“Valleus…” Coriund breathed in shock beside him. “Is that… are those scales?” 

The young knight willed himself to meet Coriund’s gaze, then he looked towards the chief knight. Behind mild shock, there was something indiscernible in the chief knight’s expression. 

“Yes, they’re scales. They seem to be part of my hand. And that’s not all…” Valleus thought for a moment, then began removing his shirt. Everyone was clearly confused by his actions, but no one breathed a word. Valleus willed the wings in his back to unfurl, stretching them wide. The full wingspan was nearly fifteen feet in length. 

The knights hollered, gasped, and all began shouting over one another. Coriund was lost for words, staring at his friend with wide eyes. The Chief Knight betrayed no thought or emotion as he quietly studied Valleus before him. 

Valleus stood nervously, wings spread wide. The knights were abuzz with a mixture of awe, confusion, and trepidation. Their voices overlapped as they tried to make sense of what they were witnessing. Coriund, mouth agape, reached out tentatively to touch one of Valleus' wings, his fingers grazing the tough, black scales lining the wings. Immediately, as if he’d received a jolt of electricity, his hand pulled back. Valleus was too afraid to meet his eyes, lest disgust be written in them. 

The chief knight stood, slapping his huge palm onto the table as he did so. The knights all fell silent. In a level voice, the chief knight asked, “His Highness the Crown Prince has seen this, yes?” Valleus nodded in affirmation. “Well, the next thing we must do is present this situation to His Grace, the Grand Duke. Go ahead and put your tunic back on and follow me.” The chief knight stepped away from the table, scanning the group of knights as if issuing a silent order. It was easy for them to understand - don’t follow, and don’t speak of this outside of the group until the duke had had a chance to see what they had seen. 

Sheepishly, Coriund tried to meet his friend’s gaze, but Valleus kept his eyes downcast as he folded his wings back in, finished redressing, and silently followed the chief knight. 

-

“A ritual?” The duke raised his eyebrows as he listened to his nephew, the crown prince. 

“Yes, between what I saw, and the testimony of Sir Valleus, it was definitely some sort of ritual.” Warm silence filled the air as Aushen continued eating, watched in perturbed confusion by Odessa, his uncle, and his aunt and cousin. 

“What did they hope to achieve, I wonder?” the duke mused to himself. 

“Well, I may have an idea,” Aushen replied, mind trained on his first look at Valleus’ dragon characteristics. 

Timed almost perfectly, there was a knock at the door. After the butler spoke briefly with the people at the door, he bowed to the duke. “Your Grace, the chief knight says he has a matter of great importance and urgency to discuss with you. He has brought with him Sir Valleus.” 

Aushen could guess what this meant. Valleus must’ve just shown his fellow knights his new draconic features. The duke opened his mouth to deny entry, but Aushen politely interrupted. 

“Your Grace, if I may– I believe Sir Valleus may shed some light on the object of our assailants’ motives.” 

The duke cast a puzzled glance at his nephew, but trusting the young man’s judgment, he told the butler to allow the knights to enter. 

The chief knight entered, Valleus tucked closely behind him. The young knight allowed his gaze to meet Aushen’s, and a sense of slight relief washed over him. The crown prince would vouch for everything he said, and would do his best to ensure Valleus met with no dire consequences. 

“Your Grace, has His Highness already discussed with you the affairs of his capture and escape?” the Chief Knight asked. 

“He has; in fact, he was just explaining to me his thoughts on the motives of these foul men when you arrived. I understand Sir Valleus has something to add?” 

The Chief Knight took a step to the side, allowing Valleus to be in full view of the duke. Valleus inhaled shakily. “Yes, Your Grace. I’m sure his Highness has already explained– they had a red crystal they referred to as the ‘Heart of the Dragon’. When they cut His Highness’ hand and applied his blood to the stone, it glowed. After that, when I went to save the prince, I ended up cut on my own hand, and then I fell on the crystal, crushing it with the hand I’d been cut on.” 

With a brief scan around the room, Valleus bit his lip. “This is the hand which touched the ‘Heart of the Dragon’,” he announced, holding up his left hand. 

Even the servants, trained to be silent and never react to anything they heard or saw, had to gasp aloud at the sight of Valleus’ scaled hand. The butler himself was wide-eyed for a moment before he began quickly ushering the servants out of the room. 

The duke stared, motionless, for what felt like an eternity. The duchess and their daughter, Aushen and Odessa’s cousin, glanced fearfully between Valleus and the duke. “By the spirits…” Odessa whispered, shocked. Aushen, for his part, wished he could stand and hug Valleus, protecting him from any negative response. However, he knew his presence alone was helpful in assuaging some of the young knight’s fears. 

Valleus cleared his throat. “Whatever ritual they were attempting seems to have accidentally succeeded… on me.” After a brief pause, he added, “This isn’t the only draconic characteristic the ritual seems to have given me, but it’s the only one I can’t will away. Were I not in mixed company…” he trailed off. He attempted to indicate that he was hesitant to take his shirt off in front of the noble ladies, but the implication was that he became something so horrific that it would frighten them. Perhaps it would.