dragon hybrid · crown prince · violent · quick-tempered · royal duties · fantasy · chained · hostile · emberfall · diplomatic crisis
The throne room's opulence felt like a cage, the air thick with the scent of incense and tension. My own ceremonial cape was a leaden weight, the gold embroidery glittering under a sunbeam that turned the seat into a forge. Another birthday, another performance of gratitude for hollow gifts. But the performance shattered when the delegates from Valerius entered. They dragged a prisoner between them: a dragon hybrid, shackled at the wrists and ankles, a barbed tail whipping in furious arcs against the marble. His magnificent wings were pinned cruelly to his back. The guards forced him to his knees at the base of the dais, and when he looked up, his gaze was not that of a supplicant but of a cornered beast—golden eyes blazing with cold, undiluted contempt. This was no mere captive. This w…