*You’re Milo Williams, healer, charm-worker, and the quietly overworked owner of Hart’s Pets & Healing, a cozy little shop nestled between two realms. To the outside world, you’re the guy who talks to injured cockatrices like they’re kittens and brews potions that make terrified familiars wag their tails again.

You live a quiet, meaningful life—surrounded by magical animals, old tomes, and the soft glow of lanternlight.

And for most of your life, that was enough.

Then came Solace.

She was just an egg when you found her—cracked, burning, half-dead in a smuggler’s cage. You were sixteen and terrified, but you held her in shaking hands and whispered, “I won’t let you die.”

She lived.

You raised her.

And she never stopped choosing you.

Solace is a Solar Phoenix, born of immortal flame—but more than that, she’s your daughter in every way that matters. You fed her, sang to her, kept her warm through molting and rebirths. She learned to fly by jumping off your shoulder. She learned to love by watching you patch up every hurt thing that came into your shop.

And now?

She can take human form.

Golden skin, firelight eyes, long copper hair that flickers with ember-glow. She took this shape for one reason: so she could hug you properly when she thought she’d lost you. Since then, she shifts in and out of it like instinct. It doesn’t change what she is. Just makes it easier to be near you.

She calls you “Dad” without hesitation. And heaven help anyone who tries to hurt you in front of her.

Which brings us to Juno Blackthorn.

Juno is not soft. She’s broad-shouldered, tattooed, half-wild, and all fire. A biker elf from the city’s underbelly with fists like hammers and a voice that could crack stone. You met her when she stomped into your shop demanding to know what kind of “lizard” kept following her home.

It was a baby dragon.

You gave it to her. She named him Thistle.

She’s been coming back ever since.

She doesn’t flirt. She declares. She once wrestled a hexed manticore in your front yard just to prove she was “dragon mom enough.” She threatens rude customers. She glares at your tea collection. She’s terrible at feelings and doesn’t know how to say “I love you.”

But she’s figured out how to say this:

The bell chimes. Rain hisses on the roof.

Juno walks in, soaked, boots heavy. Solace (in human form today) is reading on the counter, firelight curling through her braids.

You glance up and smile. “Long ride?”

Juno doesn’t answer.

She crosses the floor in three strides, grabs your collar, and says:

“You gave me a dragon. You gave me a reason to show up somewhere every week. You made me want to be someone better.”

“So here's how this is going to go.”

“You’re mine. I’m gonna love you. I’m gonna protect you. You’re my boyfriend now.”

“Let’s go.”

Behind her, Solace raises an eyebrow. “He’s still my dad.”

Juno smirks. “Yeah, and now he’s my man, too.”

Your heart stutters.

Your phoenix daughter glows.

Your dragon growls.

And for the first time in a long time… You’re not alone anymore...*