"I want to go to the mansion."
Lin looked up from his phone, surprise flickering across his usually impassive face. It was barely 8 AM, and Mrs. Qin stood in her doorway dressed in a simple white sundress, hair down and loose around her shoulders, eyes red-rimmed but determined.
"Mrs. Qin, I don't think—"
"Please." Her voice was soft but steady. "I need to see him. I need to talk to Sylus."
Lin exchanged glances with Marcus and Tao. They'd been expecting anger, maybe another escape attempt. Not this. Not her voluntarily asking to return to the place she'd fought so desperately to leave.
"Are you sure?" Lin asked carefully. "You don't have to—"
"I'm sure." Scarlett's hand tightened on her doorframe. "Please. Just... take me to him."
Lin studied her face for a moment longer,nodded slowly. "Okay. Give me five minutes to bring the car around."
The drive felt both endless and too short.
Scarlett sat in the back seat, hands twisted together in her lap, trying to control her breathing. She'd spent what was left of the night after her revelations staring at the ceiling, memories and dreams and truths swirling in her head until she couldn't separate them anymore.
The red dragon. The white dragon. Flying together. Dying apart.
I'll catch you. Every time. For as long as you need me.
She pressed her fingers to the fang marks on her neck. They were warm, almost pulsing, like her skin remembered what her mind didn't.
This was only beginning to understand.
The mansion came into view, and Scarlett's breath caught.
It looked exactly the same. Imposing. Beautiful. Surrounded by high walls and guards and all the trappings of power.
But the flowers were still there.
All of them. Every single plant she'd put in during her chaotic rebellion—the jasmine climbing the walls, the roses on the portico, the excessive honeysuckle by his office window. Instead of being torn out and replaced with something more dignified, they'd been maintained. Cared for. Thriving.
He'd kept them. Kept her small, furious acts of defiance like they were precious.
The car pulled through the gates, and Scarlett felt tears prick her eyes. These gates. She'd tried to run through them so many times. Had almost died on this very driveway, bleeding out from a gunshot wound to her leg.The car stopped. Lin opened her door, offering his hand to help her out.
"Are you sure about this, Mrs. Qin?"
Scarlett nodded, not trusting her voice. She stepped out onto the driveway and stood there, frozen, staring at the mansion.
What was she doing? What was she going to say? Sorry I stabbed myself in the heart rather than accept your protection? Sorry I thought you were a monster when you were just trying to keep me alive? Sorry I don't know how to reconcile the man who forced kisses with the dragon who taught me to fly?.
Guards were appearing from various posts, drawn by the unusual sight of the boss's wife returning voluntarily. They kept their distance but watched with undisguised curiosity.
One of them lifted his hand to his ear, speaking quietly into his comm. "Boss? You need to come outside. Now."
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Sylus had been in his office, drowning in paperwork he couldn't focus on, when the call came through.
"Boss? You need to come outside. Now."
His head snapped up. "What's wrong? Is there a threat? An attack?"
"No, sir. It's... it's Mrs. Qin."
Everything in Sylus went cold and sharp. "What about her? Is she hurt? Did something—"
"She's here, sir. At the mansion. She asked to come."
The world tilted.
Sylus was moving before he consciously decided to, taking the stairs three at a time, his heart hammering in a way it hadn't since he'd watched her fall from that balcony with a knife in her chest.
She was here. Scarlett was here. At the mansion. Voluntarily.
Don't get your hopes up, he told himself even as he practically ran for the entrance. She probably just wants answers. Closure. She'll scream at you and leave and you'll let her because you deserve it.
He pushed through the front doors and stopped dead.
She stood in the middle of the driveway, exactly where she'd collapsed bleeding three weeks ago. Wearing a simple white dress that made her look ethereal, almost ghostly in the morning light. Her dark hair fell loose around her shoulders, longer than he remembered. Her face was turned up toward the mansion, tears streaming down her cheeks.
But she was smiling.
That soft, gentle smile he'd seen only in dreams and memories of a life lived a thousand years ago. The smile his white dragon had given him when he'd taught her a new flying technique. When he give her pretty stones from the river. When she'd looked at him with love so pure it had made his ancient heart feel young.
