LOGINHe lifted her like she weighed nothing, but his hands trembled with restraint. Her legs wrapped around his waist with the desperation of a drowning woman clutching driftwood. Her breath hitched as his lips broke from hers, only to trail down her throat, tasting the line of her pulse like a man starved—like she was the only thing that could satisfy centuries of hunger.The bond burned. Not softly now, but with the full, brutal heat of surrender. Magic curled around them, thick and pulsing, weaving through the air like smoke—living, sentient, ravenous.There was no space left for permission. No breath between the bond and the burn. It wasn't consent—it was inevitability. And they were long past pretending otherwise.Clothing shredded. Her nightdress gave way beneath clawed fingers. His pants split at the seams. Every touch was a demand. Every movement was a threat to her sanity.He pressed her back against the cold stone wall, anchoring her like a beast staking his claim. His hips rolle
The corridor outside the war hall was cold—colder than she remembered. Each step away from him felt like tearing a piece of herself free, and yet the bond did not loosen. If anything, it pulled tighter, more insistent now that she had denied it. It was not a chain—but a current, and the further she tried to walk, the more it dragged at her, seething under her skin.Sera made it only as far as the archway leading into her chamber before her knees threatened to give. She braced a hand against the carved stone, trying to catch her breath. The air was too thin, the weight in her chest too heavy. Her mouth tasted like copper, her head buzzed. Her body was humming in a frequency she couldn't silence.She wasn't afraid of him. That was the lie she kept telling herself. What she feared was herself—what she would allow, what she would crave, what she wouldn’t be able to stop. The truth was lodged in her marrow, coiling tighter with every heartbeat.The moment she crossed into her room, the sig
He stepped back slowly, the weight of his presence lingering like a low hum in the stone. His heavy breaths were steady but distant, as if tethered to a storm no one else could see. His eyes locked onto hers for a heartbeat—restrained, torn, raw with a desire he refused to release.The cloak around his broad shoulders billowed like smoke curling upward as he turned, casting long shadows against the cold walls. Then he left her standing alone, the silence settling over the room like a shroud.Her chest tightened with a mix of abandonment and something far more dangerous—relief.She stood slowly, wrapping her arms around herself, skin prickling with the sudden absence of his heat. The void he left felt cavernous, echoing with every pulse of the sigil burning beneath her skin.The silence swallowed her.Minutes passed. Then hours. She didn’t move. Not at first.Time stretched, warped by the heat in her blood and the ache beneath her skin. She tried to think, tried to breathe, but the bra
She woke tangled in furs, the heat of the bath still clinging to her skin.Only—it hadn’t faded.It had deepened.Her limbs felt heavy, her breath too warm. A soft ache lingered beneath her ribs, deep and rhythmic. She blinked into the dim morning light and brought her hand to her chest.The sigil was glowing.Not just with heat, but with intent.Its edges shimmered beneath her skin like gold dust in water, pulsing softly with each beat of her heart. She could feel it working through her, humming just beneath her breastbone, coiling low in her belly like fire waiting for breath.She sat up too fast. The room spun. Her blood felt… thick. Magic-laced.She dragged the robe around her shoulders, fingers trembling as they tied the knot. The fabric was soft but clung too close, too warm—like a second skin she couldn’t shed.When she stood, the sigil flared again. Not painfully. But insistently.It wasn’t just marking her.It was syncing her.To him.She stumbled to the basin near the bed, s
She was awakened by silence.No knock. No summons. Just the quiet breath of the mountain curling through her chamber like smoke. When she opened her eyes, the lair was darker than before, lit only by the faint red glow of the crystal-veined windows. At the edge of the room, a dragonkin waited—tall, veiled, motionless.“You will come,” the woman said. Not unkind. Not commanding. Just final.Sera didn’t speak. She rose, wrapped herself in the heavy robe folded near the foot of the bed, and followed.They walked through quiet halls that felt older than breath. No other servants passed. No guards stood watch. Only stone, steam, and silence. The path twisted down, toward the heart of the mountain.When the doors to the bathhouse opened, heat spilled out like a sigh.The room was enormous—vaulted ceilings, obsidian pillars, walls that shimmered with trapped light. The pool at its center glowed a deep red-orange, steam rising in slow tendrils that kissed her skin the moment she stepped insid
The thought came at nightfall—not as a plan, but as a whisper.Leave.Sera sat on the edge of the bed, the pendant she’d found now clenched in her hand like a talisman. She hadn’t tried the door since she arrived. Maybe out of fear. Maybe out of the quiet, gnawing belief that it would be locked. A part of her had whispered it was pointless to resist, that running would only invite worse. But another part—older, raw—refused to lie still.What would he do if he caught her? Would he rage? Would he destroy the corridor around her with a word? Would he simply watch, quiet and cruel, and let the fortress do it for him?She stood and walked to the door, heart slamming against her ribs. Her hand hovered above the handle. Her breath stilled.The door opened.No resistance. No sound. No guards.The hallway stretched before her, lined with flickering braziers and dragon-carved pillars. Empty.She stepped out.The stone was hot beneath her bare feet. Her silk robe clung to her skin. The sigil did







