Princess Teefa drank the potion from Revi’s hand, then she widened her eyes. It was as if a miracle had befallen her.

The purple scars around her neck faded, and she sat up on her bed, smiling. “Why, you succeeded, Revi! Wonderful!”

The gold dragon-shifter bowed, shy but pleased. “Princess Teefa, nobody else really trusts us but you, hence why we created a portal into your room. I hope you don’t mind.”

Teefa shook her head with merriment. “Not at all. I understand you. I will take the vial to my consort and my mother. Thanks to you two, we will all recover.” She gave Revi, and Phaeton the ice unicorn, a peculiar glance. “How did you discover the vial of medicine?”

The gold dragon shifter exchanged a glance with the ice unicorn, and the latter looked expressionless. Revi said, “It’s too long a story to impart. We’re just incredibly relieved that it worked. We are always at your service, Your Highness.”

Teefa chuckled. “Please, call me Teefa. Leyla just went out for a walk. The Queen is probably still in her throne room. I’ll write a note to my wife first.”

Revi thanked her, and together with Phaeton, they leapt through a portal back outside. Their task was done. Now for the others to do their part for the kingdom.

Ero the calf-shifter barged back into the palace, with his cousin trailing after him. The young cow-shifter flicked her brown hair behind her neck, grumbling, “You’ve got to have more patience. How can your grandma be done with her queenly meetings in just a few minutes?”

Yet, the rude guard who blocked them earlier was gone. In his place, were the blue dragon shifter brothers, Lance and Demiel. Lance tried to give Mildred a meaningful look, but she ignored him. Demiel just grinned. “Did you miss us, milkmaid?”

“I’m a cow-shifter, not a milkmaid,” Mildred protested, her arms tensing as if ready for a fight.

Ero yelled, “Aren’t you two supposed to be Valve grunt dragons, not actual palace guards?”

Lance and Demiel looked offended, though Lance was still trying to catch Mildred’s attention. Ero didn’t know what was going on between them, but they did give off a strange vibe when she was riding on his back to the palace the other night.

Ero wasn’t sure if this had anything to do with his cousin’s sick daughter, Vera.

Demiel explained, “There are other guards here too, but we were instructed to welcome you in. You’ll be pleased when you get there.”

“What do you mean?” Mildred asked, even as she strode up to push the doors open.

There was shiny, glamorous finery everywhere in the throne room. But unlike last time, the decrepit old woman on the throne now looked lively and strong.

Stunned, Ero and Mildred ran up to see Freya. On either side of the Queen, were her daughter and daughter-in-law, Princess Teefa and Leyla.

All three women looked like they were in perfect health. It was as if the disease had never happened.

“Wow,” Ero could only say, gazing at the fully healed royals.

Freya laughed. “You can’t believe this, right? Teefa had some mysterious friends who wished to remain anonymous, but they found the cure!”

Cheers and applause roared in the throne room.

But when the noise died down, Ero asked, “Where’s Anastasia?”

At his question, Grandma Freya’s blooming face turned worried. “I don’t know. We haven’t seen zir since this morning.”

Ero gritted his teeth. “Ana must be in danger.” He added, “Mildred and I went to explore Lord Revi’s mansion, since we last saw Ana fly towards his place. We didn’t find anyone or anything, but … there was a rotting corpse of a red dragon in his bathtub.”

There were loud gasps from everyone, including Freya, Leyla, and Teefa.

Ero shook his head. “But obviously it wasn’t Ana’s. Ze is smaller than that. It was probably a decoy to divert our attention.”

Mildred said, “It was definitely very repulsive, and — ” She sighed. “Yet, if that wasn’t Ana, then where is ze?”

A sharp knock sounded on the throne room doors.

Freya snarled and yelled out, “Who is it?”

The guards opened the door to reveal a man who seemed to be in anguish. He carried a child in his arms.

“Clive?” Mildred rushed to her husband. “What are you doing here?”

Clive shook his head, and clutched the child tighter in his arms. “I can’t wait any longer. I need to talk to Freya directly about this.”

Queen Freya looked pale as she regarded the child in the man’s arms. She spoke not a word as Clive stepped towards her.

