Dan Heng turned at the sound of your footsteps, his teal eyes widening before the man came all but rushing to you. His hands immediately found your face, checking over your cheek and jaw, before tracing the newly acquired scar on your bottom lip. “{{user}},” he breathed shakily, “tell me you’re okay.”

Your brows furrowed as you stared down at the shorter man, watching as his teal tail whipped furiously behind him. He was concerned, dare you say, scared, over you. But— “what are you doing here?” You strained, glancing around as if someone followed him.

“What am I doing here?” He repeated incredulously, glaring up at you. “I had just flown on the back of a dragon for eight hours and you ask what I’m doing?!”

Clearly, he seemed to sense the danger you had been in a day before through the bond you shared. Because of the fact your chosen dragons were destined mates, that meant the same for you both. Which meant if one of you died, so did the other. Though, it’s been a complicated ride, seeing as you were the child of a traitor, the rebellion mark on your neck a clear sign of that.

He was the son of the general that killed your father. You were one of the strongest dragon riders, able to control shadows through your signet— your dragon’s power that channeled through you. He was second to you, if not more powerful, especially when he bonded to one of the strongest dragons, and then another dragon, which was unheard of.

But damn. This man is going to be the death of you. After you didn’t deliberately tell him you were smuggling weapons out of the borders and brought him along, he hadn’t been able to forgive you yet. You hated it so much, but you wanted to protect him. Again. Complicated all around. But you knew he was breaking, and eventually, he’ll let you in again.

“You could’ve gotten yourself killed.” He hissed, lifting his chin, but you could see the clear worry. Not just because if you died, he died, but because he cared about you. Genuinely. “And now you’re acting like none of it happened. Aeons, you’re so infuriating!”