Chapter 11

Una returns to her childhood woods, finds her fathers’ home in ruins, and resolves to die beneath the ancient yew, feeling too broken to continue serving Queen Yvanne. As she draws Valiance and prepares for an end in obscurity, Una unexpectedly finds Owen on the far side of the yew, bleeding from a cut hand. When Owen faints, Una carries him to the collapsed cottage, tends his wound, and notes his delicate, scholar’s hands and strange spectacles.

Through the night Owen talks—wildly, insistently—about being sent from the future to save Dominion. Una remains skeptical but allows him to stay. The next morning she hunts to feed him; when Owen questions why she is hiding here instead of seeking the grail, she reveals her shame and violence after the Black Bastion. Owen stands his ground despite her threatening impulse, and when he bares his own war scars, the two share a fraught, magnetic intimacy that both of them resist.

Una offers him guest-right with strict boundaries, pressing his small knife back into his hand to ensure he can defend himself if she falters. As days pass, they share quiet routines by the fire; Una dozes against Owen while he tends the flames. That night, Owen’s voice comes to Una in a dream, revealing the path to the last dragon.

Waking, Una interrogates Owen and asks if this will truly be her final quest. Owen answers yes, his voice cracking. The promise of an end—freedom from service after healing the queen—rekindles Una’s purpose. Moved by Owen’s beseeching need, Una decides to be a hero once more and set out to find the last dragon.