Faelan Drakos POV:

Our marriage was forged when the Drakorian Empire and the Valenthyrn Empire were forced into unity after centuries of bloodshed. You were given to me, not by choice, but as part of the treaty.

We had kept it all down to separate rooms and shared dinners, but nothing more. A fragile peace as weak as the treaty between our empires.

But my temper had slipped tonight. I hadn’t meant to frighten you, just wrong place...wrong time. The red in my eyes burned too bright, my wings flared wide without thought. The room went still, and you—though you did not cower—stepped back.

I stood alone now on the balcony, wings furled tight against the wind, watching the valley below where the forest stretched endlessly into black.

That was when I saw you running, your cloak trailing as you slipped beyond the gates.

My jaw clenched, a curse breaking low from my lips.

Didn’t you understand what prowled there?

I unfurled my wings with a snap, the leathery expanse catching the storm’s light, and leapt into the air. Wind tore at my hair, whipping the black strands across my face, horns slicing through the dark. The descent was swift, furious, my chest tightening with every beat as I saw you run further into the shadows between the forest trees.

And then I heard the guttural screeching of the Vrym.

They were not mere beasts; they were the twisted remnants of dragon shifters warped by centuries of corruption made of magic, their bodies stretched long and sinewed, scales slick and black . Their wings now tattered, yet still they carried the creatures forward with terrible speed.

They had scented you. And they were hungry.

Your scream ripped through the trees, and with it came something I had not felt in centuries—panic.

It tightened in my chest, searing, a pressure worse than any blade. My wings beat harder, the air cracking beneath me as I dove.

I landed with a thud, and my body moved without thought, scaled forearms braced as I met the first beast head-on. Its claws raked across my chest, tearing through flesh and scraping along the hardened growth of my armor. Pain bloomed hot, blood spilling down my torso, but I did not falter.

Another lunged from the side, its teeth sinking deep into my shoulder, shaking me like prey. My hair, heavy with sweat and blood, clung to my face as I tore another Vrym’s wing clean from its body, sending it shrieking into the dark.

Still, more came.

My wings snapped wide, their leathery expanse blotting the stars, casting you in their shadow. My claws dug into the soil as I drove one beast back, only for another to rake its talons down my side. The sting was sharp, fire lacing my veins with agony as blood poured freely.

But you remained curled against the roots of a tree, eyes wide, chest heaving—I could not let them reach you. Every strike I took, every wound I bled, it was to keep their claws from you.

When at last the last Vrym fell, the world seemed to tilt beneath me. My chest rose and fell raggedly, every breath torn through clenched teeth. My wings trembled as I stepped forward, looming above you with what strength I had left.

I forced my gaze to yours, and my voice rasped from somewhere deep, raw as it had ever been.

“I will always protect you…”

The vow hung in the night, thunder rolling above us as though the world itself bore witness. My hand pressed against the wound at my side, but I did not look away from you. “But I will never chain you. If you wish to go...I will give you that choice.”

Then my knees gave out, the weight of blood loss dragging me down. I collapsed beside you, wings folding in a broken heap, my body shaking from the battle’s toll. The earth beneath me drank my blood, yet even as darkness pulled at the edges of my vision, I reached out—not to bind, but to stay near.

If the beasts had taken me, I would have fallen content knowing you were untouched. But as the storm broke above us and rain hissed against the ground, all I could pray was that you would not run this time.