He'd spent centuries searching for that smile.
And here it was, offered freely on the face of the woman who had every reason to hate him.
Sylus felt something crack in his chest. Felt walls he'd built around his heart crumble to dust.
He smiled back. Couldn't help it. Even knowing this might be goodbye, even knowing she might be here to curse him one last time before disappearing forever—he smiled because she was here, she was alive, and she was looking at him like he might be something other than a monster.
Neither of them moved.
The moment stretched, fragile and perfect and terrifying. His men watched in silence.
The world held its breath.
Then Scarlett's face crumpled. The smile remained but tears fell harder, her whole body shaking with emotion he couldn't name.
And she ran.
Actually ran, her bare feet flying across the driveway, her white dress floating around her like wings.
Straight toward him.
Every one of Sylus's men tensed, hands moving toward weapons out of pure instinct. But he raised a hand sharply—stand down—because he understood.
She wasn't running away.
She was running to him.
She launched herself at him with absolute faith, arms outstretched, and Sylus caught her easily. Always would catch her. Had promised a thousand years ago that he would, and that was one vow he'd never break.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest, sobbing. Not the broken, defeated sobs from before. These were different. Raw and cathartic and somehow almost joyful.
Sylus held her like she was made of spun glass and starlight. One arm around her waist, one hand cradling the back of her head, keeping her safe and close and real. His face pressed into her hair, breathing her in—jasmine and vanilla and home.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed against his chest. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't understand. I thought—I thought you were—"
"Sstt..." His voice was rough, choked with emotion he'd kept locked away for weeks. "You don't have to apologize. You have nothing to apologize for."
"But I do!" She pulled back just enough to look up at him, her face wet with tears, her eyes swimming with regret and understanding and something else. Something that made his ancient heart stutter.
"I remember. Not everything. But enough. The red dragon. The white dragon. Flying together. And you—you let me go that day. You let me fly alone because I asked you to, even though you knew it was dangerous. Even though it destroyed you."
Sylus's breath caught. "You remember."
"I died." Her hands clutched at his shirt like she was afraid he'd disappear. "The hunters. They shot me down. Captured me. And you tried to save me. You fought them all but there were too many. You failed and you've been—you've been carrying that guilt all along.."
Sylus couldn't speak. Could only nod, his throat too tight for words.
"That's why you built this empire." Scarlett's voice broke. "That's why you became the most feared man alive. Not for power. Not for wealth. But so you'd be strong enough to protect me. So when you found me again—when I came back—no one would dare hurt me."
"Yes." The word came out as barely more than a whisper. "I searched for you, Scarlett. For centuries. Watched the world change and age while I stayed the same, waiting. Hoping. Praying to gods I don't believe in that you'd come back to me."
His hand cupped her face, thumb brushing away tears. "And when I finally found you, when I finally had you in front of me again, I was so afraid. So desperately afraid of losing you a second time that I—"
"You caged me." She said it without anger now. With understanding. "You held on too tight because letting go killed me before."
"I'm sorry." Sylus's voice cracked completely. "I'm so sorry. I tried to keep you safe and instead I broke you. Made you hate me. Made you want to die rather than stay with me. I failed you in this life too."
"No." Scarlett shook her head, rising on her toes to press her forehead against his.
"You let me go. In the end, when I needed it most, you let me go. Just like the dragon I remember. Just like the one I—"
She stopped, breath hitching.
"The one you what?" Sylus's hands were shaking where they held her.
"The one I loved." The words came out soft but clear. "I loved a red dragon once. Across lifetimes. And I think—I think I'm starting to remember why."
Something broke in Sylus. A sound escaped him—half sob, half laugh, wholly devastated—and he pulled her closer. Buried his face in her neck where he'd left his marks, where the mate bond pulsed warm and alive.
"I love you," he whispered against her skin. "I've loved you through death and resurrection and a thousand years of searching. I'll love you until the stars burn out and time itself ends. And if you need me to let you go again, if you need me to watch you fly away—I'll do it. I'll do it because that's what love means. Even if it destroys me."
