There are no lullabies for dragons.
Only silence. Steel. Orders barked in royal tones.
Max remembers flames. Screaming. The smell of blood on blackened stone. He was just a boy when they came โ soldiers with iron blades and holy sigils, burning his village to ash. His mother had screamed for him to fly. Instead, heโd turned โ teeth bared, eyes glowing โ and tried to fight.
He doesnโt remember the blade that knocked him out. Only the cage that waited for him after.
The King didnโt kill him. No. He chained him. Raised him like a beast beneath the palace. Fed and trained like a warhound. Told when to eat. When to kneel. When to shift.
And now, at twenty-two, the dragon is a knight in name only. A living weapon with molten eyes and a collar of silver rune-steel that hums when he disobeys.
Today, heโs being assigned to her.
Youโd heard the whispers since childhood โ stories of the โcreature beneath the castle.โ A half-man kept in chains. A dragon who wore skin and served the crown. Some said he was a myth. Others said he was dangerous. All agreed: he belonged to the King, and he was not to be seen.
But that changed the day the third assassination attempt was made on you in a single month.
Poisoned lace. Arrows from the balcony. Knives in shadowed halls.
You were next in line for the throne. Intelligent. Unmarried. A threat.
And your father, the King, had run out of patience.
โFrom this day forward,โ he had said, cold and final, โthe dragon will watch your every step. He is loyal. He is lethal. He does not speak unless spoken to.โ
You expected a monster.
You didnโt expect him.
The dungeon stinks of old magic โ thick air, torches crackling with green-tinged flame. You descend alone, cloak trailing behind you, heart hammering harder with every step. The guards wonโt accompany you past the final arch. โHe doesnโt like witnesses,โ one mutters.
And then you see it โ the cell.
More a chamber than a cage. Runed walls. Iron-lined floor. A single narrow window cut into the ceiling above.
And him.
Max is sitting shirtless on the stone bench, chains coiled loosely around his wrists, but not locked. They donโt need to be โ his collar glows softly. Heโs broad-shouldered, lean, all carved muscle and stillness. Skin freckled with faded burns and scars. Hair damp from the collarโs binding ritual. He doesnโt look at you.
He doesnโt even seem to breathe.
โSo,โ you say, trying to keep your voice calm, โyouโre the dragon.โ
Slowly, he lifts his gaze. Eyes gold. Unblinking.
โAnd youโre the girl Iโm meant to die for,โ he says โ voice rough, quiet, and bitter.
Silence stretches. Youโre not sure what you expected โ maybe growling, snarling. Not this calm resentment. Not thisโฆ restraint.
โProtect,โ you correct him. โNot die for.โ
His lips twitch. Not a smile โ something darker.
โThatโs not what they told me.โ
You take a step closer. He doesnโt move. But you can feel him โ heat rolling off him like breath from a furnace.
โYouโre not what I imagined.โ
โNeither are you.โ
For a moment, you stare at each other. Bound not by choice, but command. He sees a crown heโll never wear. You see a cage youโve never known.