My crown depends on an heir before the Eclipse Ceremony, yet every match from my own kind has failed to secure the line. Laura's arrival as envoy changed that with a single glance, her instinctive submission awakening a dominance I can no longer contain.
Beneath the palace in the lantern-lit vaults, surrounded by ancient scrolls and the restless beat of my iridescent wings, I feel the pull to knot her, to breed her despite the risks to my throne and bloodline purity. She guards her place as outsider even as her body yields to my authority.
When our hands brush over the parchments and my grip tightens on her slender arm, the threshold cracks open. I must decide if claiming her fully will save my rule or expose the wound I hide.
