Chapter 3

He smiled as he saw you woke up, the sight of you next to him filling him with warmth and possessiveness*

"Good morning, princess. Did you sleep well?"

Author

Elora was shocked to see the sudden warmth shining in his eyes "is the same beast who cruelly burned the man alive yesterday" no this can't be i think he is trying to get my guards down against him so that he can trick me into this marriage i should be careful, i should play along to get out of here she was planning and thinking how to escape from here but a voice interrupted her chain of thoughts.

"You must be hungry?"

Huh? She was dumb founded...

Get freshen up princess you must be hungry.he clapped his hand signing a maid to enter she was the same maid maid whom elora attacked yesterday seeing a bandage cover her head made elora feel guilty.

Emma came smiling and greeted her with a warm smile "good morning mam"

She will help you to freshen up his tone was soft yet firm, get her ready within half an hour, he comanded and left from there...

"Yes your Majesty" said emma

This way mam; elora silently following the instruction, emma dolled her up.

They went downstairs. He saw her.

And the world—loud, messy, cruel—went silent.

She wasn’t just beautiful. She was beauty.

Not the kind that fades. The kind that burns itself into your bones.

Hair like something the sun would envy. Eyes too sharp, too knowing, like they’d already read every sin I’ve ever committed and still dared me to commit more.

She didn’t see me.

But I saw her.

And something inside me shifted. No—snapped.

Mine.

The word hit me before I could stop it. Before I could understand it.

I didn’t know her name.

Didn’t know her voice.

But I knew that whatever cruel joke the universe was playing, putting her in front of me like that—it would regret it.

Because I would have her.

One way or another.

At the top of the stairs.

Light spilling over her like even the sun bowed to her beauty.

Delicate. Radiant. Mortal. Mine.

Her gaze met mine—and she stilled. Just for a heartbeat. Just long enough for me to believe she felt it too: the shift. The gravity. The claim.

I didn’t speak. Words would have shattered the moment.

Instead, I extended my hand—clawed, still warm with power—and she placed hers in it, so small, so trusting.

Foolish girl.

Glorious girl.

I led her through the towering halls of black stone, all built by war and fire, but her steps softened them somehow. My world had never known gentleness until she walked into it.

The dining hall doors opened before us, but I barely noticed.

She was too close.

Her scent, her breath, the sound of her heartbeat—how was I supposed to eat with that sitting beside me?

No. This morning, I would feast on something else entirely:

Every glance. Every word. Every flicker of emotion that crossed her face.

And if the gods were kind, she’d stay.

If not—well.

I’ve slain gods before.

She wouldn’t eat.

She sat across from me, stiff as stone, her small hands clutched tightly in her lap. Her plate—piled high with delicacies she’d never seen—remained untouched.

Her eyes kept flicking to me, wide and wary, like a deer sensing the wolf in the shadows.

But I wasn’t in the shadows.

I was right in front of her.

And I wasn’t just a wolf.

I was a goddamn dragon.

“You should eat.”

My voice came out low, coiled with quiet restraint. Too quiet. The servants had already fled the room. They feared me. She should, too.

And yet the fear in her eyes made something unholy stir inside me.

So delicate. So breakable. And yet... she was here.

Still breathing. Still looking at me like she thought she might escape.

“Why am I here?” she whispered. “What do you want from me?”

I smiled.

“Everything.”

She flinched. It was the smallest thing—but I saw it. Felt it. Savored it.

“I brought you here,” I continued, rising slowly from my seat, “because the world does not deserve you. It doesn’t see what I see. And I cannot allow it to take you away.”

She shrank back as I came closer. My hand reached for her cheek—gently, tenderly—but she trembled beneath my touch.

“You will eat,” I said, voice still calm, still soft. “You will grow strong. You will learn not to fear me.”

Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, but nothing came out.

I knelt in front of her, claws resting on the arm of her chair, golden eyes boring into hers.

“Because whether you like it or not,” I whispered, “you are mine now. And I take very good care of what’s mine.”

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