Third Person POV
Even after the Dragon King, the fear did not leave.
Helen had expected it to. She had walked out of that cold stone chamber with the agreement sealed and the pendant glowing against her daughter's chest and she had told herself that it was done, that the protection was real, that she could breathe now.
But that was a lie, because she couldn't.
She lay awake each night with one hand on Azura's blanket, listening to the rhythm of the small breathing and counting it like something that could run out if she stopped paying attention.
She stood at the window in the grey hours before dawn and watched the tree line for movement that was not there. She fed her daughter when she was not hungry and checked on her in the dark and pressed her lips to the soft forehead more times than she could count.
Kai told her she was worrying beyond reason. The seal was strong. The Dragon King's reach was longer than anything Lysander had ever built. Their daughter was protected.
