She was a thing of terror and beauty.

She was his only love.

He thinks of the love in a kind of bitter, delighted tone. How foolish of him, to fall for a human princess?

Princesses knelt before dragons, not the other way around.

He would come into the room, the beast in the form of a man, her on the bed, scurrying to the far end. He would peel away everything, revealing everything and yet nothing of her. He would kiss, but never taste her. Always touching her, but never to feel the smoothness of her skin.

Oh, the bitterness, the hurt, the love.

The dragon knelt before the princess.

And the princess screamed and wept.