Mga Maiikling Kuwento at Nobelang Dragon Fantasy

To keep the peace between humans and shifters, those chosen by the Oracle are forced to mate with their bound partners. And me? I was forced to be the shared mate of twin black dragons. Every night, I brewed two glasses of moon-wine to help them sleep. The older brother, Kaelen, was cold. But when he took his glass, his scalding fingertips would brush my wrist in a silent promise, and he’d murmur a soft thanks. But the younger one, Cassian? A vicious temper. He’d smash the glass, hurl insults, and crush me with the weight of his dragon aura. I had been lying to myself. Walking on eggshells. Desperately keeping a fragile peace. Until a fellow apothecary told me the truth. She hesitated, then said: "He treats you like dirt. The other one is gentle. Why do they both get the same precious moon-wine? How is that fair to the one who actually cares?" I thought about it all day. She was right. Late that night, I left the apothecary in a sheer silk robe, carrying only one glass of moon-wine.

When enemy soldiers breached Drakefire Keep, the first people they seized were Liora Vale and me. My betrothed, Lucian Vale, Lord of Drakefire, chose to save Liora, his brother’s widow. Then he ordered the iron gates shut and left me outside, six months pregnant with his child. I was taken by the enemy and later thrown from a cliff. Everyone believed I was dead. Seven years later, I returned to Drakefire Keep with Kael Drakon, the Supreme Dragonlord. At the welcome feast, I saw Lucian again. His eyes lit up when he recognized me. “Elara, I knew you survived. My brother was dead, so I could not abandon Liora back then.” He looked at me as if nothing had changed. “Now that you are back, we should complete our dragon vow. You will become Lady of Drakefire and hatch the fire-dragon egg for me.” “With a fire dragon, I will surpass Kael Drakon and become the true Dragonlord of this continent.” I smiled. He did not know the fire dragon had hatched long ago. It hatched seven years ago, on the day I married Kael Drakon.

Four years ago, Marcus Blackthorn rejected me at our Dragon bond ceremony. He chose Clara Linwood instead. Her bloodline carried the purity of an ancient dragon clan, and with her at his side, he could secure his claim as Lord Blackthorn. He told me to wait one year, promising that once his position was secure, the title of Lady Blackthorn would eventually be mine. Everyone laughed at me for believing I had ever been anything more than a useful promise. I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break, and I left without begging for a place in a future he had already denied me. I left his territory in silence and followed the Dragon Goddess’s sign to my second-chance mate, Caelan Frost. He was the Frost Dragon King, ruler of every dragon clan, and even a Black Dragon lord like Marcus had to bow before him. Four years later, I returned to Blackthorn Keep beside Caelan Frost, the Dragon King. Four years later, I returned to Blackthorn Keep beside Caelan Frost, the Dragon King. At the city gate, Marcus stopped me. He looked at my plain cloak, then threw a servant’s gray livery at my feet. “Stop pretending you have somewhere better to go,” he said. “My household happens to need a nursery maid. Take the work. It is the only future you have left.”

I'm just a regular human being, and yet I've ended up signing a soul-bond contract with Erik Pendragon, the Frost Dragon King. Due to my lowly status, Erik refuses to let me attend the festival that we're supposed to show up at. So far, I've organized 18 grand festivals for Erik, and yet I'm forced to hide in the shadows. But somehow, Erik agrees to let me attend the 19th festival as the Dragon Queen. Of course, I'm excited to no end. I even go to great lengths to doll myself up, only to see Erik holding hands with another human woman named Clara Beech. The memory montage, which I've put hard work into making, has been replaced by a lovey-dovey montage featuring Erik and Clara. After Erik slips the ring that symbolizes the Dragon Queen's status onto Clara's finger, he turns to look at me in disdain. "Our Dragon Queen needs to be acknowledged by everyone in the clan. It's not like you have an official title anyway, Aurora. To top it off, Clara had received everyone's acknowledgement far earlier than you, too. From today onward, she shall replace you as the Dragon Queen." All the dragons in the lobby are waiting to watch me go ballistic before descending into hysterics. But I'm not mad in the slightest. In fact, I feel a little relieved. After all, there are three days left before my three-year contract with Erik gets dissolved.

Dragons lay only one egg per clutch, yet my sister and I hatched together, a twin pair. I am favored by the elements and am naturally protected by the ice element. But Aithne is a non-elemental white dragon, called a "crippled dragon". So my parents ordered me to give her everything she wants and protect her at all times. When my fiancé ordered me to take the place of Aithne to test the drugs again, otherwise he would terminate our engagement. I calmly dissolved the betrothal contract. I gave my wedding ring with him to Aithne. When Aithne caused a huge mess, I went in her place to apologize and take the punishment. When they asked me to conduct the drug test on behalf of Aithne, and I calmly agreed to do so. "Noxivira, once this experiment succeeds and Aithne gets better, we'll get married." Morpheus gazed tenderly at Aithne, as if already planning how to celebrate for her. My parents were also eagerly waiting for the drug test's results, hoping to make Aithne the new princess of the Frost Dragon clan. But none of them knew—I won't be coming back anymore. Because the Forest Witch said I have a terminal illness that drains life. I'll be dead soon.

