MasukNyra’s POVWe moved back to the picnic blanket, which had quickly become less organised once toddlers, a pregnant Luna, an Alpha of Vandwood, and too many cookies entered the space. Ronan sat beside me, Olivia in his lap. James eventually abandoned Keiran’s shoulder to sit between the plates and inspect every food item as if Brooksbridge depended on his assessment. Bruce chased a fallen apple, then decided the apple was boring and tried to feed it to one of the garden statues.Astrid lowered herself onto the blanket with a sigh. Keiran immediately reached to help her. “I can sit by myself,” Astrid reminded him. “I know,” Keiran replied, still helping anyway. Astrid gave him a look. “You are hovering.” “Yes,” Keiran admitted. Astrid complained, “That was too quick. Argue a little so I can win.” Keiran smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You already won.” Astrid blinked. For once, she had no immediate reply. I stared at Keiran with open amusement. He noticed and pointed at me. “Do
Nyra’s POVThree years laterThe garden of our Brooksbridge home came into view beneath me, bright with afternoon sunlight, green grass, flowering hedges, and the small stone path Ronan had insisted was necessary because, according to him, “royal dragons should not be landing in mud.” I still laughed every time I remembered him saying that. As if mud had ever feared me. As if Seraphina would not step into it deliberately just to prove she could remain magnificent while covered in earth.The wind moved under my wings, warm and easy, carrying the scent of home up to me before my claws even touched the ground. Freshly cut grass. Apples from the tree near the side wall. Clean linen drying somewhere behind the house. Bread. Fruit. Ronan. Our children. My chest softened before I landed.After all this time, shifting into dragon form no longer frightened me. The first time Seraphina had risen fully inside me, it had felt like the world had cracked open and asked me to become something I did
Nyra’s POVThe door opened again. My father walked in. He stopped as soon as he saw me. The king disappeared from his face so quickly it hurt. Only my father remained. He stood in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, and looked at me like the years he had missed had gathered in the room all at once. His eyes moved over the dress, the crest, my hair, my face, the gold around me. He did not speak immediately. Maybe he could not.I held my breath. “Father?” I whispered. He blinked once, slowly, then stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “You look…” he began, then stopped. A laugh trembled out of me. “Do not tell me even you have no words.” My father’s mouth curved, but his eyes shone. “I have many words,” my father replied. “None of them are enough.”That nearly undid me. He crossed the room slowly. In his hands was a golden necklace covered in precious gems. It looked old. Not old in a dull way. Old in the way royal things became when they had survived hands, wars, love,
Nyra’s POVOn the morning of my wedding, Emberfall looked like it had decided to become a dream. Not a soft dream. Emberfall was never soft in the way ordinary kingdoms might be. It still had black volcanic stone beneath its beauty. Gold veins still ran through the walls like trapped fire. Steam still rose from distant vents, and controlled channels of heat still glowed beneath carved grates in the courtyards. Dragons still passed across the sky, their wings cutting through morning light like ancient things that had never once asked the world for permission to exist.But that morning, everything looked warmer. The gardens had been opened. Flowers climbed over arches of black stone and gold metal. Banners carrying the Viremont crest moved in the wind beside softer woven garlands brought from the werewolf side. Wolves from Vandwood and Brooksbridge walked through Emberfall’s halls with wide eyes and careful steps, trying not to look too stunned by the dragons, the castle, the heat, the
Nyra’s POVFor a second, my mind refused to connect him to the dragon who had filled Vandwood’s sky with black fire. He was not bound. That was the most humiliating part. There were guards near him, yes. Enough to restrain him if needed. But no chains wrapped his wrists. No collar circled his throat. No golden or black scale covered his body. No dragon armour protected him from neck to foot. He wore plain dark clothing now, likely given to him only because royal judgment did not need nakedness to prove a point.He looked smaller. Not physically, maybe. He was still tall. Still broad-shouldered. Still carried the bones of a Viremont king. But without his dragon, without the scales, without the red-ringed power burning inside his eyes, he looked reduced in a way that no wound could fully explain. Human. Only human. His face was burned in places. One side of his jaw was marked where Seraphina’s fire had stripped away corruption and power alike. His eyes still held rage, but no red ring l
Nyra’s POVDarius entered Emberfall like a man who expected the world to make space for him without being told. No announcement followed after the horn. No long parade. No grand display of banners or fire or soldiers stomping through the terrace to prove he mattered. He did not need any of that. The air changed before he reached us, and by the time he stepped beneath the arch leading onto the terrace, everyone had already turned towards him.For a moment, I simply stared. He looked like my father. Not completely. Not enough for anyone to mistake them if they stood side by side for more than one breath. But the blood was there. It was in the sharpness of his face, the height, the way power sat on his shoulders as if it had never asked permission before settling there. It was in the gold of the scales that covered parts of his neck and arms like armour, each scale catching the evening light with a hard royal shine. All Viremonts had golden dragons. That realisation settled inside me wit
Nyra’s POV“Dragon blood,” I repeated faintly, like saying it might make it make sense.My mother nodded, shaking, and then she stepped toward me, taking my hands in hers, warm, trembling, desperate.Her eyes locked on mine.“Listen to me,” she said, voice fierce through tears. “No one must know.”
Nyra’s POVThe agreement hall didn’t feel like a hall tonight.It felt like a courtroom.The kind where the verdict had already been decided in people’s minds, and all that was left was the ceremony of pretending fairness existed.The elders sat at the front behind a long table carved from old wood
Ronan’s POVLeaves snapped under my boots. Branches whipped at my shoulders. The basket of mushrooms swung violently from my wrist, and I didn’t even notice until it caught on something and tore away, spilling its contents into the undergrowth.I didn’t care.Nyra’s skin was burning through my shir
Ronan’s POVEthan’s last words didn’t just hang in the air.They burrowed.Like a splinter you couldn’t ignore no matter how much you pretended you didn’t feel it.When you know how your father died… what really happened to him… maybe you will come to your senses.The door had barely stopped trembl







