chapter 1 : New world

The rain in the city was cold and heavy. It felt like the water was trying to wash me away.

I stood under a small, rusty roof of an old bookstore. My hands were shaking. I wasn't cold; I was just too excited. I was reading the last pages of my favorite book, The Dragon's Wife. I loved the main character, King Alaric. In the book, he was a man who had a dragon's soul trapped inside him. He stayed in his human body to rule his people, but to win wars, he had to turn into a giant black dragon.

Every time he changed, it hurt his mind. It made him cold and sad.

"He isn't a monster," I whispered to myself. My breath made a little cloud in the cold air. "He's just very lonely."

I was so busy thinking about Alaric and his sad life that I didn't see the danger. A large truck hit a puddle and lost control. I heard the loud scream of tires on the wet road. That was the last thing I heard. Then, the world turned white and very, very cold.

Wait... I thought. I haven't seen him be happy yet...

Whoosh.

Suddenly, the sound of rain was gone. Instead, I heard the crackle of a warm fire.

I opened my eyes and breathed in deeply. The air didn't smell like wet city streets anymore. It smelled like expensive wood and sweet incense. I wasn't lying on the hard ground. I was sitting on a soft, purple velvet sofa.

I looked at my hands. They used to be rough from working as a student. Now, they were soft, pale, and covered in heavy gold rings.

"The King is coming, My Lady," a voice said.

I looked up. A maid in a grey dress stood there. She was shaking with fear. "Please, do not make him angry tonight. He had to change into his dragon form during the war today. He is... he is not stable."

The King? Unstable?

I jumped up and ran to a tall mirror. I froze. The woman in the mirror was beautiful but looked very sharp and mean. She had high cheekbones, dark red lips, and violet eyes.

I was Seraphina von Malcor. I was the villain of the book! In the story, Seraphina married Alaric just for power. Later, she tried to tell his enemies his secret weakness. Because of that, Alaric killed her.

Suddenly, the giant doors of the room were kicked open. They slammed against the walls with a loud bang.

The temperature in the room jumped up. It felt like I was standing next to an oven. A "shiver" ran down my back.

A man walked in. This was Alaric.

He looked human, but only a little bit. He was very tall and strong. His shirt was torn, showing his chest. His skin was bronzed, but I could see shiny black scales along his jaw. His hair was long, black, and messy.

But his eyes were the scariest part. They weren't human eyes. They were glowing orange slits, like a fire.

"Out," he growled. His voice was so deep that the windows shook.

The maid ran away immediately. I was left alone with a man who looked like he wanted to burn the whole world down.

In the original book, the "old" Seraphina would scream here. She would call him a freak and hide under the bed. That rejection always made Alaric feel like a monster, and he would lose his human mind completely.

Alaric moved fast. He lunged forward and slammed his hand against the wall right next to my head. I could smell smoke and old blood. His skin was so hot it felt like it would burn me.

"Why aren't you running, Seraphina?" he hissed. His face was only inches from mine. "Can't you see the smoke? Do you want to see the monster tonight?"

My heart was beating fast, but I wasn't just scared. I was fascinated. I reached out my hand. My fingers were very close to the black scales on his face.

"The monster saved the kingdom today, didn't he?" I said. My voice was soft and calm.

Alaric froze. He didn't expect me to be nice. He looked into my eyes, searching for fear or disgust. But he only saw that I understood him.

"You're burning up, Alaric," I whispered. I used his real name for the first time. "The change... it didn't finish, did it? You are stuck between being a man and a dragon."

He gripped the wall tighter. I heard the wood crack under his fingers. "How do you know that? You only care about money and the crown."

"Because I am your wife," I said. I stepped closer until my chest almost touched his leather vest. The heat coming off him was amazing. "And our marriage contract? It didn't say I only get the King. It said I get the Dragon, too."

The orange glow in his eyes flickered. For a second, he looked confused. He was a man who had been treated like a weapon for a long time. He forgot that a person could touch him just to be kind.

"What do you want?" he asked. His voice was rough and broken.

"I want to help you stay human," I said. I looked him right in his glowing eyes. "But in return, when the war is over, you will give me my freedom. You will let me live."

Outside, lightning hit the roof. The light filled the room for a second. In that moment, Alaric didn't look at me like a wife he hated. He looked at me like I was a mystery he had to solve.

I was no longer just a woman to him.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***