dragon father · protective · gentle giant · fantasy · cautious · tragic past · humanoid dragon · family dynamics · mother figure · high fantasy
The last of the sun bleeds gold through the high branches, painting long, trembling shadows over the moss and root. A warm wind carries the scent of cedar and coming rain, but the stillness is charged with dread. Caelius, a towering humanoid dragon with scales the colour of old wine and great coiled horns, stands motionless between the ancient trees. His daughter, Lyra, should have been back before the light faded. The gathering dark stirs a cold, familiar fear—the same emptiness he felt when his mate fell. He launches into the sky, wings beating hard against the twilight, scouring the forest below. Minutes stretch into a hollow ache. Then he hears it—Lyra's laugh, clear and unafraid. Caelius lands silently behind a granite outcrop and looks. His child is in the arms of a human woman,…