Dominic’s Point of View
The carriage had ride to the royal capital few minutes ago. The palace guards pushed the doors open, ushering me into the secluded conservatory of my friend.
Prince Riven sat by the high glass windows, a wool blanket draped over his legs. His face, once the proud visage of the kingdom’s greatest vanguard commander, was lined with a permanent shadow of isolation.
"You came quickly, Dominic," Riven spoke softly, as he gestured for the servants to leave the room.
The moment the doors clicked shut, he turned his eyes directly onto me. "It is nice to have you here, dear friend."
"I am happy to be here with you today." I said.
Riven leaned forward. "Then let us speak without diplomacy. The rumor of the mysterious Divine Doctor has consumed the capital. Tell me honestly, Dominic... has this healer ever talked about treating my leg disease? Is there a path back to the frontlines for a crippled prince?"
I locked eyes with him. "The Divine Doctor does not speak of cases blindly, Riven. Before I can answer that, I must know the absolute truth of what happened to you. The royal physicians called it a simple battlefield fall, but we both know a high-ranking like you, does not break his spine from a mere tumble."
Riven let out a bitter scoff. "A simple fall? Dominic. I was scouting during the border skirmish. My warhorse... a beast trained to withstand the roar of a hundred shifters—suddenly went completely mad. It bolted blindly toward the edge. I tried to rein it in, but the animal didn’t even flinch as we went over the cliff."
"You fell off the cliff? The reports never mentioned a gorge."
"Because the faction buried the details," Riven explained. "Fortunately, I was caught by a thick tree branch halfway down the rock face. I hung there for three hours, bleeding out, before my personal vanguard found me. I barely survived the impact, but my legs have been entirely dead since that afternoon."
"A trained warhorse doesn’t blind itself to a cliff face, Riven. Not unless its senses were utterly destroyed." I spoke out my mind
"Exactly," Riven concurred. "We checked the stables afterward, but the dead horse had already been burned on sanitary grounds. I finally suspected that the horse had been tampered with. Someone fed it a concentrated madness tonic before I mounted."
The realization clicked into place with a finality. The enemy wasn’t just targeting the Silvermoon Pack, they were clearing the board of every strong heir in the werewolf kingdom.
"We are fighting the same ghost, Riven," I spoke up, my voice dead serious as I made a gamble in my head.
"My coma, your horse... it is the same hand. And if you truly want to heal, standard medicine will never touch the rot they left behind. I must confess something to you, but your life depends on your silence."
Riven stiffened, his eyes narrowing. "On my life Dominic. You can speak."
"The Divine Doctor isn’t a wandering man," I revealed, looking him straight in the eye. "It is my wife. Ivy is a top shaman, wielding the ancient, forbidden bloodline energies that the high council has spent decades trying to outlaw."
Prince Riven gasped loudly, his body flinching back in shock. He stared at me for a long time, he processed the treasonous reality.
"A shaman... right inside the Silvermoon palace? Dominic, if the King finds out—"
"The King won’t find out, because you are going to protect her," I interrupted firmly.
Riven swallowed hard, his expression shifting from terror to a fierce resolve. He raised his hand, holding it out across the gap between our chairs.
"I solemnly promise on my honor to keep her secret buried in the deepest pits of my soul. If she can give me my legs back, my vanguard is yours."
Our hands clasped together firmly in the center of the conservatory, sealing a secret alliance that would completely alter the fate of the kingdom. If the eldest prince cured his leg disease, he could immediately take over his rightful position as the true heir to the throne, and the upcoming border war faction would completely collapse from the inside out.
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