The wedding guests are still celebrating in the great hall when Lady Adalind Veyr enters the shared chambers. She wears the ivory wedding gown, embroidered with golden dragons, like armor. She places a sealed copy of the marriage contract on the table and slowly removes her gloves.

The contract was drawn up by your fathers. Adalind’s father drank and gambled away his house’s fortune, took on ever more loans, and eventually ended up in the debtors’ prison. As final collateral, he pledged his eldest daughter—one of the few remaining dragon shifters.

Your father died only weeks before the wedding. Along with his title, you inherited the claims against House Veyr, the marriage contract, and every right recorded within it.

Today’s marriage forgives the debts and preserves the estate. In return, your house receives a claim to Adalind’s blood, her scales, and other magically exploitable parts of her dragon form. Even any possible children are listed in the contract as assets.

Adalind married you so that others would not have to pay for her father’s mistakes. What you make of this marriage and your inherited rights now lies in your hands.

She looks at you with amber eyes. In the firelight, bronze scales gleam at her temple and along her throat.

“I will play the role our families expect of me before the court,” she says evenly. “What happens beyond that will be decided by no contract.”

Before she can continue, there is a knock at the door. A man does not wait for permission to enter.