellatrix for a heartbeat. "Have you ever stopped to wonder why the Moon Goddess paired Dex and I as fated mates?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped. "You were not paired. Let's get that straight."
Serena's lips twitched, heart pounding at what she was about to say aloud.
"I'll save you some research. I am an alpha king's daughter, firstborn, and heir. My pack was slaughtered in my twelfth summer. So no, you don't."
Bellatrix's expression flickered—shock, disbelief, recalculation. "You're lying."
"Am I?" Serena asked. "Or are you just realizing you never bothered to look past what you assumed I was?"
"Oh please. A sob story. I don't believe a word of it." Her lip curled. "And I certainly don't believe you're my son's fated mate. He's confusing sentiment with that ridiculous dragon bond."
She leaned forward, venom sharp. "I'm not afraid of some rat passing through his life. Men have mistresses. Temporary. You fall squarely in that category."
Serena let her gaze drag over Bellatrix—head to toe, slow and assessing. The same look she'd endured enough times that she knew how to make it look convincing.
"You built your power by being indispensable. And now you're terrified of becoming irrelevant," Serena commented in a detached voice.
"You do have a pair of balls on you after all," Bellatrix snarled, fury sharpening her voice. "Mark my words, you will regret this interaction."
Velkaris answered her.
He tipped forward and dropped.
The kind of fall where the air forgets how to exist.
Bellatrix's scream started as rage and devolved into chaos. "YOU DEMONIC WHITE HAIRED RAT!"
They kept falling.
"I AM NOT DYING BECAUSE OF A HAPPY MEAL TOY WITH LEGS AND HER PSYCHOTIC DRAGON!"
Still falling.
"I SWEAR BY EVERY GOD, DEAD AND ALIVE. FUCK I HATE YOU!"
Velkaris finally leveled out, the ground rushing past beneath them close enough to make the threat real.
Bellatrix was breathless, shaking, hair destroyed.
Serena leaned forward slightly, utterly composed. "Careful. You're starting to sound hysterical."
Bellatrix let out a broken, furious laugh. "You are insane."
Serena smiled, serene and lethal all at once. "Then consider this your warning. Don't fuck with me."