For generations, the women of House Silvermoon have carried a unique blessing. Our blood ensures high fertility. More importantly, it purifies the lineage of those we bind with. Because of this, the moment a daughter of our house comes of age, she becomes the most coveted prize in the realm. In my past life, my older sister, Clara, looked down on the brutal, cold-blooded dragon shifters. Her heart was set on the elegant Elven Prince. She fully believed she would rule the Nightwood at his side. She got her wish. And I was readily married off to the Dragon Prince, Kail, in her stead. No one expected that within a year, I would give birth to a pure-blood dragon—the first sole heir the Dragon Clan had seen in centuries. Overjoyed, Kail crowned me his only Queen the day he ascended the throne. Under his rule, the dragons conquered the continent. My position was secured, and I enjoyed endless wealth and absolute power. Meanwhile, Clara discovered the grim reality of the elven court. The prince was a notorious womanizer. Clara was merely an insignificant consort, drowning in tears while she watched the entire realm bow at my feet. Jealousy ate her alive. During a family gala, she lured me to the edge of a cliff and pushed me into the abyss. But when I opened my eyes again... the dragon bridal envoy was already at our gates. And Clara, without a single moment of hesitation, accepted the proposal. I knew instantly—she had been reborn, too. What she doesn't know, however, is that becoming the Dragon Prince’s bride is the easy part. Winning his heart? Surviving long enough to bear his child? That is next to impossible.

I’m from the Celtic family. The women in our bloodline possess a rare fertility trait, which means we’ve been politically married off to the Dragon Royals for generations. On my twentieth birthday, the Dragon King laid out portraits of his two sons in front of me and told me to pick a husband. Whoever I chose would inherit the crown and the entire treasury. I didn't hesitate. I picked Cael—the eldest son, infamous for his brutal, primal madness. Everyone’s jaws dropped. After all, the whole kingdom thought I was hopelessly obsessed with the younger son, Aaron. But only I knew the truth. In my past life, I actually got my wish and married Aaron, handing him the throne on a silver platter. But right after the wedding, he went behind my back with our family maid, Rose. When the King found out, he flew into a rage and exiled Rose to the Dark Lands. Aaron blamed me for everything and hated my guts. He looked down on my human status, parading a non-stop line of Rose-lookalikes in front of my face just to rub it in. Worse, when I got pregnant, he systematically swapped my prenatal tonics for a slow-acting poison. It killed me and my unborn child. Having a second chance at life, I decided to let him and Rose have each other. But what I didn't expect was that Aaron had reincarnated too.

My fated mate shut me out of our bond for the ninety-ninth time just as the last spark of dragonfire inside me began to die. I walked into the Oath Hall of Obsidian Keep alone. Black stone stretched beneath my feet, cold enough to bite through my slippers, and every step made the cracked channels around my dragon core grind deeper into my chest. “I’m here to renounce the Obsidian Court and dissolve my life-bond with the Dragon Lord.” The clerk took in my bloodless face and lowered his voice. “Lady Ashton, once I set the seal, the Court will no longer be required to protect you. Are you certain?” My dragonfire had been unstable since birth, leaving me weaker than most dragonkin. When I was ten, my father adopted Cecilia. She had a gift for explaining every disaster in the gentlest possible voice until everyone believed I was the jealous sister who couldn’t stand to share. My parents hadn’t always been unloving. They had simply forgotten how to tell the difference between the daughter who was crying and the daughter who was lying. Cassian and I had been fated for years, yet he had never crowned me his Dragon Queen. He rarely took me to Court gatherings. Most of Obsidian Keep didn’t even know I was his mate. “That’s all right.” I swallowed the taste of blood and kept my voice steady. “I’ll be dead in three days.”

When my sister and I were born, a prophet foretold that my sister would fall into a deep depression because I was more gifted than she was. On the day of the Fire Dragon Clan's Trial, she would throw herself into the frozen lake and never resurface. To protect her, my parents locked me in the freezing chamber on the day of the Trial. I knelt and begged them until my knees bled. My mother shoved me inside and sealed the door from the outside with a barrier. "You know your sister will die because of you, and you still insist on taking the Trial? How is that anything but trying to get her killed?" The chamber had already dropped to a hundred and twelve degrees below zero, yet I was wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt. I threw myself against the barrier, desperate to break out. "Mother, it's freezing in here! Please let me out!" "You're a fire dragon. A little cold can't hurt you. Who are you trying to fool?" My mother's voice was edged with impatience. "The barrier blocks your magic, but we didn't even turn on the refrigeration system. Your sister will be safe soon. Can't you think of her for once?" The sound of their wingbeats faded. My scales cracked from the cold, and blood dripped onto the floor. The barrier had sealed away my magic, and the chill quickly sank deep into my bones. I knelt on the floor as my body stiffened, inch by inch.

At my coming-of-age ceremony, I failed to shift. I was the heir to the Silver Serpent tribe, but all I could grow were a few ugly scales. My fiancé and my best friend stepped in front of me and roared at the crowd. "Shut up, all of you! Anyone who dares mock the heir is making an enemy of us!" While I was still downcast over my failure to shift, I overheard my best friend complaining to my fiancé that someone with inferior blood like mine had no right to hold on to the position of heir. She promised to help him take my place. Before long, rumors swept through the tribe that I had betrayed the Beast God and was nothing but a lowly lizard. My fiancé tied me to a stake in the ceremonial square and raised a torch to burn me alive. No one knew that the fire wouldn't take my life. Instead, it would burn away the final shackle that had sealed my superior bloodline.