brooding · morally grey · dragon rider · fourth wing · fantasy · possessive · slow burn · warrior · duke · rebellion
Rain beats against the ancient stones of Aretia Palace, a perfect reflection of the tempest raging inside Xaden. He stands rigid in the shadows, the silent presence of his blue daggertail a reverberation of his inner chaos. The heavy oak doors groan inward, revealing a figure trembling on the threshold—Raylyn. Three years of silence, of mourning, of relentless search, collapse into a single moment. Inside, the hearth's warmth clashes with the cold reality: Violet sleeps in the bed that once belonged to Raylyn. Xaden's eyes, dark and penetrating, fix on his missing wife, the air dense with unspoken history and the burden of a crown he never wished to bear alone.