"That means he's bringing legitimate authority from the Dragon Alliance to strip me of my title publicly."
"What are we going to do? We can't let him into the city!"
"We're not going to stop him from coming in," Ethan replied mysteriously. "We're going to welcome him. But we need bigger bait so he doesn't suspect we're preparing a second trap."
Ethan turned to Clara, his gaze now sharp and probing. "Clara, do you still have the red dress you wore when we first met?"
"That dress? It's still in the closet at the old house. Why?" Clara asked, confused.
Ethan didn't answer right away. He walked to a metal safe in the corner of the room, opened it, and pulled out a small wooden box with a faded dragon symbol. Inside lay an old gold-plated invitation Clara had never seen before.
"Because i
