Chapter 12

Punishment Without Pain

The return to Black Citadel was painfully quiet.

Mostly because Kael looked one inconvenience away from setting the entire mountain range on fire.

Evelynn sat rigidly in silence on the back of his dragon form while freezing wind whipped through the night around them. The first few minutes had been absolutely terrifying. The second few minutes became worse because she gradually realized Kael flew with the same emotional energy he carried as a person: aggressive restraint.

Every wingbeat felt irritated.

By the time they landed atop the palace fortress near dawn, Evelynn’s legs had gone numb from cold and fear.

The moment Kael shifted back into human form, palace guards rushed forward looking alarmed.

Not because of Evelynn.

Because of him.

One guard immediately lowered his head. “Your Majesty—”

“Leave.”

Nobody argued.

Nobody ever argued.

Kael stalked through the palace corridors without looking back, clearly expecting Evelynn to follow. Which, annoyingly, she did. Mostly because his earlier warning about feral dragons had very effectively ruined her confidence.

The palace was quieter than usual this early in the morning. Servants moving through the halls immediately froze whenever Kael passed. Several visibly noticed the half-healed snow cuts on Evelynn’s hands and the fact she looked like someone who had recently lost a fight against winter itself.

The rumors would spread within minutes.

Excellent.

Kael led her straight toward the eastern dining hall. Apparently dragons dealt with emotional crises through breakfast.

The dining room itself was absurdly large for two people. A long black table stretched across the center beneath massive iron chandeliers while dragonfire burned low in the enormous fireplace along one wall.

Fresh food already waited on the table.

Apparently the servants had predicted disaster.

Reasonable.

Evelynn sat cautiously near one end while Kael remained standing for several long seconds, one hand braced against the back of his chair.

Silent.

Too silent.

The kind of silence that made people nervous.

Finally Evelynn sighed. “If you’re going to yell, just do it.”

Kael looked at her slowly.

“I am trying not to.”

That answer somehow felt worse.

A servant hurried forward to pour tea for them both. His hands shook hard enough that the cup rattled loudly against the saucer near Kael.

The Dragon King didn’t even look at him.

Which frightened the servant more.

Evelynn watched the poor man nearly sprint from the room afterward.

“You know,” she muttered, “everyone here acts like you bite people.”

Kael sat down across from her at last. “Sometimes I do.”

Fair enough.

The silence returned.

Heavy this time.

Evelynn focused awkwardly on the breakfast spread instead. Warm bread. Roasted meat. Fruit that somehow existed despite the frozen death mountains surrounding them.

Dragon money clearly solved everything.

Except emotional stability.

Kael finally spoke without looking at her.

“You could have died.”

Straight to the point then.

Evelynn rubbed warmth back into her fingers around the teacup. “I noticed.”

“You crossed beyond the palace perimeter during a storm.”

“Yes, Kael. I was there.”

His jaw tightened instantly.

There it was.

The anger.

Not explosive anger like before. This was quieter. Sharper. The kind people carried when they were trying very hard not to lose control.

Evelynn leaned back slightly. “You’re acting like I burned down the mountain.”

“You disappeared.”

The words landed harder than she expected.

Kael looked up finally.

Gold eyes steady and furious beneath the dim firelight.

“For three hours.”

Oh.

He counted.

That realization settled strangely in her chest.

Evelynn looked away first. “I didn’t ask you to come after me.”

“No,” Kael said coldly. “You simply vanished into dragon territory after triggering a soul bond neither of us understands.”

When he said it like that, it admittedly sounded less reasonable.

Still—

“I’m not a prisoner.”

The room temperature shifted immediately.

Not dramatically.

Just enough for dragonfire in the fireplace to rise slightly.

Kael’s expression darkened.

“You are alive because I allow it.”

The moment the sentence left his mouth, silence crushed the room.

Even the servants standing near the walls froze.

Evelynn stared at him.

Not hurt.

Angry.

Something in Kael’s face changed instantly too. Regret flashed there so quickly she almost missed it.

But neither of them took the words back.

The pressure in the room became unbearable.

One servant quietly dropped a spoon somewhere near the back wall.

The sound echoed like a death sentence.

Kael closed his eyes briefly.

The dragonfire lowered again.

When he spoke next, his voice sounded rougher.

“That is not what I meant.”

Evelynn folded her arms. “Really? Because it sounded extremely dictatorship-adjacent.”

A faint headache visibly appeared behind Kael’s eyes.

“You continue to mistake sarcasm for self-preservation.”

“And you continue to mistake emotional repression for personality.”

One of the servants inhaled sharply.

Apparently nobody spoke to the Dragon King like this.

Kael leaned back slowly in his chair.

Watching her.

Not angry now.

Studying.

Like he still couldn’t quite figure out whether she was brave or catastrophically stupid.

Honestly Evelynn wasn’t fully sure either.

Another long silence stretched between them while rain tapped softly against the tall windows.

Eventually Kael exhaled slowly through his nose.

“You wish to leave the palace.”

It wasn’t a question.

Evelynn hesitated.

Then nodded once.

Kael looked down at the untouched food in front of him. “The bond complicates that.”

“Everything here complicates things.”

“No,” he said quietly. “You do.”

That should not have affected her as much as it did.

Evelynn quickly reached for her tea mostly to avoid answering.

Kael’s gaze flicked briefly toward the bruises still faintly visible around her throat.

Guilt crossed his expression again.

There and gone.

“You should hate me more,” he said suddenly.

Evelynn blinked. “That’s a strange thing to say over breakfast.”

“I nearly killed you.”

“You’ve mentioned.”

“And yet you still look at me like I’m human.”

The honesty in his voice caught her off guard.

For a moment the Dragon King stopped looking ancient and terrifying.

Just tired.

Tired enough to scare himself.

Evelynn looked down into her tea quietly. “Maybe because you keep trying not to become the thing everyone says you are.”

Kael went still.

The servants along the walls looked deeply uncomfortable now, like they’d accidentally walked into something private and dangerous.

One poor servant trying to refill wine nearly backed directly into a wall.

Evelynn almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

Kael’s eyes remained fixed on her for several long seconds.

Then finally he said:

“You are no longer permitted beyond the inner palace without guards.”

“There’s the punishment.”

“It is not punishment.”

“It absolutely sounds like punishment.”

“It is survival.”

Evelynn sighed dramatically. “You dragons are incredibly controlling.”

Kael looked unimpressed. “You attempted to outrun dragons on foot.”

“…when you say it out loud, it loses some dignity.”

For the first time that morning, the corner of his mouth moved slightly.

Not quite a smile.

But enough to make the servants staring at him look genuinely alarmed.

Apparently the Dragon King smiling was rarer than natural disasters.