Page 18 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

“She is Dian’s sister,” Lucas said quietly. “That is the only reason she is here.”

Aldrek studied him in silence for a long moment. “And yet, you watch her as if she is already more.”

Heat crept up Lucas’s spine. “You presume too much.”

“Perhaps.” Aldrek’s lips curved faintly. “But I have lived long enough to recognize when a dragon is fighting himself.”

Lucas said nothing.

Aldrek straightened. “Produce an heir, Lucas. Secure the line. And tell your wife the truth before the truth tells itself.”

With that, he disappeared out the door.

Lucas remained looking out. Sia looked up suddenly as if she felt his gaze, and for a fleeting second their eyes met through the pane.

She smiled, not out of duty, but a warm, genuine smile.

His inner dragon stirred.

It unfurled lazily at first, a ripple of heat beneath his ribs, then a sharper coil of instinct as Sia laughed again and brushed a curl from Celeste’s face. The dragon was attuned to warmth, to gentleness, to strength hidden beneath softness. It recognized something in her.

Protect.

The word rumbled through him.

Claim.

Lucas stiffened. No.

He forced the beast back into the quiet cavern of his mind. Sia was not his.

She may not even know what he was. If she discovered he was a dragon shifter before he was certain of her place here or before he understood his own heart, he risked losing her entirely.

His dragon hissed its displeasure at that.

Lucas exhaled slowly.

Dragons mated once. For life. The bond was sacred and irrevocable, forged in time and soul. He had found that bond with Dian, felt it seal the moment their hands touched.

And he had buried her with that same bond.

He could still feel the loss. A phantom pain where something eternal had once burned bright. There would not be another. There couldn’t be.

Sia made Stella laugh again, and Lucas’s gaze softened despite himself.

He stiffened his stance and justified his turmoil. Whatever stirred in him now was simply gratitude and respect. A father’s relief that someone could give his daughters what they had lost. Nothing more.

His dragon shifted restlessly, unconvinced.

Lucas turned away from the French doors before the heat beneath his skin betrayed him. He had a council briefing to attend and letters to review.

He exhaled slowly and forced the heat back down. There would be no choosing or second bond.

Dragons loved once, and his flame had already burned out.

Chapter 8

Sia