Page 81 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

Her voice broke.

“When I came back, I was attacked and then the girls were just gone.”

The words hit Lucas like a physical blow.

Sia knelt down and showed the photograph she still clutched in her hands. “Is this him?”

The instructor sobbed and nodded. “I’ll never forget that face. That’s him.”

Voilear.

Lucas closed his eyes for a single heartbeat, and when he opened them again the storm behind them was controlled but unmistakable.

Chapter 28

Sia

“He’s forcing your hand,” Sia said softly, because there was no point pretending otherwise. “He needed leverage.”

The instructor’s voice burst out with surprising strength as she forced out the final, devastating piece. “He said you will give up the throne, or they die.”

Lucas rose slowly to his feet, and Sia watched something profound shift within him. Not the king calculating strategy, not the ruler weighing political consequences, but the father confronted with the unbearable.

“He wants the throne,” Sia repeated, her mind racing through possibilities even as dread pooled in her chest. “He expects resistance. He expects you to fight him for it.”

Lucas’s expression did not change, but his voice, when he spoke, carried a certainty that made her breath catch. “If signing over a crown brings my daughter home,” he said, “then I will sign.”

Sia stared at him.

“You would give him everything?” she asked, unable to stop herself.

“It will never be about the throne,” he replied, meeting her gaze without flinching, his composure unwavering in a way that felt more dangerous than anger ever could. “It will always be about you and the girls.”

She had known he loved his family, but this was something else entirely. He would surrender an empire without hesitation, not because he lacked strength but because he understood what truly mattered.

“We’ll get her back,” Sia said, though she could not promise how, only that she would not allow this to end the way Voilear intended.

Lucas stepped toward the rear exit that opened into the wooded stretch beyond town, tension rolling off him in waves that felt almost tangible.

“He won’t hold them somewhere obvious,” he said. “He’ll think I’ll tear through the kingdom looking.”

“You will,” she answered.

A faint, grim smile touched his mouth. “Yes.”

He paused at the treeline. “I can cover more ground with wings. I can track in ways you can’t.”

He didn’t have to say the words. She understood. Outside the town limits, beyond the sight of the people of Crystafalls, he would shift and his dragon form had senses far beyond anything a man possessed.

“And me?” she asked.

“I need you here,” he replied, and there was no doubt in his voice. “You see what others miss.”

Sia stepped closer and placed her hands against his chest.

“Bring them home,” she said softly.

Lucas cupped her face, pressing a firm kiss to her lips.