The day of the Kings' Birthday arrived far quicker than Rose would have imagined. The nine months since the battle had passed with very little incident.She had no reason to meet with the Princess again. She made sure that she avoided Simeon as much as was possible without appearing to snub him.

Best of all Rose got back to teaching the young riders within weeks thanks to the help of Abbess Liai. She spent hours preparing the spectacle for the King. She spent even more perfecting the sky manoeuvres with pupils. The whole school and battalion were bubbling with excitement at wearing their dress robes and showing their dragons in their best battle armour.

Octavian was centre of the parade ring. His scales glistening in the summer sun. He vibrated with happiness at being with the other dragons and having Rose beside him for a full day. Rose sang her song to him and his vibration of his metal scales gave off his beautiful sound. All of the other dragons began to vibrate which made the air sing with a choir of notes which blended and swooped like a flock of birds.

Rose wore her battle armour and since her hair had grown back her mane of hair was seen from the top of her helmet swinging behind her. The platinum of her light armour matching that of Octavian. In the sunlight they shone together. Rose was lost in the trance of her song and melody of the dragons that she forgot how much time had passed. They were all brought back from their revelry by the trumpeters sounding the arrival of the royal party.

The King beamed with pride as he looked upon the rows of riders and dragons, from the emerald, ruby, sapphire and diamond dragons to the bronze, silver, gold and the only two platinum dragons on all of the realms were with him. This was an honour amongst the worlds. Many of the other Kings and Queens noted their envy at not one but two platinum dragons in his possession.

The King began to walk amongst the young riders and then on to the battalions always with a kind word to everyone.He spent a little more time with Pendra. He noted how well his Grandson had worked on his Gold Dragon and he remarked that his father had once been the same.

The King took Lily aside and thanked her for making Pendra work so hard that year and how well Nova was looking now that he had gone past the awkward looking stage that Platinum dragons have when they are hatchlings.

Behind the King was the Queen, Hyacinth the King's Mistress, Simeon and Freya. The King stopped to chat to the Commander of the Jewelled Dragons when Freya slipped out of the retinue. She walked towards Rose who steeled herself for Freya's approach.

Octavian immediately stopped vibrating and began to let out a low level growl which struck fear into the heart of all souls apart from Freya and Rose.

Rose immediately stood in front of Octavian to protect him. Simeon ran from the group towards Freya yelling at her to stop what she was about to do. As if in slow motion Freya let a Biaphorous Beetle out from her sleeve and she whispered to it.

The beetle made its way directly to Rose. With a giant swish of his tail Octavian knocked the beetle into the air. The beetle landed on Simeon and gave its first bite. Simeon dropped to the floor immediately turning sheet white and ceased breathing. The beetle diverted towards Rose and was stopped again by Octavian's tail. The beetle attached on to the dragon, crawled under his scale and gave its last bite to the soft flesh underneath. The great beast dropped to the ground with a loud shudder which shook all to the core.

Pendra grabbed Lily to stop her from running to Rose's assistance and instead made her focus on keeping a furious Nova quiet.

Rose felt inside of her armour and found the bottle given in the Infirmary and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She dropped to her knees sobbing she gave the serum into his eye. After what felt like an eternity his chest moved. She wept tears of joy as Octavian stood up and spread his wings. She dropped to her knees to thank the Many Faced God. Her hair began to swirl and make a cocoon. It was the last thing she would remember for a long time.