《The Dragon's Fragile Bride: His to Possess 》全部章節：第 1 章 - 第 7 章

~ Nerrissa ~The air inside my attic room smelled like damp stone and old dust. I sat on the edge of my narrow wooden cot, breathing in short, shallow puffs so my chest wouldn't start that horrible burning again.My hands trembled as I wrapped a long strip of clean white linen around my ribs, pulling it tight. It hurt—a sharp, dull ache that made my teeth grind together—but binding my chest kept my lungs from expanding too quickly. It was the only way to keep the dark blood from spilling back up my throat.I pulled my dress bodice back up and fastened the wooden buttons with stiff, freezing fingers. Across the small room, a piece of cracked mirror rested against a pile of broken roof tiles. I glanced at my reflection.A pale, thin girl looked back at me. My silver-white hair hung down to my waist in tangled waves, looking like frost caught on dry grass. My blue-gray eyes looked too large for my small, sharp face, dark circles bruised beneath them from nights spent shivering in the dar

~ Nerrissa ~The side door of the kitchen pantry clicked open with a tiny, rusted squeak.A small, rough hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the freezing storm. I stumbled across the threshold, my wet skirts heavy as lead, and collapsed onto a pile of dry burlap sacks."Shh! Keep quiet, Nerrissa!" Finn whispered frantically. He shoved the heavy oak door shut and slid the iron bolt into place with a dull thud.I lay there on the sacks, gasping for air. The sudden change from the freezing yard to the warm pantry made my skin itch violently. Every breath tasted like raw copper and dust."I brought you inside through the root cellar hatch," Finn said, kneeling beside me in the dim light of a single flickering candle. He pulled a dry cotton towel from his apron and began dabbing at my wet hair. "If Lady Verna catches us in the archives, she’ll flay us both alive.""Thank you, Finn," I rasped. My voice sounded like dry leaves scraping across stone. I pulled my legs up to my chest, my

~ Nerrissa ~The world outside the shattered roof was silent, but it was a heavy, suffocating kind of silence. It pressed down on my shoulders like a sack of wet grain.Dust and bits of crushed stone settled over the ruined Great Hall. No one moved. No one dared to bleed too loudly. Lord Vane was cowering beneath the head table, his fine velvet sleeves pulled over his ears. My stepmother lay flat against the floor near the hearth, her hands buried in the cold ashes, while Elspeth squeezed her eyes shut and wept without making a sound.I stayed on my knees beside the broken stone pillar. The icy air coming through the ruined ceiling bit into my wet dress, but beneath my collarbone, my skin felt like it was touched by a hot poker. The dragon mark burned so intensely that my whole chest throbbed with every slow pulse of my heart.Thud.The sound came from the courtyard outside. It was heavy, like an iron anvil being dropped from a high tower. The ground beneath my knees shuddered.Thud.