Abandon You Choose Dragon Chapter 11
I grabbed the frame and hurried toward the door, nearly crashing into the figure coming the other way.
Water sloshed from the cup in his hand. Instinct pulled his arm around me, drawing me against his chest.
My face pressed to his shirt. I could hear his heartbeat. His scent was faint and clean, like spring water from a deep valley.
He looked down at me, his voice dropping half a register. “You all right?”
My burned palm brushed against the fabric of his shirt. A small sting.
“I’m fine.”
He let go and held out what remained of the water. “Drink something. Dinner’s still a while away.”
I didn’t take the cup. “You’re not Rex. Are you?”
His hand hung in the air for a beat.
Then he set the cup on the table and smiled.
The smile of someone who’d been waiting to be found out.
“No. I’m not.”
I stared at him. “Then who—”
“My name is Silas. Rex was my brother. Twin-born dragons. After our parents dissolved their contract, my mother took me and left. We moved to the outer Alliance territories, and she changed our surname to Monroe.”
“My brother stayed here with our father. Our father never spoke of the failed marriage, so the tribe only ever knew he had one son.”
“I came back to handle my brother’s affairs. And to see if the plot of spiritspring land my mother was given in the separation was worth anything.”
“The tribe mistook me for him. I didn’t bother correcting them. Too much to explain.”
Silas leaned against the doorframe. “I went to the Praise Moon Festival that day out of pure curiosity.”
“Then I saw you standing on the platform. Your fiancé wasn’t even looking your way.”
“Three moonflowers fell at once, and he dove straight for the rabbit beastkin’s.”
He paused. “I was standing below the stage, watching your moonflower drift down, and I thought—what if I caught it?”
“If you accepted, I’d never treat you the way your fiancé did.”
“But my brother’s reputation is what it is. Marrying me—the ‘cursed lone dragon who killed three mates’—would mean a lifetime of whispers.”
“Still, I wanted to try. I didn’t want to watch you end up with someone else.”
Silas held my gaze. His eyes were steady. “My circumstances aren’t bad. If you’re willing, we can start from here. Whatever you need, I’ll help you get it.”
I looked at him. My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Marrying Rex hadn’t been pure spite.
I couldn’t afford to lose my tribal mark.
Because I needed to inherit the spiritspring land my mother had left behind.
It was part of her dowry—resources her family had given her when she married into ours.
My father had found every excuse over the years to take control of it, but her name was still on the deed.
And there was the tribal rule: everyone on the Clan Register was entitled to a plot of farmland.
The yearly harvest brought in good money.
James had been managing mine for years, but as long as I was on the Register, the claim was mine.
The moment my name was erased, all of it would belong to someone else.
I’d figured that if the Moon God had ordained this match, it couldn’t be all bad.
And if I married Rex—an only son—his family’s land would eventually be mine too.
Even if we dissolved the contract later, I’d finally be free of a family that had never once looked at me with anything resembling love.
And Ash would learn that I, Iris, didn’t need him to survive.
But the man I’d married wasn’t Rex at all.
Every last risk had vanished.
The Moon God truly was watching over me.
“So… where does that leave us?”
“I’ll see you through the rest of the Praise Moon ceremony. After that, you’re free.” Silas’s voice was calm and clear. “If you want to go back and register with your fiancé, I won’t stop you. I’m just here to catch you if you fall. The choice is yours.”
“What do you want me to choose?” I asked.
He was quiet for a few seconds.
The wind drifted in from the yard, lifting the edge of his collar.
“I want you to choose me.”
His voice was soft. But it was clean.
I smiled.
The corners of my mouth curved upward, and even I was surprised by the lightness I felt.
“What a coincidence,” I said. “I wasn’t planning on going back.”