They got her while he was gone.
Of course, his act had been too perfect for anyone to even think, to have an inkling of suspicion that he was a half-blood. . . . but Miku, for her, it had been all too obvious. The scales around her cat-like eyes, the magic that burst out of her, uncontrolled and unexpected. . . .
It was a wonder those power-hungry pricks hadn't noticed her before.
It was still his fault. If he'd done a better job of hiding her, if he hadn't gone so far away, if only. . . .
He tried to rescue her, to free her from that mask and the magical prison and the forced servitude to the last, true full-blooded dragon.
It didn't go so well. She was powerful before, and now, bonded with that mad dragon, she surpassed him in magic.
His dragon blood told him that this was impossible, that he needed to retreat and heal his wounds before even attempting anything else.
"I swear, Miku, I'll be back!" he shouted. "I will!"
It may have just been his hopeful imagination, but he thought her sneer was a bit softer than it should have been.