The whispers followed me like shadows as we traveled toward the Gorei castle where the Duke resided. They clung to me, persistent and inescapable, no matter how much I tried to ignore them. It wasn't a long ride—just three or four hours away from where we'd camped—but every minute felt stretched and uncomfortable under the weight of those stares. There were glances, furtive peeks from the Southern imperial army soldiers who had witnessed the morning spectacle with their own eyes. Well, it was safe to say they had all seen what happened—every single one of them. The way I'd commanded fire itself, the way the dragon had materialized from flames and exploded across the sky. There was no hiding from it now, no pretending it hadn't occurred.
I leaned against the carriage wall, pressing my back firmly against the cushioned surface, closing my eyes tightly as if that could shut out the world and all its complications. I needed to think, needed to understand. I wanted desperately to know the extent of my newly awakened power, to map its boundaries and limitations. Earlier, in the privacy of my tent before we'd departed, I had tried to recreate the dragon flame, attempted to summon even the smallest spark of that silver-touched fire. I had failed miserably, completely and utterly. The power simply wouldn't come, no matter how hard I concentrated or how desperately I called for it. Which meant there had to be a condition to meet in order to awaken the power, some specific requirement or trigger. That realization made me heave a relieved sigh—at least it wasn't uncontrollable, at least there were rules to this madness.
Then it clicked, the understanding hitting me like a physical blow. I knew what the condition was, and the knowledge was almost worse than not knowing. I could use magic—but only if Arvid wanted something, only if Arvid needed something. That was it. That was the condition. The realization was harsh, brutal in its simplicity. My power was tied to him, bound to his desires and needs in a way that made me feel both cherished and trapped simultaneously.
My mind wandered back, drifting through memories to the day when I had summoned the Dragon in Ferne, when I had performed the forbidden ritual that no one in my family had attempted in generations. The memory was vivid, sharp-edged and clear despite everything else that had happened since.
The overgrown lizard had been female—I remembered that distinctly—with a deep, husky voice that resonated in my bones. She was prideful, arrogant just like her ancient ancestors, and radiated clear annoyance at being suddenly called forth from whatever realm she inhabited within me. Her displeasure had been palpable, filling the air like smoke.
"What do you want, mortal?" she had asked, irritation practically dripping from every word, visible in every line of her massive, flame-wreathed form.
"What's your name?" I had asked her back instead of replying to her question, my curiosity overriding my caution. The dragon had laughed at my face—a terrible, echoing sound—laughing at my ignorance and my audacity to ask such a question.
"Honestly, human, you think I'll tell you that—" she had started, amusement and condescension mingling in her tone.
"You are Furnaiona," I had replied to my own question, cutting her off mid-sentence. My eyes had been steady, unwavering, looking straight at the dangerous ancient thing before me without flinching, without showing the fear that churned in my gut.
That simple statement had made the thing furiously angry. She had lunged forward with surprising speed, trying to claw at me with her flaming paws, her talons extended and wreathed in fire that could reduce me to ash in seconds. I didn't flinch, didn't move a single muscle. I stood my ground, rooted to the spot. The Dragon stopped right an inch before my face, so close I could feel the scorching heat radiating from her, could see myself reflected in her ancient, knowing eyes.
"I read about you in the archives," I had told her calmly, though my heart was racing. "You fit the description perfectly. Every detail matches—your size, your coloring, your temperament. You're Furnaiona, aren't you?"
The dragon had huffed in annoyance, smoke billowing from her nostrils. But she'd taken a sharp turn back, acknowledging the truth of my words by not denying them, flying upward in a spectacular display of flaming appearance that lit up the entire space.
"I forgot how smart you Draga women are," she had said, grudging respect entering her voice. "Annoyingly so. What else do you need to know, since you're clearly not going to let this rest?"
"Why did you attempt to make a hatchling last night with Arvid?" I had asked the question that had been burning in my mind since I'd woken. "Why did you try to take over my body completely?"
The Dragon's eyes had changed dramatically at the mere mention of his name, the transformation too visible to miss. Something had softened in those ancient, reptilian eyes—something almost tender, almost human in its vulnerability.
"Because he is our mate," she had said simply, as if this explained everything. "My imprinted one, reincarnated after a thousand years of waiting. Of course I wanted to make a hatchling with him. Who else would I possibly make a hatchling with? He is the only one, has always been the only one." Even the dragon's voice had softened when speaking of him, losing its harsh edge. Then, right before my eyes, she had changed her form—still made of fire, still burning—but transforming into something that looked exactly like me, a perfect mirror image wreathed in flames.
"He's our what?" I had inquired again, my voice rising slightly in pitch. I was unable to believe what I had just heard, unable to process the implications. "Say that again."
"Our mate," the fire version of myself had said, getting closer, floating through the air toward me with deliberate slowness. "You've surely felt it, haven't you? Don't lie to yourself."
"That pull, that magnetic attraction," she had continued, circling me now like a predator. "That electrifying sensation that runs through you whenever he touches you, whenever he's near. You feel it, right?" The flamed version of me had flown around me in lazy circles before landing gracefully behind me, her presence a warm weight at my back.
"I was overjoyed when I first met him, when he was just nine years old," she had whispered into my ear, her voice carrying the weight of years and memories I didn't possess. "I fed him when he was starving in those woods, kept him safe from predators and the elements. And I even took over your body back then, which is why you don't remember those encounters, just like you don't remember last night." Her breath had been hot against my neck. "He is our first love," she had added with absolute certainty. "Our first and our last."
"He wasn't," I had turned sharply toward the cunning creature, anger beginning to boil in my chest. "Salime was my first love. I loved Salime before I ever really knew Arvid."
