Return Of The Lost Dragon

A Daughter’s Plight:

Marcus exited the study with clenched fists, the coldness in his gait evident in each step as the oak doors shut behind him. Harry’s final order still echoed in his ears.

“Prepare her for marriage. The deal is sealed.”

The flicker of the chandelier above did little to warm the storm boiling in his chest. His pace quickened through the marble hallway, each portrait of the Hades legacy watching him in silence, as if mocking the futility of resisting the family’s will.

He moved through the estate like a ghost, the night air from an open balcony brushing against his skin. He paused there, leaning on the railing. The city’s lights blinked in the distance, but none of it soothed him.

Memories came uninvited—the way his mother used to sit in this very spot, eyes dimmed by the life Harry drained from her with expectations and betrayals disguised as duty. He had been too young to fight for her then. But now, watching Agnes walk down the same path, shackled by the same chains, was a pain too