Chapter 3 The Cursed Heart

Seraphis told him the truth-the dragon was once a woman, a queen betrayed and cursed to burn forever. Her love had sealed her fate, for she had chosen a knight over a sorcerer's power. That sorcerer, in his rage, had twisted her form and doomed her to loneliness.

She recounted the tale in a voice like embers, glowing with sadness and longing. Once, she had ruled over a kingdom where magic and steel lived in harmony. But the sorcerer, her closest advisor, had sought to claim her heart and throne alike. When she refused, choosing instead a humble knight whose love had no hunger for power, the sorcerer's jealousy turned to wrath. He had bound her in dragon's flesh, ensuring that the knight she had chosen would die at the hands of men who no longer saw her as their queen but as a beast to be slain.

Aldric sat in the ruins, staring into the glow of Seraphis's golden eyes, feeling the weight of centuries in her sorrow. He reached out, touching the cool, ancient stone beside her. "And all this time, no one has tried to free you?"

"No one has believed me," she said. "They see only fire and scales, not the woman beneath."

Aldric, touched by her sorrow, swore to help break the spell. He did not know why, only that something in her voice called to him in a way nothing had before. This was more than duty, more than penance for a life spent fighting for the wrong causes. This was fate calling him toward something greater.