Chapter 2 A Lord Without His Power

Calista Pov

A blinding light seared my vision for a few seconds. I squeezed my eyes shut tight before opening them slowly on a scene I never could have anticipated.

A tall young man, completely bare, stood in the middle of the forest's darkness. His body glowed with a shimmering golden light, like sparks igniting and dimming without pause, revealing every detail of him with unforgiving clarity.

I covered my face entirely with both hands, screaming with a mix of pure terror and burning embarrassment, "Oh my god! Damn you .. why aren't you wearing anything?!"

"I just transformed, you fool. How exactly would I be wearing something?" he shot back, his tone rude, thick with arrogance.

I parted my fingers slightly, sneaking a wary glance through them.

His enchanting violet eyes blazed with a sharp light, like two living jewels, and his shining silver hair spilled thick over his broad shoulders. His features were sharp, devastatingly handsome in a way that felt almost inhuman .. as if he'd been carved by the hand of a furious god.

"Are you going to keep sneaking looks, daughter of Falcros?" he asked, with cold mockery.

My face burned with humiliation. "I am not sneaking looks! I simply don't see a legendary dragon turn into an arrogant, naked young man in the middle of a desolate forest every day!"

"Well, instead of all this useless screaming, give me that cloak you're wearing," he said with arrogant calm, taking one slow step toward me.

I tore off the cloak quickly and flung it at him, not daring to lower my other hand from my eyes. "Take it .. and don't come one inch closer!"

He caught it with startling skill mid-air and wrapped it around his waist with total indifference. Naturally, it was almost comically short on him, compared to his towering height and imposing build.

I lowered my hands slowly, watching him with a mixture of shock and barely-restrained fear. He looked me over from head to toe with a completely cold gaze, as if appraising something entirely worthless.

Then he said, "Now... take me to my palace. At once."

I raised my brows in mockery. "Your palace? What is that supposed to mean?"

He looked at me as though I'd asked an insultingly obvious question. "I am the Lord of Dragons, you fool."

I stared at him blankly for several long seconds... then burst into a bitter, sarcastic laugh that escaped my throat despite myself. "Lord of Dragons? Are you actually serious?"

His eyes stayed fixed on me, cold and unmoving, so I added defiantly, "Of course you don't actually expect me to believe such nonsense. Dragons are nothing but old myths .. they don't really exist."He shot me a look of open contempt. "You've completely lost your mind, Falcros girl. I can't even remember how I got to this place, or why I'm even here."

"Great and mighty dragon... you're standing in an enchanted forest crawling with every creature of darkness .. which you, apparently, are one of! So I don't think I'm the one who's lost her mind here."

His eyes narrowed in anger. "You are of the Falcros bloodline. You are subject to my kingdom, and you will carry out my orders."

This man has completely lost his mind. I need to get out of here by any means necessary. I'll just endure him until sunrise .. because if another beast shows up out of nowhere, I won't survive it this time.

I looked at him and gave him a masterfully false smile. "Fine... I'll take you to your palace. The moment the sun rises."

He narrowed his eyes, studying me with suspicion. "Why aren't we moving yet?"

"Because, quite simply, I can't see a thing in this pitch darkness, and also so the caged beasts that roam free at night don't attack us."

He glanced around , "We're moving now. You'll be able to see, thanks to my body .. it's still glowing since I only just shifted back to my human form a moment ago." He lifted his head with overflowing confidence and added, "Besides, I'm the Lord of Dragons. Not a single beast would dare show its face in front of me..."

A mocking laugh escaped me before I could stop it, watching him wrap that too-short cloak around his waist while speaking with a blind confidence that could convince anyone listening he was telling the truth.

"What are you laughing at, you fool?" he demanded, raising one eyebrow in irritation.

I composed myself quickly and said, feigning innocence, "Nothing, nothing .. sorry. I just remembered something."

I just have to endure this arrogant creature until sunrise, then get out of here and take him straight to the Falcros shop. My family can deal with him there.

The golden glow of his body began to expand and spread, a beam pushing back the darkness around us, revealing everything clearly. The path suddenly became far easier to see.

"You see?" he said, with cold arrogance, as if he'd just performed a miracle.

I walked past him with feigned calm... but barely a minute passed before snarls surrounded us from every direction.

My eyes went wide with shock, and I turned to him. "Really?" Then I mimicked his voice mockingly, "Besides, I'm the Lord of Dragons. Not a single beast would dare show its face in front of me."

I slapped my forehead and added, "You were right. It's not just one beast. You've summoned the entire forest's worth, thanks to you personally."

The creatures began crawling out slowly into the lit space cast by his glowing body. They were nightmarish things .. twisted wolf-like heads, bodies covered in jagged rock-like spines, fangs dripping with some venomous, viscous fluid.

He muttered under his breath, a rare note of shock cutting through his usual arrogance, staring around him in disbelief. "How dare such lowly creatures ignore the majesty of the Dragon Lord's aura?!"

I screamed in terror, stumbling two steps back until my back pressed against his broad, blazing-hot one. "What do we do now?! Can't you transform again and just burn them all?"

He turned his head halfway toward me, a sharp, dark smile spreading across his lips. "The Lord of Dragons does not entertain the possibility of defeat before stray forest cats."

I shrieked, out of patience entirely. "Stop this hollow nonsense and transform, right now!"

He closed his eyes for a moment, then snapped them open in visible shock, and said in a voice I could barely hear, "Damn it. I can't transform."