Page 37 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

The huge gust of wind roared faintly in the distance.

“But I don’t want to push her away anymore either.” He closed his eyes. “The castle is empty without her. Not just the girls. Her.”

He let that truth settle.

“I thought I was protecting everyone. But I was just afraid. Afraid that if I loved again, I’d lose again. Afraid that if I let myself be happy, it would mean I loved you less.” His fingers traced the edge of the stone. “But loving her doesn’t erase you.”

It didn’t. Dian would always be the first. The foundation. The history. But Sia… Sia was the present. The warmth in the rooms. The softening in his daughters’ eyes.

“She’s become their safe place,” he whispered. “And mine.”

His chest ached, but it was no longer the sharp grief he’d carried for years. It was something gentler.

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life pushing away the woman who’s already part of us.” He swallowed hard. “If you can hear me… if there’s any way you can give me peace about this… I need it.”

Silence.

But this time, it wasn’t empty. It felt… open.

A memory surfaced of Dian laughing in the kitchen, flour on her cheek, telling him once that if anything ever happened to her, she wanted the girls surrounded by love.

“Don’t let them grow up in a house of ghosts,” she had teased.

He let out a broken laugh. That memory hadn’t just popped into his head randomly. “I think I’ve done enough haunting.”

The wind moved again, softer this time. Lucas rose slowly to his feet.

“I’ll always love you,” he said. “That doesn’t change.” He pressed his palm briefly to the stone. “But I’m going to let myself love her too.”

And for the first time since the funeral, the decision didn’t feel like betrayal.

It felt like permission.

When he returned to the castle, it was still quiet, but it no longer felt suffocating. He walked into his office and picked up his phone. He stared at Sia’s name for a long moment, thumb hovering.

He could already imagine her expression if he pulled away again. The way she’d try to hide the hurt. The way she’d convince herself she’d imagined the closeness between them.

No more. He hit call.

She answered on the second ring, breathless. “Lucas? Is everything okay?”

He closed his eyes at the sound of her voice.

“Everything’s fine,” he said, and this time it was true.

In the background he heard one of the girls giggle. The others argued about something in the way only children can. His heart squeezed.

“I just…” He paused. He had faced storms. Negotiated treaties. Buried his wife.

But this felt harder.

“I miss you,” he said simply. “All. I just wanted to check in.”

Silence. He could only imagine the stunned expression on her face.

Then her voice came back softer, “The girls miss you too.”

She had misunderstood. That was his fault for all the rejection he had sent her way. He smiled faintly.