Sir Danny hillith of kattegatt's Arc

Chapter 4 of 10

The messenger arrived while Danny was still touching the mark through his shirt. A rider from the southern holds, mud-spattered and breathing hard. Word had spread faster than Danny expected—a king bearing a dragon's mark was bound to no throne but the dragon's, they said. The council had convened at the courthouse without summoning him. Danny rode there knowing what waited: voices raised in dispute, hands pointing at precedent carved in stone. He told himself he'd argue his case with logic, prove his right to rule remained intact. But when he entered the hall and saw the dragon throne they'd moved from his castle to the center of the chamber—its carved wings spread wide, candles burning at its feet like an altar—he knew logic wouldn't matter. They wanted him to choose. Sit the throne and renounce the bond, or accept the mark and forfeit his crown. The oldest councillor stood beside a dragon relic mounted on a wooden frame, its jeweled eyes catching the light through the stained glass. "A king serves his people," the man said. "Not a beast's will." Danny looked at the throne, at the relic, at the faces waiting for him to defend himself. Every rehearsed argument died in his throat. He thought of the dragon mistress kneeling by the eggs, telling him the bond couldn't be undone. He thought of seventeen versions of words he'd never say, of plans that kept him safe from stillness. Danny walked to the throne and placed his hand on the carved dragon's head. "I can't renounce what chose me," he said. "If that makes me unfit to rule, then I was never fit to begin with." The council erupted. Voices demanded he reconsider, that he think of stability, of tradition. But Danny stepped away from the throne and moved toward the door. The oldest councillor blocked his path. "You abandon your people for a dragon?" "No," Danny said. The mark across his ribs burned warm beneath his shirt. "I stop lying about who I am." He left the courthouse with no crown and no plan for what came next. Outside, the relic caught the morning sun, its carved wings throwing shadows across the steps. For the first time in three years, Danny had nothing prepared. The stillness felt like falling. He turned toward the dragon mistress's tower and started walking.