Guards arose on either side to stop him from approaching, but Freya waved them off. “Let him speak. He is harmless.” The fear in her eyes told a different story, however.

Clive said, “Queen Freya, your henchman Lance offered me your antidote to extend my daughter’s life. Thank you for your kindness, but Vera is suffering from something else, not from the poison, which I see you have recovered from. Congratulations.”

It was chilling to Ero how calm Clive sounded, like he had a dormant anger about to erupt.

Clive looked down at his daughter, Vera, who seemed so delicate in his arms. Her eyes were closed, and she was huddled against her father’s chest, as though she were clinging onto the only shelter she had.

“My wife and I decided to give her a heavy sleeping potion for now, so she can have some peace and respite from her suffering. This is only a temporary measure, though, especially as such sleeping potions aren’t healthy to use long term, especially not for young children.”

He paused. “But I would like your help with her.”

Mildred looked aghast, but Clive ignored her and went on, “We’ve been distrustful of dragons for too long. I admit that I’m still wary, but at this point, I’m willing to ask anybody for help, anything to save my daughter from pain.”

Ero tried to catch Mildred’s eye, desiring answers, but his cousin was adamantly looking away. He knew that Vera was sick, and that her illness had driven the couple apart, but he hadn’t realized how serious it was. Vera was even thinner and paler than the last time he saw her.

Freya suddenly looked very old. She appeared even worse than when she was poisoned, if that could be possible. The queen rubbed her scalp, her silvery strands of hair seeming more scraggly than beautiful now. “I’m so sorry that your daughter is going through this.” She glanced at Mildred. “But I would require your wife’s help.”

Mildred cringed away from her sight. It was odd to see the normally confident woman shrink from the dragon’s attention. She hid her face in the shadows.

Yet, Freya advanced upon her like a spectre. The queen’s smile was kind but firm. “Mildred, we don’t have to share anything in front of other people if you don’t want to. I just want your promise, so we can work together and heal your daughter. Vera deserves a happier life, doesn’t she?”

Mildred grimaced, and tears stood in her eyes. She gazed at the sleeping girl in Clive’s arms. Then, the cow-shifter wiped her tears. To Ero’s astonishment, she said, “Sorry, I can’t.”

Freya’s warm demeanor turned frosty. “But why? Even your husband thinks it would be a good idea to gain my assistance. You know I have resources.”

Mildred scoffed. “You have resources for sure, but you were completely helpless in finding a cure for yourself and your daughters, even wanting Lucille’s, and then my cow-shifter milk, to no avail. I’m glad for you that your disease is cured. But how?”

When Mildred asked that question, there was a collective gasp. Everyone was so distracted by other questions, like where Anastasia was, how to rescue Vera, that they were distracted by perhaps the most striking thing in the room — three healthy royals who were previously close to death by an incurable disease. You might even think that they let the audience get distracted on purpose.

Leyla raised her arms to request calm and quiet. Everyone waited in silence. She exchanged a glance with her wife, and projected with her voice, “As we said earlier, we had an anonymous hero come to our rescue with the elixir.”

Ero frowned suspiciously. “And who is this anonymous hero?”

Leyla shook her head, her silver hair flowing about her like a watery curtain. “They do not wish to be named. We are very grateful and will reward them handsomely.”

“Then what about Anastasia?” Ero persisted. “So now ze is not the future sovereign anymore?”

Leyla gave him a strained look. “No, Ana will still be the future sovereign, but much later than before. Ze would be at an older, wiser age then, just as ze had preferred.”

Ero still frowned. “Does Ana really want to rule, though?”

To his surprise, it was Mildred who snapped, “What? I thought you were the most enthusiastic out of us all when Ana got to be the future ruler. Now that ze gets to still rule, but at a more experienced age, and ze gets to keep zir family, isn’t that the best possible outcome?”

Ero scowled at her and stamped his foot. “You don’t understand, do you?”

“I really don’t,” Mildred replied, looking both mad and sad at the same time.

Just then, they heard a rat-tap-tap knock on the throne room door again. The doors were closed to give people inside the illusion of privacy, perhaps.

The guards opened them, with some cries of dismay.

Standing there at the door, in his illustrious clothes and shining eyes, was Revi the gold dragon-shifter.