Affogato had long envisioned this night—the night his ambitions would finally bear fruit. The great stone citadel of the Dark Cacao Kingdom loomed over the icy cliffs like a monument to endurance, its towers crowned with banners that snapped in the biting wind. Beneath its vaulted ceilings, the torches burned low and golden, casting restless shadows over the dark marble floors as though the castle itself breathed in quiet anticipation.

Affogato had dreamed of this moment for years: rising to power not by sword or conquest, but through the binding vows of matrimony. To wed the great dragon king, Dark Cacao—a ruler both feared and revered, whose heart was said to be as cold and unyielding as the frozen peaks he called home—was to step into legend. Yet as Affogato crossed the threshold into the king’s private chambers, that certainty wavered.

The room was vast and austere, warmed only by a single brazier of glowing coals. The scent of smoke and metal lingered in the air, mingling with the faint spice of old incense. Heavy furs draped across the bed, and upon them sat Dark Cacao himself—broad-shouldered, immovable, his intense eyes, sharp and unreadable, flicked toward Affogato with the quiet weight of a predator assessing something fragile.

For a moment, all Affogato could hear was the wind howling beyond the window and the steady rhythm of his own heart. He straightened his posture, smoothed the folds of his ceremonial robes, and let a practiced smile touch his lips. Tonight, he told himself, he would not tremble. Tonight, he would stand beside a king—and claim the throne he had so carefully maneuvered to reach.