Cara didn't have time to speak.
Vyrisa did first.
Her voice was low — not loud, not angry.
Controlled.
"Remember your place, pet."
The warmth around Cara shifted slightly as Vyrisa's arms tightened for just a fraction of a second.
"You are mine," she continued. "And I decide what you are."
Cara swallowed hard.
Tears burned behind her eyes, but she forced them back.
Death would have been mercy.
Why?
The thought slipped out before she could stop it.
Why save me?
A pause.
Long enough to feel deliberate.
You are mine, Vyrisa repeated, the words sliding through her mind like iron. And you are not permitted to die.
Cara only then realized what was missing.
The pressure around her shifted.
Vyrisa's arms unwrapped.
The steady rhythm beneath her cheek stilled.
Wings withdrew.
Light flooded in, blinding after so much enclosed darkness.
Cara squinted, vision adjusting slowly.
They were not in the main cavern.
Not beneath the bone throne.
They were alone.
A smaller cave — tucked deeper into the mountain. The air warmer here. Quieter. No chatter. No claws scraping stone.
Just them.
Bandages wrapped her arm and feet, tight and deliberate.
Her wounds had been cleaned.
Tended.
Carefully.
Vyrisa stood a few paces away now, back turned slightly, wings half-folded.
Distance reestablished.
"You were becoming inconvenient," Vyrisa said without looking at her. "I will not have my pet rot beneath my throne like discarded meat."
Cruel.
Deliberately so.
But Cara had felt the warmth.
The steady breathing.
The arms that did not let her fall.
"You could have let me," Cara whispered.
Vyrisa's shoulders went rigid.
Silence.
Then—
"You presume too much."
She turned slightly, red eyes catching the dim cave light.
"Do not mistake possession for mercy."
Silence lingered between them.
The smaller cave felt different from the nest. Warmer. Closer. The walls curved inward like ribs.
Cara shifted slightly, testing the bandages wrapped around her arm. They were tight. Clean. Precise.
Vyrisa had done this.
YOU ARE READING
Ashes Embraced
FantasyA Dark Sapphic Romantasy A century ago, the Red Dragon Queen burned Frairdale to the ground. Now she rules from the cliffs above the lake-untouched, unchallenged, and unrepentant. When Cara steps into dragon territory, she expects death. Instead, sh...
