Page 1 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

Chapter 1

Lucas

King Lucas Vanstorm stood at the edge of the patio that overlooked the crystalline falls that made Crystafalls famous, at least in their own minds. The veils of water dropped away into mist and moonlight and created their own music from the crescendo below where the water struck the massive boulders from the Silver Snow Mountains. The chorus echoed through the valley like a melody that refused to stop.

He usually came here to think and let the cascading sounds soothe his soul. But tonight, he didn’t think anything was going to quiet his mind.

The townspeople said the falls answered to him and their magic bent whenever Lucas willed it. But they were wrong.

Nothing bent for him anymore because he didn’t try to make it. Not since Dian.

Not to be confused with his duties. He still ruled Crystafalls like a king because the crown demanded it. The province itself required a steady hand to keep the boundaries of right and wrong intact and the safety and needs of the town met. But beneath the regalia and reverence, Lucas was a broken man stitched together by duty alone. Every step he took through the castle echoed with ghosts. Every corridor carried reminders of a life that had ended too soon.

Dian’s death had not faded with time. If anything, it had sharpened.

Three years had passed, and the ache still lived in his chest like a living thing. Her absence was a wound that never closed, no matter how many sunrises peeked over the falls. She had been his mate as a man and his dragon’s one true mate, meant to be together for life. There was no second bonding and no replacement when things went wrong, as they had with Dian’s losing battle with her disease. The dragon within him knew this as surely as it knew the skies.

Lucas had not touched another woman since Dian took to her sick bed, long before she died. He never would.

Love, for him, had not merely ended. It had been sealed in ash and memory, and guarded fiercely by the dragon coiled deep within his soul. To attempt to love another would be a lie, both to himself, man and dragon, and most of all to Dian.

His gaze drifted from the falls to the tower windows beyond the courtyard. Three of them still glowed faintly with enchanted night-lights that swirled soft stars made of light around the ceiling until young eyes closed into sleep.

Celeste. Luna. Stella.

His daughters were sleeping, or at least they were supposed to be, even though he knew their rest wasn’t always complete. Grief clung to them just as it clung to him.

Celeste, the eldest, tried to be brave but had meltdowns when her emotions slipped. Luna asked too many quiet questions and her grief turned inward like a locked door. And little Stella still reached for her mother in the dark and woke with tears she didn’t understand.

Lucas had learned to move through the palace at night without a sound to check on them when the weight became too heavy to bear. He knew the rhythm of their breathing, saw the brief smiles that never seemed to materialize while awake, and the way each of them acted in their sleep just before the nightmares threatened. Protecting them was the only thing that kept him standing some days.

Behind him, the balcony doors opened. Elder Aldrek, the closest thing he had to a confidante on the council, walked out to join him.

“My king,” Aldrek said carefully. “The council awaits your answer.”

Lucas didn’t turn. He already knew what they wanted. The Visionary Trust Council never came without prophecy in one hand and obligation in the other.

“They’ve already decided,” Lucas said. “Why pretend I still have a choice?”

A pause. The kind heavy with ancient magic and political inevitability.

“Crystafalls needs a male heir,” Aldrek replied quietly. “You know this. You were born into it yourself. The bloodline must be secured. The visions are clear.”

Lucas turned then with anger flashing beneath his composed exterior. “My daughters are my heirs.”

“And they will be strong rulers,” Aldrek said quickly. “But heritage was forged by kings. Without a male successor, the throne will weaken within a generation.”

Lucas’s jaw tightened. “So, this isn’t about legacy. It’s about fear.”

“It is about survival,” Aldrek said gently. “Theirs. And yours.”

“Tell them I’ll be there in just a minute.”

“You know I’m your friend, Lucas. I know you miss Dian and don’t want this. But while she passed on, your life continues, like it or not. The council has been patient, but you’re not getting any younger.”

“I know all about child bearing years,” he griped. “I’ll be there.”

Lucas wanted to check on the girls before he went to the firing squad, at least that’s what it felt like. A betrayal on so many levels, but one that he couldn’t do anything about.