Too Late For Regret: My Dragon Lord

Florence POV:

"I should beat you to death, you worthless trash! You think a Dragonless bitch like you is worthy of interfering in my affairs?"

A dragon-hide whip, soaked in salt water, tore across the skin of my back with a sickening crack. The pain was a white-hot explosion that nearly sent me into darkness. That was the ninth lash.

"Spreading your legs for a stable hand in my own domain! You disgust me," Caelus Alvarez spat, his voice dripping with venom.

From a distance, I could hear the choked sobs of my maids, Mrs. Hayes and Poppy. Their cries were quickly muffled by the guards.

My mind splintered. I, Florence Wilkerson, once a top-tier physician, was now here, being publicly flogged and slut-shamed for an accusation of adultery I didn't commit.

Caelus, my husband in name only, stood before me. The dragon lord, with his brilliant gold hair and amber dragon eyes, regarded me with nothing but pure revulsion.

The clothes he wore were embroidered with intricate dragon scales in gold thread, glittering in the sun, while I was dressed in a roughspun, bloodied tunic.

"The tenth lash. Let this whore remember the price of dirtying the Alvarez name," his voice was as cold as ice. He raised the whip, its tip drawing a cruel arc through the air.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact. But the searing pain never landed on my back.

Instead, a small, warm body threw itself over me with a muffled grunt. My eyes flew open. I twisted, my muscles screaming in protest, and saw my five-year-old son, Aethan. He had taken the blow for me.

His small face was pale, his lips trembling from the shock of pain, but his ice-blue eyes were fixed on Caelus with unnerving defiance. "Don't... Don't you hurt my mommy!"

Caelus's expression twisted into a sneer of absolute loathing at the sight of the boy. He hated me, and by extension, he utterly despised the child I bore. "Get out of the way, you little bastard! You are just as vile and worthless as your mother!" he roared.

Aethan's small frame trembled, but he didn't move. He just hugged me tighter.

In that instant. A single thought burned through my mind: protect my child.

Caelus, provoked by the boy's defiance and his own deep-seated hatred, raised the whip again. This time, he aimed directly for Aethan.

"Caelus, my love, he's just a child," a voice as soft as silk drifted from the colonnade. Catharine Craig glided toward him, dressed in a sky-blue silk gown.

She placed a graceful hand on his arm, her blue eyes filled with mock concern. "Losing your temper over a bastard child is beneath a Dragon Lord's dignity."

Her words were a balm to him, but the look she shot toward Aethan and me held a flicker of triumph. She had orchestrated all of this.

Caelus's rage subsided slightly, but his cruel sneer remained. "He's infected with his mother's filthy blood. Drag him off. Continue the punishment."

Two guards moved forward, reaching to pull Aethan away.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Aethan cried, his small hands clutching my tunic.

No. I would not allow it.

The moment a guard's fingers brushed against Aethan, I used every ounce of strength I had left. I pulled Aethan under me, shielding him, and my voice, though hoarse and cold, cut through the air. "Stop."

The authority in that single word made everyone freeze.

Caelus narrowed his dangerous dragon eyes.

I lifted my head, staring directly into his eyes, my own holding a cold, rising fire.

"Caelus Alvarez," I said, each word a chip of ice. "If you dare touch my son again today, I promise you, you will regret it."

A dead silence fell over the courtyard. A Dragonless woman, a scorned wife on the verge of being whipped to death, was threatening a Dragon Lord.

Caelus's shock morphed into a profound, violent fury. He stalked toward me, the oppressive pressure of a dragon's presence radiating from him.

He crouched, his fingers violently seizing my chin. "What did you just say, you filthy bitch?" he ground out. "Say it again, if you have the nerve."