Pacifica
The massive gates of the Dragon Kingdom yawned wide, iron groaning like a waking beast.
Flame Shai's magnificent war-steed galloped through without slowing, hooves striking sparks from the obsidian-paved road, until it halted precisely before the entrance to the royal citadel.
There, waiting in regal stillness, stood his mother, the Queen Dowager of the Dragon
Kingdom flanked by the late king's surviving consorts. Their faces were masks
of solemn composure, yet their eyes tracked every movement like hawks.
Flame Shai swung down from the saddle with fluid grace and circled to the side of the
royal carriage where I sat, numb and bloodless. He extended one gloved hand,
palm up, an invitation wrapped in command.
I lifted my egaze to meet his. Disgust and fresh pain collided in my chest like clashing
blades. Without a word I turned my face away, opened the opposite door, and
stepped down on unsteady legs. The world tilted; grief and exhaustion made
every step feel like wading through deep water.
His hand shot out to steady me at the waist. I shoved him away with all the strength
left in my trembling arms. He released me at once, stepping back a respectful
distance, allowing the force of my rejection to hang between us.
"Take her inside," he ordered the line of maids already waiting. The headwoman stepped
forward, hand outstretched in deference, but Flame Shai's glare stopped her cold. "No touching. Escort her only."
They bowed in unison and fell in around me like silent shadows, guiding me past the queen and her retinue. The Dowager Queen's eyes followed me as I passed, measuring,
unreadable.
I left the open air behind and entered the echoing grandeur of the citadel halls, then
deeper still until we reached a private bedchamber.
The room was immaculate. Polished stone floors, walls draped in heavy tapestries depicting ancient dragon flights, a long table of dark wood at one side, and a wide bed covered in thick cloaks of silver-grey fur. A single brazier burned low, casting
restless shadows.
The heavy door thudded shut behind the departing maids. I stood alone in the center of
the chamber, heart splintering anew.
I had brought death to my father.
If I had never refused the marriage, if I had never begged him to send that fatal
decree, my father would still draw breath. My people would not be grieving a slaughtered king. My mother would not be left alone in a hall stained with his blood.
Tears escaped despite my efforts to hold them back, trailing hot paths down my
cheeks. I shuddered under the crushing weight of memory. The flash of steel,
the wet thud of his head striking marble, Flame Shai's cold smile as he pinned
me to the wall.
Who could have foreseen that the day I turned eighteen, the day meant for joy and
union would become the bleakest, most shattered day of my life?
"Princess?"
The distant voice pulled me slowly back to the present.
"Princess?"
I blinked hard, crossed to the tall arched window that overlooked the outer walls of the
Dragon Kingdom, and leaned against the cool stone sill. I could not see him, but I felt his presence like a warm current in cold water. I heard his voice, soft and steady.
Dream Maze.
My truest friend.
"Your father will be laid to rest tonight," he said quietly. "I will stay with your
mother. You do not have to worry for her."
I swallowed against the fresh ache in my throat and nodded even though he could not see it clearly. There was no talk of rescue. We both knew any attempt would be
suicide for him, for me, for everyone I still had left.
"Show yourself, Dream," I whispered, longing so fiercely for even a glimpse of his familiar face.
The pine branches ahead shifted. A shimmer rippled through the air like heat rising from
sun-baked stone, and then he was there, perched high on the uppermost bough, half-hidden by needles and shadow, yet close enough that I could make out the concern etched into his features. A thousand miles seemed to stretch between us
all the same.
"You must be strong," he said. "Soon, I will find a way to reach you."
I believed him. He had never failed me before.
"I love you, Princess."
A small, broken smile curved my lips. I hugged my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces together.
Then the door burst open.
Heat flooded the quiet chamber like dragonfire unleashed. The air turned thick,
oppressive. I did not need to turn to know who had entered.
When I glanced back toward the window, Dream was gone, vanished into the branches as though he had never been.
I stood rigid as Flame Shai approached. His presence pressed against my back before his
arms did; one hand curled possessively around my waist, pulling me flush
against him.
I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached, fighting the wave of revulsion that surged through me.
He had held his stepsister in exactly this way. The same hands. The same claim.
The same man who had ordered my father's head struck from his shoulders now dared to
touch me as though I belonged to him.
"A rider came to spy on me last night," he murmured against my ear, voice low and
intimate. "The hoofprints of the horse he left behind belonged to your kingdom."
He turned me slowly in his grip until we faced each other. His eyes searched mine with
unnerving intensity.
"Whatever message reached you, whatever lie convinced you to break our union, was false."
The lie slid from his lips smooth as silk. No flicker of remorse for my father's blood.
No shadow of guilt. Perhaps he saw it only as a necessary show of strength, the
way his own father had once enslaved entire vampire clans and fox lineages for
decades without a second thought. Just to show they are capable and can do whatever they likes.
I forced the fury down, lowered my gaze to hide the storm behind my eyes. This was not
the moment to strike. Not yet.
"I need to pay my farewells to my father, my lord," I murmured, barely above a whisper. "I
beg you."
He studied me for a long, searing moment, then lifted his hand. His fingertips brushed my
lips, sending unwanted shivers racing down my spine. Slowly he leaned in. At
the last heartbeat I turned my face aside; my pulse thundered in my ears.
"You will remain within these walls," he said softly, dangerously. "You will not step
beyond them until I permit it. You will learn to love me because right now all I see in your eyes is hate. The moment that hate returns… one of your people pays with their life."
He pressed his lips to the nape of my neck anyway, a slow, deliberate claim, then drew
back with a satisfied smile as though he had not just locked invisible shackles around my soul.
"Tonight you become my wife. Tonight you become queen of my kingdom. And tonight we welcome a new knight from the vampire realm while we bury the previous one with my father's body. Prepare yourself for your next
duty, pup."
He turned and strode from the chamber without another word, leaving the door to swing shut behind him.
I stood trembling in the sudden silence, every nerve alight with rage, grief, and the cold certainty that I was now a prisoner in a gilded cage with a dragon at its heart.