Chapter five
1161 Words
“But he couldn’t do anything. It was his powers they feared.”
I ran back to my room, slamming the heavy wooden door behind me. My chest rose and fell rapidly as panic consumed me. I leaned against the wall, trying to steady my breathing, but the memory of Kael being dragged away refused to leave my mind.
The image haunted me.
The chains around his wrists.
The blood at the corner of his mouth.
The cold expression on Atlas’s face.
I covered my mouth to stop myself from crying out loud.
“No…” I whispered shakily.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Kael was innocent.
Deep down, I knew it.
Yet no one else seemed willing to believe him.
A sudden knock echoed through the room.
Before I could answer, the door burst open and two guards stepped inside. Their armor clanked heavily against the stone floor.
“The elders demand your presence,” one of them said coldly.
I immediately shook my head.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The taller guard grabbed my arm roughly.
“You don’t have a choice.”
Fear surged through me as they dragged me out of the room. I struggled against them, but they were too strong.
The castle halls felt colder than before. Servants avoided my gaze as we passed. Some whispered among themselves while others stared at me with pity.
Word had already spread.
Kael, the dragon prince, had supposedly murdered his own father.
And I was his wife.
The thought made my stomach twist painfully.
When we finally entered the grand hall, silence immediately fell over the room.
The elders sat in a long row above everyone else, their expressions hard and unreadable. Atlas stood near the throne with a proud look on his face while his younger brother, Zane, remained quiet beside him.
Kael was kneeling in the center of the hall.
Chains wrapped tightly around his wrists and ankles.
Bruises covered parts of his face, but despite everything, his golden eyes lifted the moment he saw me.
Relief flickered across his face.
“Lyra,” he breathed softly.
My heart shattered.
I tried to run toward him, but the guards held me back.
“Please!” I cried. “He didn’t do this!”
Murmurs spread across the hall.
Atlas stepped forward slowly, disgust written all over his face.
“You still defend him after everything?” he asked bitterly.
“He poisoned our father!” another elder shouted.
“He would never do that!” I yelled back.
Atlas laughed darkly.
“You humans are unbelievably foolish.”
Anger burned inside me.
“You’re lying,” I snapped. “You just want the throne!”
The entire hall gasped.
Atlas’s expression darkened instantly.
“How dare you speak to me like that?”
“I’m telling the truth!” I shouted. “Kael loved his father. He would never kill him.”
For a moment, silence filled the hall.
Then Kael spoke quietly.
“Lyra… stop.”
I turned toward him in shock.
Even now, he was trying to protect me.
One of the elders rose from his seat slowly.
“The punishment has already been decided,” he announced.
Fear crawled down my spine.
Atlas smirked slightly.
“Kael Draven,” the elder continued, “you are hereby stripped of your royal title and sentenced to imprisonment until the day of your execution.”
The room erupted into whispers.
Execution.
No.
No, this couldn’t be real.
My knees nearly gave out beneath me.
Kael remained silent, though pain flashed briefly across his face.
I broke free from the guards and rushed toward him.
“Please!” I begged the elders desperately. “You can’t do this!”
One of them looked at me with cold eyes.
“The matter is settled.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I grabbed Kael’s chained hands.
“They’re wrong,” I whispered brokenly. “I know they are.”
Kael stared at me quietly.
Then, very gently, he pressed his forehead against mine.
“You need to leave this place,” he murmured.
I shook my head immediately.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Lyra—”
“No!”
The chains rattled as the guards suddenly pulled him away from me.
I screamed his name while fighting against them, but they dragged him toward the massive iron doors at the end of the hall.
Kael turned one last time.
Our eyes met.
And in that moment, something strange happened.
The golden mark on my wrist suddenly burned.
I gasped sharply, clutching it in pain.
At the exact same time, Kael froze.
The chains around his wrists began glowing faintly.
The entire hall went silent.
A strange wind swept through the room, extinguishing several candles instantly.
The elders rose from their seats in alarm.
Atlas’s confident expression disappeared.
Then Kael’s eyes changed.
The gold inside them brightened unnaturally, glowing like fire in the darkness.
A deep growl echoed somewhere beneath the castle.
Not human.
Not normal.
Something ancient.
Something terrifying.
The floor beneath us trembled violently.
And then the palace dragon bells began ringing wildly on their own.
Panic erupted across the hall.
“The dragon shrine!” one of the elders shouted fearfully.
“That’s impossible,” another whispered.
The burning pain in my wrist became unbearable. I cried out, falling to my knees as the mark glowed brighter beneath my skin.
Kael stared at me with horror.
“Lyra!” he shouted.
Suddenly, the chains around him cracked.
Everyone froze.
A second later, the iron chains shattered completely.
Gasps filled the hall.
Atlas stepped backward in fear.
“No…” he whispered.
Kael slowly rose to his feet.
The air around him felt different now—heavier, dangerous, powerful. His glowing eyes swept across the room, and for the first time, I saw fear in the elders’ faces.
One of the guards charged toward him with a sword.
“Stop him!”
Before the blade could touch Kael, a violent burst of energy exploded from his body.
The guard was thrown across the hall instantly.
People screamed.
Candles burst into flames.
The windows shattered.
I could barely breathe.
Kael looked down at his own hands like he no longer recognized himself.
Then he looked at me.
And suddenly, the terrifying power around him softened.
“Lyra…” he whispered painfully.
But before I could answer, another deafening growl shook the castle.
This time, it came from above us.
The ceiling trembled violently.
Dust rained down from the stone walls.
Everyone stared upward in horror.
Then came the sound of enormous wings beating against the sky.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The elders turned pale.
Atlas’s voice shook for the first time.
“The dragon…” he whispered.
A massive roar exploded outside the palace, so powerful the entire kingdom seemed to tremble beneath it.
And then—
Something huge crashed onto the castle roof.
- Writer
