The armored dragon, Avaron, carried Elara's final memory crystal. When placed against the dungeon wall, it projected the night of her death: the king's commander taking the newborn Tomas, the warden accepting gold, and soldiers dragging dragon hatchlings into cages.
The guards saw their king's victory exposed as kidnapping.
The warden ordered them to kill Tomas. None obeyed.
Captain Mara, whose brother died in the false war, arrested the warden and opened every cell. Word of the memory crystal reached the capital before the king's feast began. Citizens gathered as Avaron landed in the palace square—not to burn it, but to demand judgment under the treaty the king had secretly violated.
The king tried to destroy the crystal. His own council stopped him. Records beneath the throne revealed payments for raids, forged reports, and the sale of dragon scales through royal merchants. The king was stripped of his crown and imprisoned in the same underground wing where he had hidden children and hatchlings.