Divorcing The Knight For The Dragon Lord

ina Ha

second evening I had stopped noticing the stale air and the jolting

pt watch through the whole journey, her eyes on the windows, and she had not once asked

tchel, my fingers closed ar

e. The Norther

spect-the Dragon King's sharpest sword, the lord who held the northern frontier against the ice-field barbaria

iver. They called him the Northern Terror, and the stories they tol

his Dragon Soul lay dormant, silenced by an old curse, and that because of it he co

e lift a finger for me? A Dragonless stranger, car

verything on a hope I could no

lurched

est!" the d

w, and the capital rose

their stone fronts carved with dragons. Guards in gleaming armor walked the walls, and now and then a dragon passe

art and stared out bes

ing the address my mother had left me, I hired a small c

t on a hill, and it di

No banners, no carved welcome-only the grim weight of a place built to be held again

re no family crest, only a single burning dragon's eye-the

sword hilt, and the pressure of his Dragon's Scent rolled

d met his eyes. Then I took the sig

Hayes. I ask to see

ed it over in his gauntleted hand, and glanced at his partner. The partner stepped back

nd gave me a knight's bow,

es," he said. "I wil

y." I noted the w

, my heart beating hard enough that I could

t black gates

h him a stern-faced man in a but

wed. "My lord will see you.

ep of my gam

ilings, and along the corridors, racks of weapons and the skulls of great beasts. The air smelle

rk ironwood, carved over with

ned it. "My lo

reath and

d a tall figure stood with his back to me,

e filled the room. The pressure of him reached

he tu

saw hi