Kingdom of Villains

by Ella Fields

“What could you possibly need me for, dragon?” “Too much,” he countered, and I ceased breathing. “Right now, I’ll settle for your mouth on mine.”

“Your heart has claws, fire-breather. But your soul?” His eyes met mine, aglow with affection I wasn’t sure I wanted or deserved. “Soft as silk.”

He was every fear I’d ever had and every wish I’d never known I’d longed for. A soul as dark as night and a heart of cloudless mornings, this contradiction of a male had me tethered tightly to him long before he’d made it irreversible.

“But these mortals carry a rare hope—a type of frenzied liveliness—as if they know their lives are too short, but they’ll still do whatever they must to live them.”