---
We didn't sleep.
Not really.
We lay there, curled in flame and skin, wrapped in a heat that never once burned but still made me feel like I was melting into her. Into Vera.
But as the final waves of that intensity subsided, something strange happened.
I felt her energy pouring into me. Surging, crackling beneath my skin—like I was a vessel, and she was filling it to the brim with something ancient and wild. My body vibrated, fingertips twitching, breath catching.
It was too much. I tried to pull away, afraid I might rupture.
"I can't—!" I gasped, trying to untangle myself from her legs, her arms, her flame.
She held me tighter, eyes glowing fiercely. "Don't let go. If you do now… it could backlash."
So I didn't.
I held her. Let the fire storm rage through me.
Eventually… it stopped.
We were both coated in sweat, breathing hard, her head on my chest, my hand still tangled in her hair.
She smiled. "You're ready."
"Ready?" I frowned, brushing hair out of her face. "Ready for what?"
Vera stood, not bothering to hide the pride—or power—in her eyes. "Come. There's something you need to see."
---
We snuck out of the village just before dawn.
No one saw us—probably for the best, since Vera still wore nothing more than a whisper of flame shaped into the barest excuse for clothing.
The trees were still dark, dew fresh on the leaves. She led me to a clearing deep in the woods, where even birds were silent. No paths, no sounds.
Just us.
She turned to face me, serious now. "Each time we're together, I draw a part of your essence… to restore mine. But I leave something in return. A spark. A mark. A gift."
I blinked. "A gift?"
"Try it," she said. "Call the flame. Feel it."
I didn't know what I was doing, but when I raised my hand and thought about fire, something in my chest answered.
A sudden warmth flared in my palm—then erupted in a twisting spiral of fire that danced upward, like it was alive. It didn't burn me.
It obeyed me.
I stared at it, stunned. "I can control fire…"
Vera nodded. "You're my mate. My chosen. My power flows through you now."
I grinned, eyes wide with disbelief and awe. "This is insane…"
The flames coiled around my hand like they were curious—sentient, maybe. Not wild or feral, but... responsive. A living thing that recognized me. Acknowledged me.
I turned my wrist, and the fire followed like a ribbon dancing in the wind, curling over my knuckles and back across my forearm. I should've been panicking. I should've felt heat blistering my skin.
But it wasn't pain I felt.
It was power.
A rush that pulsed through my veins like molten adrenaline, awakening something primal and ancient. It was like the very moment of intimacy I'd shared with Vera had unlocked more than just passion—it had ignited something inside me.
"My power flows through you now," she said again, stepping closer. Her voice was quiet, almost reverent. "Every time we're joined... I give more of myself. You don't just please me, you complete me. And in return, I make you more."
"You make me dangerous," I murmured, still watching the fire flicker and shimmer across my palm. "You've changed me."
She didn't deny it. Her eyes were glowing softly—golden, molten, almost sad. "Only because I had no choice. And yet... I don't regret it."
---
I left her in the clearing to go fetch water.
Still buzzing. Still amazed. I couldn't wait to try more, to test the limits of this power.
But then—
The air shifted.
A pressure dropped, like the atmosphere itself was being crushed under weight.
Then a roar echoed across the forest.
The ground trembled.
I turned, water forgotten—just as a massive shadow blocked out the rising sun.
THOOM.
The trees shook violently as a massive dragon landed just ahead. Black-scaled. Horned. Eyes burning with ancient rage.
Riding its back was a man—but not just any man.
He was a Dragon Lord.
Even before he dismounted, I could feel it. The weight of his aura, the suffocating heat of command and death rolled off him in waves. His armor was forged from obsidian and bone, etched with draconic glyphs that pulsed faintly like the embers of a long-dead fire. A jagged horned helm rested in one hand, revealing a face scarred by centuries of battle—and not all of them won.
He stepped off the dragon's back as if gravity didn't dare resist him. When his boots hit the ground, the earth itself seemed to flinch.
His voice cracked the silence like thunder.
"I sensed a dragon's awakening. Powerful. Ancient."
His eyes locked onto mine, molten gold and merciless. "Where is it?"
My mouth was dry. My thoughts, scattered.
If I said nothing, he might torch the forest.
If I told the truth… Vera—
"I… I don't know what you're talking about," I managed to say. My voice wasn't shaking, but gods, my hands were clenched so tightly they ached.
The Dragon Lord tilted his head, eyes narrowing.
Then he stepped forward, one slow, deliberate stride at a time. Every inch closer, his aura grew heavier, like the air itself was collapsing in around me. I couldn't move. Couldn't even breathe.
"You reek of it," he growled. "Of fire, of dragon breath. You think I'm blind, boy?"
His hand rose—two fingers snapping together with a sound too sharp, too final.
His dragon responded instantly.
It reared back on powerful hind legs, wings spreading wide and casting a shadow like a storm over the clearing. Its chest glowed, heat building behind scales the color of scorched stone.
Then it roared.
Not a scream—not a warning.
A command.
And from its maw came flame.
Not orange. Not red.
White. Blinding. Pure.
The kind of fire that erased matter. That didn't just burn, but unmade.
It was aimed directly at me.
There was no time to run. No time to dodge.
No time to react.
---