The Dragon Lord Returns

Kael Draven spent three years as a car-wash worker after a devastating injury from the Rift. Vexa Korr saved his life, and he stayed inside House Korr long enough to move her into Black Vault's circle. Tonight he plans to name her CEO at the Dragon's Return Gala and finally stop hiding.

Before that, a group at the wash bay tries to humiliate him. They call him Vexa's kept husband and threaten to pass him around. Kael drops them. Orian Voss arrives, calls him Dragon Lord, and the men panic. He lets them leave with one warning: forget the name, keep the fear.

He goes home early and finds Vexa with Riven, heir of House Vale. Vexa calls him dead weight, points to Riven as the man who makes her feel alive, and announces they'll marry after the gala. Kael's claim that everything she had came from him only draws laughter. Her family pushes divorce papers on him. Kael signs, refuses the money, and cuts House Korr off completely.

Later, alone and drinking, Kael meets Nyx, a wheelchair-bound woman who proposes marriage if he can find her dragon sigil. He finds it that night. They marry, and Nyx reveals he saved her three years ago but her legs were too badly injured.

At the gala, Vexa and Riven's family demand Kael leave, then demand he kneel and apologize after he hits Riven. Kael answers with one line: “I don't kneel to cheaters.” He then insults Orian Voss and Black Vault's standards in front of the room. Security is called to make an example of him.

Orian Voss enters and stops everyone. She orders the guards to step away from Kael. The gala freezes around him.

That moment ends his hiding. Kael has already married Nyx, and the houses that mocked him now stand in the path of the Dragon Lord's return.