A faint, almost bitter smile ghosted across Darius’s lips. “My mother was pure Dragon Kin, a direct descendant of the oldest magic in our veins. My father… was a hybrid. Dragon Kin and Dragonsinger both. Their bond was powerful, legendary, but dangerous. When the war came, they were hunted not just for who they were, but for what they represented.”

  His eyes darkened. “My father saved my mother’s life… but he died doing it. She was never the same after that. It was like part of her died with him. I was just a boy, but even then I knew… I could never fill the void he left.” He swallowed hard. “It was only after his death that my mother told me about the mate bond that part of her soul was tied to his, and when he was gone, part of her went with him.”

  Darius’s voice dropped, heavy with grief. “Then Lady Cordelia disappeared, the night after giving you to Eleanor. Someone found her shoes at the edge of the highest waterfall. After that… the last light in my mother’s eyes died.”

  Imogen’s pulse raced, her mouth dry, her hands cold at her sides.

  “I had no one left,” Darius murmured. “No one but the blade, the sleepless nights, the training, the hunger. Nights when I didn’t think I’d survive. Nights when I wondered if anyone even cared if I came home alive.” His voice cracked faintly. “The Darius I once was died with my father.”

  Imogen’s chest ached, a deep, aching sympathy rising. She wanted to reach for him, to comfort him but she froze, unsure.

  “But…” Darius let out a shaky laugh, bitter and hollow. “The night of the battle, I was ready to throw in the towel. I had nothing left to lose. I knew about you, about the last Dragonsinger, but I didn’t care. Not when I thought you’d fallen in love with that human, the son of the man who murdered my mother.” His jaw clenched. “I wanted nothing to do with you.”

  Imogen opened her mouth, but no words came.

  Darius’s voice softened, almost disbelieving. “But when I was shot out of the sky, when the blade stabbed through me, when I was falling and thought I was going to die a meaningless death I felt a pull. I called out to it, begging for it to find me, to help me.” His eyes burned into hers. “I was calling for you. My mate.”

  He took a trembling breath, voice cracking. “Imogen… you saved me. In more ways than just my life.” He shook his head faintly. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought whatever the ancients called ‘fated mates’ that bond between Dragon Kin and Dragon singers had died with the rest of our kind.”

  His gaze locked onto hers, raw and unguarded. “Until I met you.”

  Imogen’s heart thundered, her hands trembling faintly at her sides.

  “The moment I touched you,” Darius whispered, voice breaking, “the moment the bond flared to life I knew. You’re mine, Imogen. Just as I am yours. In the oldest, most sacred sense of our kind.”

  He let out a shuddering breath, his face open, vulnerable, exposed. “I didn’t expect to survive this war. I didn’t expect to have a mate. I didn’t think… there was any hope left for us.”

  Imogen stared at him, wide-eyed, her voice shaking when she finally forced it out. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I was afraid.” His voice cracked with raw honesty. “Afraid it would drive you away. Afraid it would chain you to something you never asked for. You already look like you’re about to run.”

  Silence stretched between them thick, the air heavy with everything neither of them dared say aloud. Darius reached out his hand slowly, trying to reach her, a careful offering, not a demand.

  It felt like Imogen’s body had a mind of its own. Her hands trembled as they hovered between them, barely brushing Darius’s fingers before she yanked them back, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

  “I can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head hard. “I can’t do this.”

  Her breath came fast and shallow, her chest tight, as if the room had shrunk, pressing in from all sides. She shook her head again, voice rough and breaking. “I don’t even know you.”

  Darius froze, his chest tightening painfully. “Imogen-”

  “I’m not… I’m not strong enough.” Her voice splintered under the weight pressing down on her. “You’re talking about saving an entire race, your people, my people and I can’t even control my powers! I didn’t even know I had powers until yesterday!”

  He reached for her with his other hand, but she shrank back instinctively.

  “I don’t know how to lead anyone,” she rushed on, her words tumbling over each other, breath sharp and panicked. “I don’t know how to be a queen. Or a… a savior. And your mother…” Her voice broke completely, grief twisting across her face. “She died for me. For me. And I didn’t even know. I didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

  Darius’s fists clenched at his sides, his jaw tight, his expression full of quiet, aching pain.

  “I’m scared,” Imogen choked out. “I’m scared I’m going to fail. That I’ll let everyone down. That whatever you see in me, whatever this bond is, I’ll ruin it. I’ll ruin everything.”

  Darius exhaled slowly, his eyes glistening faintly, forcing his voice steady. “You’re allowed to be scared, Imogen.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Her head snapped up, her wide, raw eyes locking onto his.

  He took another step, slow and careful, patient as stone. “You’re allowed to doubt and stumble. You’re human… and Dragon Singer both. And you don’t have to know everything yet.” His voice dropped, rough and quiet. “But you are not alone. Not anymore.”

  Imogen’s breath shuddered, her shoulders trembling as she fought the rising sob lodged in her throat.

  “I don’t expect you to wake up tomorrow knowing how to rule,” Darius murmured, a faint, self-deprecating smile tugging at his mouth. “Honestly? I’m still learning that myself.” His gaze softened. “I don’t expect you to save everyone overnight. But you are already stronger than you realize, Imogen. You survived. You kept going, even when everything was stacked against you.”

  He hesitated, then added quietly, “And you were worth dying for. My mother knew that.”

