The Watcher in the Dark

The forest was silent after he vanished, but the echo of his voice clung to me like smoke.

"You were supposed to fear me... yet I'm the one who kneels before you."

I pressed my palm to my chest, half-expecting to feel fire burning beneath my skin. My heart thundered so violently it hurt, as if it was trying to tear its way free.

I should have run.

I should have fled back to the priests, to the safety of prayers and temple walls.

But the thought of leaving this forest... of leaving him... left me frozen.

The dagger lay at my feet. I bent down, fingers trembling, and retrieved it. Its silver blade gleamed faintly under the frozen stars, a cruel reminder of why I was here. This weapon was meant to end him. And yet when I'd had the chance... when he was kneeling, defenseless... I couldn't do it.

Why?

My body refused to obey my destiny, and I hated it.

Shaking, I searched for a place to rest. My gown snagged on roots, my hair clung to my damp face, and my limbs ached from carrying the weight of fate. I found a hollow beneath an ancient tree, its trunk split wide like a mouth. The shadows were heavy here, but at least they hid me.

I curled up, the dagger clutched to my chest, but sleep was cruel.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. The golden glow of his eyes. The way his voice had dropped, almost reverent, as if he had known me before I ever stepped foot into this cursed night. And worse-the way my heart had stuttered, not from fear, but from something dangerously close to... recognition.

I shook the thought away.

He was the monster. I was the sacrifice. That was all.

A crack.

My eyes snapped open. My grip tightened on the dagger. The sound had come from beyond the tree hollow-branches snapping, leaves shifting. My breath caught. I held still, every sense sharp.

He was here.

I didn't see him, not at first. But I felt him. The air thickened, grew heavy with heat. My skin prickled, as if flames licked just beyond reach.

"Show yourself," I whispered, though my voice betrayed the quiver of my nerves.

For a moment, silence answered. Then, from the darkness, his voice-low, calm, almost amused.

"If I wished to harm you, maiden, you would not wake to demand it."

I jolted upright, twisting toward the sound. His voice came from everywhere and nowhere, reverberating through the forest.

"Then why are you hiding?" I shot back, forcing strength into words I didn't feel.

"Because," he said, stepping out from the trees at last, his golden eyes catching the starlight like fire. "I wanted to see what you would do. Whether you would run. Whether you would strike. Or whether you would wait for me."

He was closer now, though I hadn't seen him move. One breath ago, he'd been in the shadows. Now he stood a few paces away, tall and unyielding.

My heart hammered as I raised the dagger. "Stay where you are."

He tilted his head, a faint curve on his lips. "Do you truly believe you can kill me?"

The question wasn't mocking. It was... curious. As though he honestly wanted to know.

"I have to." My voice cracked. "It's what I was sent here for."

His gaze softened, a flicker of something I didn't understand crossing his face. Sadness, maybe. Or pity.

"They told you that, did they?" His tone darkened. "The gods? The priests?"

"Yes," I whispered. "And they don't lie."

His laugh was quiet but bitter, shaking the air like embers stirred from ash. He stepped closer, ignoring the dagger pointed at his chest. My hand trembled, but I didn't lower it.

"Little maiden," he said softly, "the gods lie most of all."

I sucked in a sharp breath, staring at him, but he didn't explain. Instead, he leaned forward just enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body, his voice dropping to a near-whisper.

"Do you want to know why I knelt before you?"

My throat tightened. "Yes."

"Then survive this night," he murmured. "And I will tell you."

Before I could respond, he melted back into the shadows. One moment he was there, fire in his eyes. The next, gone.

But even in his absence, the forest was not silent.

Because I knew now-

the Dragon Lord was watching me.

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