Chapter 2

Lina's POV

The tenth winter of the Ashen Era

The Dragonfire Pavilion's oppressive heat threatened to suffocate me. Kneeling on the scorching obsidian floor, I channeled my weak half-elven magic into the frost arrays as Flamequell Incense filled the air. A sudden pressure shift made the magical currents stutter. I didn't need to look up—Augustus had arrived, his overwhelming presence consuming all the oxygen in the room.

I forced my head up to meet the Dragon King's gaze. Augustus radiated a mature, devastatingly handsome ruthlessness that demanded absolute submission. Sharp jawline, cold sculpted features, short black hair—but his eyes were what paralyzed prey. Those golden reptilian slits locked onto me, burning with predatory intensity that made the air itself heavy.

"So, you are leaving in three days?" his voice cut through the heavy silence, a low and dangerous rumble that vibrated against the stone floor.

I tilted my head slightly to the right, instinctively protecting my damaged left ear as I focused on the harsh lines of his lips. "Yes, Your Majesty. My ten years of service are complete."

The cold calculation on his striking face dissolved into something terrifying. A raw, draconic possessiveness flared in his golden eyes like liquid fire as he closed the distance between us in a single stride.

Before I could flinch, his hand shot out, violently tearing the heavy protective gloves from my fingers to expose my frost-scarred skin. With a cruel smile, his fingers clamped around my jaw in a brutal grip, forcing my face mere inches from his lethal features.

"Do you truly believe a mere ten years is enough to erase the sins of your family?" he sneered, exposing the elongated tips of his canines. "A filthy half-blood sacrifice now simply wants to walk away?"

Desperate to read his lips, I tilted my head slightly to the right—an agonizing mistake. Perceiving the shift as defiance, his grip tightened with bone-crushing force until a sickening pop echoed through my jaw.

"Your blood owes me a debt a single decade could never repay," he hissed, forcefully dragging me across the obsidian floor. His violent momentum sent the bronze incense burner crashing to the ground, scattering glowing embers across the dark stone.

I fought his iron grip in sheer terror, but it was futile against a dragon. He effortlessly shoved me backward onto the freezing ice-silk sheets, his heavy knees driving apart my legs to completely immobilize me. His free hand ruthlessly seized my collar. The heavy linen tore with a sickening sound, exposing my trembling shoulders to the biting chill as his palm began to roam across my skin, his touch searing like a brand.

"Please, Your Majesty... I beg of you, don't do this," I stammered, writhing beneath his crushing weight.

He ignored my plea entirely, the draconic heat of his breath washing over my face as his dark gaze swept over my exposed skin. "For ten years, I never even noticed what a stunning beauty you've grown into right beneath my nose," he breathed heavily, a twisted hunger lacing his words. "What an absolute waste."

A fresh wave of terror paralyzed my limbs as he violently ripped away the last fragile barrier of my clothing. He lowered his massive frame, burying his face into the sensitive crook of my neck.

The horrifying reality of his threat shattered my paralyzing fear. If a pureblood dragon claimed me, the ancient blood-wards of Wyrmspire Citadel would recognize me as his permanent property, rendering the ten-year pardon completely void.

My right hand flailed blindly over the edge of the mattress, my fingers desperately closing around a jagged and scorching shard of the shattered incense burner. With a guttural scream born of pure desperation, I drove the hot bronze spike upward, aiming blindly for the thick muscle of his arm.

The sharp metal struck true, but instantly a shimmering layer of impenetrable black and gold dragon scales materialized across his skin. The sudden stinging impact of the hot bronze against his scales caused him to flinch in sheer shock, his iron grip loosening for just a fraction of a second.

"You dare defy me?!" Augustus roared, a sound so inhuman and deafening that it rattled the vaulted ceiling.

I threw my weight to the side, tumbling off the high bed and crashing onto the unforgiving stone floor. I scrambled away until my back hit the cold wall, kneeling completely exposed and shivering violently. My tangled golden hair cascaded forward to hide my humiliating state as hot tears spilled from my green eyes.

"Your Majesty, please, I am begging you, please do not do this," I sobbed, pressing my forehead against the freezing floor. "I will do anything else you ask of me, I swear it, just please let me go."

The draconic fire in Augustus’s eyes only burned with a darker intensity, his massive frame shifting to forcibly finish what he had started. Suddenly, the heavy obsidian doors to the pavilion burst open with a deafening crash, shattering the suffocating tension in the room.

Isabella Goldscale, his most favored pureblood Gold Dragon consort, stormed into the chamber in a sweeping gown of spun gold. Her azure slit pupils immediately locked onto the chaotic scene, and the arrogant sneer on her beautiful face twisted into a mask of pure jealousy and hatred.

"Your Majesty! What in the name of the ancestors are you doing with this filthy half-blood?!" her voice was a piercing aristocratic shriek.

Augustus paused, the draconic fire in his eyes instantly freezing over as his sharp features returned to a mask of absolute coldness. Without uttering a single word, he took a slow step back.

Seizing the opportunity, Isabella closed the distance between us in three frantic strides. She twisted her fingers ruthlessly into my tangled golden hair, violently yanking my head upward and dragging me halfway off the floor.

"You scheming bitch! You actually dared to attempt seducing His Majesty!" she spat, her beautiful face contorting into something monstrous. "You lowly and disgusting mongrel!"

Without a second of hesitation, she swung her free hand and delivered a devastating slap directly across my face. The explosive impact struck my already ruined left ear with the force of a battering ram, plunging the entire left side of my head into a deafening ring of tinnitus. The metallic tang of fresh blood immediately flooded my mouth as my vision swam in a sickening blur.

Isabella released her brutal grip, violently throwing my limp body back against the unforgiving obsidian floor. As I collapsed onto the stone, she brought her heavy boot down with vicious precision, stomping the sharp stiletto heel directly into the center of my frost-scarred hand.