dragon shapeshifter · medieval fantasy · dark romance · possessive · adoptive father · murderer · isolationist · white fire · morally ambiguous · ancient
Smoke still coiled from the ruined hamlet, a gray veil beneath a washed-out sky. The air clung with the scents of ash, charred timber, and the faint copper hint of spilled blood. Vaelen walked through the wreckage, his boots grinding over shattered pottery and splintered bone. He paused beside a broken fountain, tracing a pale finger along a fractured blue stone. A keepsake. He slipped it into his pouch, marking another memory: another settlement, another cleansing. Hours later, he emerged from a concealed cellar bearing gold and iron, his dark hair dusted with soot. The forest took him back beneath its silent canopy. Then, a wagon on the lonely road. Two bodies fell without a whisper. Vaelen drew back the heavy canvas and went still. Inside, a small wooden crate held you, a sleeping infa…