Chapter 30: The Princess in the Dark

"Whoever did this to her is dead the next time I see them."

Kael crossed to the frame in three strides, jaw tight. Whatever those five had been doing here, the marks on her skin told the rest of the story clearly enough.

The girl lifted her head slowly, like it cost her something to manage even that much.

Beneath the grime and the bruising, her face was striking enough to feel out of place in a room built for a ritual the kind of face that made the whole chamber seem a shade less grim just by being in it.

Text resolved above her, quiet and formal.

[ELARA WINTERS]

Level: 32

Description: Third Princess of Frostwatch, raised with a gentle, steady heart and cherished by her people.

Three months ago, on a routine outing, she was ambushed and taken by the Scourge Legion dragged into this tomb, where they sought to twist her spirit into something monstrous through the ritual you just interrupted.

[Tamable]

[Bond Success Rate: 10%]

Kael went still.

Elara Winters.

He knew that name the way he knew his own the Northern Queen, the woman who would one day rally seven kingdoms under one banner and hold the line against the Scourge personally.

In every version of the future he remembered, she was a legend before she was ever a person to him.

Right now, she was just a girl chained to a frame, waiting for someone to cut the ropes.

His eyes caught on that second tag hovering below her name.

Tamable.

His pulse ticked up half a beat.

The Northern Queen. As a companion.

The thought alone was enough to make his breath come faster.

But three slots, three companions already claimed if he wanted this, something had to give first.

The decision took him less time than it took to draw the next breath.He turned to the General. "Take care of her. Quick. Don’t let it drag."

The General let out a low sound that might have been understanding, and turned toward the Frostwraith without hesitation, spear already rising.

Kael watched for half a second, something almost like regret flickering behind his eyes she’d earned her place in this fight, carried her weight through the whole cemetery and the Lich besides.

But a loaner had always been a loaner, and the calculus here wasn’t close.

Elara’s gaze tracked him the entire time, glassy, unfocused, fighting to hold onto whatever thread of awareness she had left.

Slowly, something in her expression shifted recognition, maybe, that whatever stood in front of her wasn’t one of the five monsters that had put her here.

"...Are you here to save me?" Her voice came out cracked, barely more than breath.

"I am." Kael knelt beside the frame. "But there’s something I need to do first."

He reached out, pressed two fingers gently to her brow, and triggered the Bond.

Golden light bloomed under his touch, threading itself into a slow, intricate pattern across her skin. Her face tightened pain, or something close to it and Kael’s voice dropped low, steady.

"Accept it."

Whether it was the command, or the ring quietly stacking odds in his favor yet again, the rune snapped shut whole on the very first attempt. Ten percent should never have landed clean like that.

"Bond established. Legendary companion acquired: Elara Winters."

Legendary. Kael’s mind reeled for a second, genuinely stunned.

Whatever twisted debt he owed the Scourge Legion for putting her in this exact position, at this exact moment, he’d happily pay it forward a hundred times over.

He pulled her stat sheet up immediately, hands moving faster than he meant them to.

[ELARA WINTERS]

Bloodline Tier: Legendary

Constitution ★★★★★★★★★★

Strength ★★★★★★★★★

Agility ★★★★★★★★★★

Spirit ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Skills: Ice Lance (C), Frost Ward (B), Frostwolf Spirit (B), Deep Freeze (B), Blizzard’s Wrath (A)

Status: Critically weakened all stats reduced by 95%

Forty-four stars, total. On a Legendary-tier companion, that number should have been physically impossible most Epic-tier pets never sniffed that high. Her Spirit stat alone carried fifteen of those stars on its own.

Another one that breaks its own ceiling. Just like the General.

The bond settled deeper the instant it locked into place something threading itself through the space between them, quiet and absolute.

Somewhere in the back of Elara’s mind, a certainty took root that hadn’t been there a minute ago.

this masked stranger mattered more than anything else in her world now. His word was law. His safety, hers to guard before her own.

"...My lord.

The word came out rough, barely audible, but unmistakable.

Something in Kael’s chest settled at that. He drew his blade and cut the ropes free, catching her as her legs gave out the second her weight came off the frame weeks of captivity had left her with nothing left to stand on.

"Those things are never touching you again," he muttered, pulling a spare cloak from storage and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Thank you." Her voice was quiet against his arm, a faint flush rising in her cheeks despite everything she’d just been through.

Kael studied her for a moment, then asked, carefully, "You’re actually the Third Princess. Of Frostwatch."

She nodded, weak but certain.

"That’s what doesn’t add up." He kept his tone level, testing the shape of what he already knew. "I just came from Frostwatch.

Nobody’s said a word about a missing princess. If anything, word is she’s been seen in the city recently."

He already knew the answer. The woman standing in Frostwatch right now wasn’t Elara at all just a piece on the Scourge’s board, wearing a stolen face for reasons that hadn’t fully surfaced yet.

He asked anyway, because the question was the key that would open the rest of this quest chain.

It worked exactly as he expected.

Elara’s whole body went rigid against him, eyes wide with something between disbelief and dawning horror.

"...There’s someone wearing my face? Right now? In my own city?"