"Really?" the flame creature had asked mockingly. "Is that what the mortal part of you thinks? But did you really, truly love him the way you think you did? Did you feel with Salime what you feel with Arvid? That all-consuming passion, that sense of completeness? Think about it carefully, girl. Search your memories honestly." She had paused, letting the words sink in like poison. "Besides, what you think doesn't really matter anymore. It's already begun, already in motion and unstoppable. The curse activated the moment you married Arvid, the moment those vows were spoken. We will merge into one being as we are supposed to, as it was always meant to be. We will become one entity—me and you, dragon and human, inseparable." She had said this and transformed back into her full dragon form, massive and terrible and beautiful.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I had asked, my voice slightly shaking now despite my attempts to remain calm. "Explain it to me properly."
The Dragon had just laughed—a sound that echoed and reverberated through the space, making my heart thunder in my chest like war drums. The sound had been both amused and sad, as if she pitied me for my ignorance.
"Your mother was supposed to kill you before you grew up," she had said bluntly, the words hitting me like physical blows. "But the woman loved you too much to go through with it, loved you more than duty or tradition or safety. Every hundred years or so, the Draga bloodline gives birth to what you call a Dragon Seed—a child with incredible potential, with concentrated dragon blood and an unusually strong bond with their Dragon. Your ancestors, when they recognized they had given birth to a Dragon Seed, killed them before they could reach maturity. It was considered necessary, merciful even. Your mother was supposed to do exactly that when she discovered you had awakened your dragon instinct so early, when you were barely more than a toddler. But your parents loved you far too much to go through with it, couldn't bear to end your life. They let you grow up and live, even knowing full well that you might one day set fire to everything they had built and protected, that you could destroy their entire legacy."
In a flick, the Dragon had transformed again, this time into a perfect replica of myself as a young child, perhaps five or six years old. Flames danced around the small figure, making it look both innocent and terrifying.
"Dragon Seeds can lose their minds to their Dragons frequently and easily," the child-version had explained in a high, childish voice that was deeply unsettling coming from such an ancient being. "The gap between human consciousness and Dragon consciousness is not much in a Dragon Seed—the barrier is thin, permeable. Which is exactly what is happening to you now, what you've been experiencing. This is why you can summon me so easily, why the ritual worked for you. If your mother, your father, or even your brother attempted the same ritual as you, they wouldn't have succeeded. It would be wasted blood, a failed summoning. But you—you're different. Special. Cursed."
"What's going to happen now?" I had asked, because I truly, desperately wanted to know what my future held, what fate awaited me.
The flame child had grown before my eyes, the form expanding and then separating, making two distinct flaming figures—one of Arvid, one of myself. They moved toward each other, enveloping one another in intimate gestures that made me look away, made heat rise to my cheeks. The figures embraced, intertwined, became one.
"What else?" the Dragon had said, her voice carrying a note of inevitability. "You will follow your destiny as all of us must. We will merge completely, becoming something that should not exist according to natural law—neither fully human nor fully dragon but something in between, something new and ancient at once. You will give birth to a hatchling, a true dragon child. And there's a curse to complete it all, a curse as old as our bloodline—you will become me, and I will become you. Our identities will blur and blend until there is no separation, no distinction."
The flames had merged completely as she spoke, swirling together and turning into the shape of an egg, large and glowing. Then the egg had cracked with an audible sound, and a baby dragon had emerged, popping its small head out with innocent curiosity, its eyes bright and aware.
"No!" I had shouted, the word torn from my throat. "That will never happen. I'll make sure of that. I won't let you take over my life, won't let you erase who I am."
"Foolish—that's what you are, mortal," the Dragon had said, disappointment heavy in her voice as she turned back into her full dragon form, massive and intimidating. "If you really think you can defy your destiny, if you believe you can fight against fate itself, that is a truly foolish and naive way of thinking. Destiny cannot be escaped, cannot be outrun."
I'd had enough of the overgrown lizard's cryptic pronouncements and condescending tone. I'd had enough of her certainty, her smugness, her absolute conviction that I had no choice in my own future.
"*Rovenlga, Alecki Dragon,*" I had said firmly in ancient Rothiya, speaking the words of binding and dismissal. The spell had activated immediately, responding to my command. The flames had started to fade, diminishing and shrinking. The dragon had tried desperately to resist the magical pull, fighting against the compulsion, not willing to return to her prison inside me, inside my blood and bones. But I had remained unflinching, standing firm and letting the ancient conditions of the Dragon bond do their work, forcing her back whether she wanted to go or not. She had faded away completely, disappearing with a final roar of frustration, and I had immediately fallen to the ground, my legs giving out beneath me.
It had been honestly exhausting, both physically and emotionally draining. It had taken everything I had not to react to her words, not to break down, not to scream or cry or rage. The Dragon's words continued to echo in my mind even now, repeating themselves over and over like a curse or a prayer.
*Arvid is my mate. Arvid is my mate. He is mine. Mine.*
I felt the words imprint themselves in my mind, branding themselves into my consciousness, unable to be forgotten or shaken off no matter how hard I tried. How exactly I was going to change my own destiny, how I could possibly fight against something so fundamental and powerful, remained a mystery even to me. I had no plan, no strategy, no idea where to even begin. My only wish, my only real hope, was that I wouldn't hurt the people around me when the inevitable happened, when I finally lost control. The innocent soldiers, the servants, Kathrine who had been so loyal, Arvid who loved me—I couldn't bear the thought of harming any of them. If I ever felt like I was truly going to hurt innocents, if I ever sensed that I was becoming a danger to those I cared about, I would end it myself. I would find a way to end it once and for all, forever, before I could become the monster the Dragon promised I would be.
That was the only control I had left—the choice of when and how to stop this, if stopping it became necessary. It wasn't much, but it was something. It was all I had.