Page 104 of The Fifth Heir

Not faster. Shallower.

I released her wrist.

She turned her arm beneath the light herself, watching the scale appear and disappear with each movement.

“Could the torc have created it?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Could it be some kind of residue from the Prism?”

“I don’t know.”

“You always have a theory.”

“I have several.”

She looked at me, waiting.

“The fifth beam may have awakened a dormant transformation. Your dragon may possess an element the assessment runes were not built to recognize. The scale could also be a temporary physical reaction to sustained contact with the torc.”

“Temporary.”

“Possibly.”

Her fingers closed over the scale.

“Don’t damage it.”

She dropped her hand. “I wasn’t going to.”

“You pressed against it.”

“I wanted to know if it felt real.”

“Does it?”

“Yes.”

The answer came quietly.

I should have called the healer immediately. The scale needed to be examined, measured, and compared with known dragon types. The headmaster needed to understand that the fifth heir was no longer merely an unshifted woman carrying an unexplained torc.

Instead, I watched the color move across her wrist.

Talia had spent the assessment listening to officials describe every way she failed to meet the standards of a dragon. She had repeated those conclusions even after redirecting Torren’s fire. She trusted the academy’s records because she had spent her life preserving them.

Now her body contradicted all of them.

“Are you frightened?” I asked.

“Yes.”

The direct answer surprised me.

“Do you want me to call someone?”

“Not yet.”