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"What do you mean 'saved' you?" she questioned, lowering her voice.

Taegus remained silent for several moments before speaking again.

"It was supposed to be a normal border patrol, but we were ambushed," he said softly. "Even some members of our own squad turned on us."

Kel listened as the boy went on to describe a gruesome scene.

While the twenty-man squad was preparing to make camp one night, a sudden group of unidentified soldiers swarmed into their camp. The Pandreian soldiers quickly moved into a defensive formation and managed to hold the attackers at bay for quite a while.

But the real damage started when three of the Pandreians began slashing at their own comrades.

Between the confusion and blood, Taegus and another one of the Pandreians managed to crawl away. They were weak and injured but somehow were able to hole up in an obscure alcove to avoid getting caught.

The two soldiers, Taegus and the boy that traveled to the Lion Camp with them from Tael, were on the brink of death, praying for another Pandreian squad to come by, when a Serin patrol found them instead.

Rather than killing them straight away, the soldiers offered to allow them to live as refugees in a nearby Serin stronghold just north of the Pandreian border. The silver-haired boys agreed, harboring the intention of escaping back to their home country later on.

Shortly after arriving in the stronghold, however, an urgent declaration was made that the area was no longer safe for civilians. As a result, the boys, both still too weak to fight or run, followed obediently as they were moved across the entire Serin empire to a tiny village in the north.

Kel couldn't help but notice the irony of the situation. Here they were, she and Taegus, each one dubbed one of the most promising new recruits of the very empire they had spent the last several years fighting against.

"But how did you know it wasn't Serin who attacked you in the first place?" Kel questioned after the boy finished his story.

"... because there were women," Taegus responded.

The Serin military was famous for not allowing female soldiers. It was one of the reasons Kel was trying so hard to keep her gender a secret now more than ever.

But, she had seen female Serin fighters with her own eyes.

At least one of them.

Lucy.

The woman who never wore a Serin uniform, yet fought as fiercely as any other soldier under the direction of the emperor.

Could the emperor be using his secret squad to ambush other countries under an ambiguous identity? For what reason?

As she wondered what the emperor's goal could be, Kel suddenly remembered Dash telling her that there was some kind of situation in Mevani.

Was the emperor's plan to stir up issues within each kingdom? To make them easier to conquer?

That seemed like the only logical explanation. Unless, like Taegus had insisted, those soldiers weren't from Serin at all.

"There's something else I don't understand," Kel frowned, glancing back toward her golden-eyed comrade. "Why did you associate me with Adriell?"

Taegus's gaze was drawn back to the crackling fire, his lips curling into a soft smile.

"When I first arrived in Tael," he recalled, "I spotted you immediately. Despite the way you were dressed, it was the same."

"What was the same?" Kel snorted.

How could he think anything about a farm boy was the same as Mevani's golden flower.

"The same beauty that radiates from the princess," Taegus replied, his cheeks turning red. "You must have noticed it too, or else you wouldn't have covered yourself in dirt the next time we met."

Now Kel was blushing too.

This kid was really unashamedly spouting a bunch of nonsense about radiating beauty to her as she sat covered in grime and dressed as a man.

"I mean it!" Taegus said a little more loudly. "At first, I thought you just wanted me to pretend not to know you."

Immediately, he lowered his voice again and brought his knees to his chest, giving Gideon's sleeping figure an uneasy glance.

"But when I saw how quick-witted and strong you were… I realized you weren't her after all."

Kel's hand flew to her mouth as her attempt to stifle her cackles resulted in a fit of coughing.

Adriell.

Weak and pretty.

Graceful and stupid.

Kel wasn't exactly known for her wits, but as a trained warrior, she was much more perceptive than the pampered princess.

As Kel's coughs subsided, an awkward silence fell between them again.

While listening to the chirping crickets and distant howls of ravenous wolves, Kel pondered what Taegus had told her. When she first saw him, he seemed mysterious and aloof--maybe even a little threatening.

But now, the silver-haired boy huddled across the fire from her looked so vulnerable and sincere.

Which side is real? Kel wondered.

"You should sleep," Taegus spoke up again, his face regaining its usual icy expression.

Kel glanced at him but didn't respond. Though she was considerably less afraid than she had been, she still couldn't quite bring herself to close her eyes.

"I, um.. I found out about.. you.. by chance," the boy whispered, placing a hand on his chest. "On wash night back at the camp. I was late and.. I didn't mean to-"

"What are you talking about!" Kel hissed, warily looking toward Gideon who was still snoring happily.

"Oh! I just wanted.. uh.. I'm sorry," Taegus stammered sheepishly, bowing his head as red filled his cheeks again.

With a sigh, Kel turned away from the boy and spread out her blanket.

She couldn't trust him. That fact hadn't changed.

But she was certain this kid would have already slit her throat if he intended to.

She wouldn't count on him to keep her secret forever, just because he seemed to be keeping it now.

But, just for one night, she decided to leave it be.

For the next several days of their trip, the mood between the three improved significantly. Taegus finally seemed comfortable speaking with both Gideon and Kel, and Kel felt less stiff around the boy than she had before.

Eventually, after many days of chattering and sleeping together under the stars, the three finally arrived at their destination.

The Dragon's Heart.