  Imogen let out a ragged sound, half a cry, half a protest. “But I didn’t even know her. I didn’t even get to tell her thank you. I..”

  Darius finally crossed the last few steps between them, slow, careful, until they were almost touching. His voice softened to a near whisper. “You honor her by living, Imogen. By staying. By fighting. Not because you owe her but because you were meant for more than running away.”

  Imogen’s breath came in shaky, uneven gasps. She looked up at him, eyes shimmering with fear and doubt, but also, buried deep, the faintest, trembling flicker of something else.

  “I’m scared,” she whispered again, voice breaking.

  Darius’s own voice cracked as he answered, “So am I.”

  For a long, taut moment, neither of them moved, both suspended in that fragile, terrifying space between falling apart and holding on.

  Then, slowly, cautiously, Darius lifted a hand, hovering it near her cheek but not touching. Waiting. Letting her choose.

  And after a heartbeat, Imogen let herself lean just barely into that offered closeness, her shoulders shaking as she finally, painfully, allowed herself to take one small, aching step away from the edge of running.For a long, suspended heartbeat, Imogen stayed there trembling, uncertain, but leaning just slightly into Darius’s offered closeness. His hand hovered near her cheek, not quite touching, his breath held as if the slightest movement might break the fragile moment between them.

  Then a sudden noise broke the silence.

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

  The sharp, deliberate sound of slow, measured applause echoed across the clearing.

  Imogen flinched, pulling back sharply, her breath catching. Darius tensed at once, instinctively shifting in front of her, his eyes flashing with protective focus.

  They turned and standing just beyond the edge of the crumbled cave entrance was a tall, broad-shouldered man with tousled brown hair, emerald green eyes bright with amusement, and dragon-forged armor nearly identical to Darius’s.

  His grin was wide, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the stone like he’d been watching them for a while.

  “Well, well,” the man drawled, voice rich with playful warmth. “That was quite the touching moment.”

  Imogen’s brow furrowed slightly. There was something… familiar about him, but she couldn’t place it.

  Darius let out a breath, shaking his head. “Axel.”

  Imogen’s eyes widened, her heart stuttering in her chest. Axel?

  The man pushed off the stone, stepping forward with easy confidence but this time, his teasing grin softened into something far more serious.

  “You saved me,” Axel said quietly, his eyes locking onto Imogen’s, the humor fading as sincerity took its place. “You don’t even know it yet, but you did.”

  Imogen swallowed, blinking rapidly. “I… what?”

  Without another word, Axel dropped to one knee before her, his head bowed, one hand resting across his chest in a formal gesture.

  “My queen,” he said, voice steady and reverent. “I owe you my life. I swore my loyalty to Darius long ago, but today, I swear it to you as well. To stand beside you, to protect you, to fight for you, until my last breath.”

  Imogen’s eyes widened as she looked helplessly at Darius, her mind racing to catch up.

  “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “You’re… him? You’re the dragon?”

  Axel lifted his head slightly, his eyes shining. “The one you pulled from the edge of death. Yes.” A faint, wry smile tugged at his mouth. “Not as graceful or fearsome in this form, I know.”

  Imogen shook her head slowly, dazed. “I didn’t even know who you were…”

  “And still, you saved me,” Axel murmured. “That’s what makes you a queen.”

  Darius stepped closer, his eyes gentle as they met hers. “You see, Imogen? You were already leading.”

  For a long, breathless moment, Imogen could only stand there, trembling, overwhelmed, as two powerful warriors, a king and his second-in-command waited for her to claim the place she’d been running from.

  Axel stayed on one knee, head bowed in formal reverence. Darius stood just behind her, watching her with quiet, aching patience.

  Imogen opened her mouth.

  Closed it.

  Opened it again.

  Then let out a shaky laugh.

  “Okay,” she breathed, her voice wobbling with nerves. “So just to recap…” She held up her hands slightly, ticking off her fingers. “I’m apparently the last Dragonsinger, I have barely-working powers I didn’t know existed, the queen of a dying people, fated mate to the Dragon King over here” jerking her thumb toward Darius without looking at him “and I just got sworn to by a six-foot- something tall dragon shifter who I saved once and didn’t even recognize in human form.”

  She gave a slightly wild, half-hysterical smile. “Sure. Yeah. This is fine.”

  Axel lifted his head, a grin tugging at his mouth. “Feeling a little overwhelmed, my queen?”

  Imogen let out a breathless laugh, brushing a hand through her hair. “A little? I should be hyperventilating right now.” She eyed Axel’s kneeling form, then gave him an exaggerated wince. “You… don’t actually have to stay kneeling, do you? My legs are shaking just looking at you.”

  Axel let out a soft chuckle and rose smoothly to his feet, giving her a half-bow with a teasing glint in his eyes. “As you command, my queen.”

  Darius let out the faintest huff of laughter behind her, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly as he watched her rally in her own strange, stubborn, human way.

  Imogen blew out a breath and squared her shoulders, still trembling but lifting her chin. “Okay. Okay. I can’t promise I know what I’m doing. Or that I’m going to suddenly turn into some magical, perfect leader overnight.” She gave them both a crooked smile. “But I’m here. And I’ll try.”

  Axel’s grin widened. “Good enough for me.”

  Darius’s eyes softened, something fierce and tender glowing in them. “Good enough for all of us.”