The Dragon King's Blind Mate

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"You are a coward, Xalvador."

The words shattered the heavy silence of the private study. Xalvador didn't turn around from the tall window, his large hands gripping the stone sill so tightly the ancient rock began to crack beneath his fingers. Shama’s bracelet still hummed on his wrist, but it couldn't quiet the roaring in his chest.

"Watch your tongue, Yves," Xalvador growled, his voice a low, warning vibration. "I am still your King."

"Then act like one, because right now you are behaving like a monster trying to hide from his own reflection," Yves snapped, stepping fully into the candlelight. He threw a ledger onto the mahogany desk. "Gold? You sent chests of royal gold to her chambers? Is that what her dignity is worth to you?"

"I gave her compensation," Xalvador muttered, his jaw clenching. "I ensured she has everything she needs."

"You terrified her!" Yves shouted, his usual calm completely evaporating. "You forced yourself onto her, you ignored her tears, and you only stopped because I literally had to scream at you to break your trance. And your solution is to pay her off like a common merchant and then run away to hide in your duties? You haven't stepped foot in the eastern wing for days."

Xalvador finally spun around, his dark eyes flashing with a dangerous, volatile light. "Because I cannot look at her, Yves! Do you think I don't know what I almost did? Every time I close my eyes, I see her shaking. I see the tracks of her tears. I am the King of Shadows, built from the very darkness that devours worlds, but when I look at her..."

"Then go to her and face it," Yves said, his voice dropping, but losing none of its sharp edge. "You cannot use your duties or your guilt as an excuse to avoid the wreckage you left behind. If you leave her alone in that dark room with nothing but her fear, you will lose her entirely. And you will deserve it."

Xalvador looked down at his trembling hands, the weight of his actions finally crashing over him, leaving a bitter, sickening taste in his mouth. He had no defense. He had broken her trust, and no amount of gold could ever buy it back.

---

Meanwhile, across the courtyard in the eastern wing, Lyra sat on the edge of her bed. The chests of royal gold sat untouched in the corner of the room, a glittering insult to her existence.

The soft, patient girl who used to find comfort in the quiet was gone. A volatile, suffocating tension radiated from her. Mina walked into the room, holding a fresh laundry basket, and instantly froze. Lyra was standing perfectly still by the vanity, her slender fingers gripped tightly around the handle of a silver paring knife. She held the blade close to her face, her sightless eyes staring blankly ahead as she traced the sharp edge with her thumb.

"My lady," Mina whispered, her voice trembling. "Please... put the blade down. You’ve been holding it for an hour."

"It's sharp, Mina," Lyra said, her voice entirely devoid of its usual warmth. "It doesn't care who holds it. It just cuts."

Before Mina could answer, the heavy doors opened, and Vivian glided inside, her silk skirts rustling. The moment Lyra heard her familiar footsteps, the cold, rigid mask melted from her face. She dropped the knife onto the table, turning around with a bright, beaming smile.

"Vivian!" Lyra called out, her tone instantly cheerful. "You're back."

Mina stared at Lyra, her jaw slightly slack. The sudden, unnatural switch from terrifying detachment to bubbly joy made the maid feel like her mistress was completely losing her mind.

Vivian walked over, immediately noticing the tension in the room. She looked at Mina and waved her hand dismissively. "Mina, leave us. I want to speak with Lyra alone today."

Mina hesitated, glancing between the silver knife and the blind girl. "Lady Vivian, the King's guards requested that I—"

"Out."

The single word cut through the air like a whip. It didn't come from Vivian. It came from Lyra. The sweet smile was still on her face, but her head was tilted sharply toward the maid, her posture demanding absolute compliance.

Mina swallowed hard, bowed her head, and hurried out of the room, locking the door behind her.

Vivian sat on the bed, taking Lyra’s hands. "Oh, my sweet girl. You look so pale. Has he come back to see you?"

"No," Lyra said, her smile fading into a bitter line. "He hasn't come back. He just sends gold."

"Of course he hasn't," Vivian sighed, weaving her fingers through Lyra’s hair, her voice dripping with a calculated empathy. "I wish so desperately that I had met you earlier, Lyra. If you were at my father’s estate, things would be so different. I would have asked his personal healers to examine you. They are masters of medicine. They could have healed your eyes weeks ago."

Lyra’s breath caught. "Healed my eyes? Truly?"

"Yes," Vivian whispered, leaning in closer, her dark eyes gleaming with malice. "Which makes me wonder... if the King truly saw you as his sacred mate, why hasn't he done it? He has access to the greatest healers in the supernatural world. If he actually valued you, he could have ordered them to restore your sight on day one. But he leaves you blind. He leaves you helpless."

Lyra’s chest heaved, the tiny seed of resentment flaring into a hot, burning hatred. "Why would he keep me like this?"

"Because he doesn't see you as worthy, Lyra. To him, you are just a fragile, broken human captive. He doesn't want a queen who can look him in the eye. He wants a little bird he can keep caged in the dark so you can never defy him."

The words solidified the dark venom growing in Lyra’s veins. She had never liked the King, but now, the fear had completely twisted into a deep, agonizing loathing.

Later that night, as Mina was quietly preparing the bedsheets, she watched Lyra aggressively pacing the room, her movements sharp and erratic.

"My lady," Mina said softly, tears welling in her eyes. "You have changed so much. You never used to speak like this. You never used to look for fights. This isn't who you are."

Lyra stopped pacing, turning her sightless eyes toward the maid. "I haven't changed, Mina."

"But you have!" Mina argued, her voice cracking. "The anger inside you... it’s consuming you."

"I didn't change," Lyra snapped, her voice dropping to a freezing, absolute whisper. "I simply realized that my life isn't worth the fear that has caged me for years. I am done trembling in his palace. I didn't ask to be his mate, Mina. I didn't ask for any of this. So why should I suffer just because he claims I belong to him? If he wants to kill me, let him try. But I will not die bowing to him."

Mina shrunk back, completely horrified by the cold, vengeful aura radiating from the girl.

---

Across the courtyard, inside Vivian’s locked bedchamber, the candles burned low.

Vivian stood by her vanity, a wicked smirk on her face as she held a single, shimmering strand of silver hair. She turned and handed it to Esther, the maid whose body was completely hollowed out and possessed by the shadow Princess.

Esther took the hair with a dead, unblinking stare. She wrapped the silver strand tightly around the torso of a crude wooden doll, tying it in a suffocating knot.

"It is done," Esther rasped, her voice layered with a terrifying, dual-toned echo.

Vivian leaned over the table, her eyes wide with dark anticipation. "Is it really?"

"Watch," Esther muttered.

She lifted a long, rusted iron pin from the table. She chanted a quick, guttural curse that turned the air in the room ice-cold. Without a shred of hesitation, Esther drove the sharp iron pin straight into the center of the wooden doll's head.

---

At that exact microsecond, back in the eastern wing, Lyra collapsed.

A blinding, agonizing explosion of pain ripped through her skull. It felt as if a white-hot spike had been driven through her temples, shattering her consciousness into a thousand bleeding pieces. She fell to her knees on the hard floor, her hands flying to her head as a desperate scream tore from her throat.

"Ah! Ahhhhh!" Lyra shrieked, curling into a tight ball as her body trembled violently.

Mina dropped the water basin, the liquid splashing across the floor as she rushed to the girl's side. "My lady! My lady, what's wrong? What hurts?"

"My head!" Lyra screamed, tears streaming down her face as the invisible pin dug deeper into her brain. "Mina, get the healers! The pain relievers... get me something to make it stop! Please, it hurts so bad!"