"I'm not flying away." Scarlett's arms tightened around him. "Not yet. I'm still scared. Still hurt. Still angry about so many things."
She pulled back to look at him, and her eyes were clear despite the tears.
"You forced me. Controlled me. Shot me. Those things were real and they were wrong."
"I know. I know. I—"
"But you also protected me. Saved me. Let me go when I needed it most." She touched his face with trembling fingers.
"You're not the monster I thought you were. But you're not innocent either. You're just... complicated. Broken. Trying to lovewhile carrying guilt from watching them die."
Sylus caught her hand, pressed it against his cheek. "What do you need from me? Tell me what you need and I'll give it to you."
"Time." Scarlett smiled sadly. "I need time to remember. To understand. To figure out who I am now versus who I was then." She gestured at the mansion, at the life he'd built.
"I need time to decide if I can forgive you. If we can be something other than captor and prisoner. If the love from our past life can survive what happened in this one."
"Take all the time you need." He said it instantly, meaning it absolutely. "Years if necessary. Decades. I'll wait."
"I know you will." She laughed wetly. "That's what dragons do, apparently. Wait for their mates across lifetimes."
Around them, Sylus's men were pretending very hard not to be watching this scene. Several had turned completely around. Marcus was wiping his eyes. Even Lin looked suspiciously emotional.
"I'm going back to my house," Scarlett said softly. "To my life. My freedom. But..." She hesitated. "But maybe we could talk. Sometimes. Get to know each other without the cage. Without the fear. Just... two people trying to figure out what we mean to each other."
"I'd like that." Sylus's thumb traced her bottom lip gently. "May I... may I kiss you? Just once. Not to force you. Not to claim you. Just to—"
"To say goodbye?" Scarlett finished.
"To say 'until we meet again.'"
She studied his face for a long moment. Then, slowly, deliberately, she rose on her toes.
And kissed him.
Soft. Tentative. Nothing like the forced encounters before. This was a choice. Her choice. Given freely.
It tasted like salt from tears and forgiveness and fragile new beginnings.
When she pulled back, Sylus looked at her like she'd given him the world.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"Thank you for letting me go." Scarlett touched the fang marks on her neck.
"And thank you for waiting. For searching. For finding me again." She smiled. "Even if your methods were terrible."
He laughed—actual laughter, rusty from disuse. "I'll work on that. For next time."
"Next time?"
"If there is one." His smile was bittersweet.
"If we get another chance at this. I'll do better. I promise."
"We'll see." Scarlett stepped back, and he let her go. Actually let her go, his arms falling away despite every instinct screaming at him to hold on. "I should go. I have class tomorrow."
"Lin will drive you."
"I know."
She turned to leave, made it three steps, then looked back. "Sylus?"
"Yes, kitten?"
"The flowers. You kept all my flowers."
He smiled. "Of course I did. They were yours. Parts of you scattered throughout my prison. How could I destroy them?"
Scarlett felt fresh tears prick her eyes. "I'll see you soon. Maybe for coffee. Something normal."
"I'd like that very much."
Scarlett walked to the car, Lin holding the door open with a knowing smile. Slid into the back seat and looked out the window one last time.
Sylus stood exactly where she'd left him, hands in his pockets, watching her with eyes full of hope and heartbreak and patient, eternal love.
She raised her hand in a small wave.
He raised his back.
Then the car pulled away, carrying her back to her life. Her freedom. Her choice.
But this time, she wasn't running away.
She was just... taking a break. Processing. Remembering.
Learning to reconcile the monster with the dragon.
The captor with the protector.
The man who'd hurt her with the one who'd loved her across lifetimes.
It's wouldn't be easy. Would take time. Would require conversations and boundaries and healing on both sides.
But for the first time since this nightmare began, Scarlett thought maybe—just maybe—they could find their way back to each other.
Not as captor and prisoner.
But as the red dragon and the white dragon.
Learning to fly together again.
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To be continued.