Page 55 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

“She was my mate,” he said. “Before… everything. I thought holding onto her meant honoring her. I thought letting anyone else in meant betraying her.”

Understanding dawned slowly and tears pooled in Sia’s eyes. He hadn’t rejected her. He had been protecting a ghost.

“I didn’t realize,” he added, voice roughening slightly, “that in doing so, I was pushing away someone very much alive. I never meant to be cruel.””

Her chest tightened. All the resentment she’d nurtured, the quiet belief that she had been unwanted, evaporated. He hadn’t been cold. He had been grieving.

Her fingers gripped his paint-streaked shirt and she kissed him again.

“You were never cruel,” she said softly. “Just… far away.”

He exhaled. “I don’t want to be far anymore.”

She rested her forehead against his chest. Neither of them was perfect, but neither had they been untouched by loss. But here, together, Sia felt something settle into place.

Not obligation. Not duty.

Just hope.

Chapter 19

Lucas

Lucas wasn’t sure what to expect when they returned to Crystafalls. He was pleased to learn that things felt much lighter.

The chambers he shared with Sia had not changed but things between them had shifted. The air was no longer brittle with tension. Instead, it hummed with a constant awareness that followed him like heat beneath his skin.

They moved around each other differently now. They shared kisses but hadn’t gone any further. He didn’t want to push it and ruin the progress they had made.

When Sia crossed in front of him to reach the wardrobe, her hip brushed his thigh. She didn’t flinch and he didn’t step back. When he reached past her for a book, his forearm grazed her shoulder, and she simply glanced up at him with that steady, searching look that made his chest tighten.

His dragon stirred at every touch.

Mine.

The word came not as a thought but as an unyielding certainty. Lucas clenched his jaw and focused on the words in front of him.

His dragon growled. One mate for life but we’ve been given two. Yet there has been no claim.

Not yet was the only answer he had.

He distracted himself with a project. The art room took days to prepare.

He enlisted the girls who were far too delighted to have a secret, and quietly cleared out one of the tower rooms. He had the old tapestries removed, the dirty glass panes completely cleaned to let in the mountain light. Shelves were installed and tables were brought in. All sizes of canvases were stacked carefully along the wall.

Paints were the hardest to find. Crystafalls was limited on what he could find, but Lucas sent couriers all over for pigments, brushes, watercolors, and oils. Anything he thought she might need. He remembered the way Sia’s eyes softened whenever she sketched and how the world seemed to narrow and expand all at once around her.

He wanted her to have something that was hers strictly for joy. The girls nearly burst with excitement when they led her up the stairs for the big reveal. They had waited for the perfect time of day so the lighting was just right as it came in through the windows.

Lucas hung back with his arms crossed and attempted to keep a neutral expression. His dragon paced inside him, restless and smug.

She’ll love it.

Sia looked suspicious the entire walk.

“What are you plotting?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Nothing,” Lucas replied, which made the girls giggle.