BOOM! BOOM!
Parts of the palace exploded in the distance, and Riley swore the ground was shaking with more enthusiasm than common sense.
He was still in the cell.
Why was he still in the cell?
Another blast shook the wall. That was it. He had to leave. Now.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I really can’t stay here any longer."
"No! You haven’t finished—"
She was probably going to say something like your oath, but Riley was officially done with oaths for the week. Maybe even the year. He raised a hand and said plainly, "Your Majesty, if the Dragon Lord sees me inside this cell, with both of you, what do you think would happen?"
The Queen hesitated.
"Even if you leave me inside after escaping, the wards that protect this place can’t be used by others, right?"
He looked at her pointedly.
"So in the end, won’t he know it was you who did this?"
"!!!"
"You’re just saying that!"
Riley sighed, the sound almost pitiful. Really, he was holding himself back from burying his face in his hands. "Your Majesty, I work for the MBE. I may be weak, but I still work for the same institution that investigates things like this. And if I could come up with the correlation, what more for Kael, who also happens to be my boss?"
"Mother, he’s right," Rowan added quietly. "If Riley is seen with us, or in any kind of restraint linked to us, the connection would be too obvious."
"W-why should I believe any of you?!"
"I can’t speak for His Highness," Riley said calmly, "but Your Majesty, just as you told me earlier, I’m dependent on you. If I let you get torn to pieces because of Kael’s rage, then won’t I suffer too?"
He said it like it was a minor inconvenience. Like her death would simply be an annoying problem to sort through.
But it worked.
Because she paused. And really thought about it.
Riley didn’t even need to say more. The Queen finally seemed to understand. No matter how much he struggled to escape, that human would still be tethered to her. Therefore, in the end, he wouldn’t just be able to leave.
Fine then.
Another explosion rocked the ground. That was when she finally released him.
Rowan moved like he wanted to heal the injuries on Riley’s wrists, but the aide immediately shook his head.
"No need. The Dragon Lord doesn’t like traces of other people’s mana on me. It would be bad if he sensed it."
To his surprise, Rowan accepted that answer without question. He even looked a little alarmed.
Of course, how could he not?
Kael gave him a death stare every time he got too close. At first, Rowan wanted to escort Riley out himself to keep the location secret, but he realized something important.
If he appeared next to Riley now, he wouldn’t be seen as a threat.
He would just be collateral damage.
And so he let him go. And just like that, the castle bombardments stopped.
No more spells.
No more screaming flames.
Only a single, deadly silence that echoed across the halls.
Because the walking catastrophe had finally turned his attention to something else.
Specifically, to a certain missing aide.
Dragon Lord Kael Dravaryn had not had an easy day.
Actually, and unexplainably, it was the worst day in centuries.
The moment he felt pain—pain that wasn’t his—his vision bled red.
And when he searched for him, only to be told they had no idea where he was, something inside him snapped.
The fire that usually answered his will flared uncontrollably.
And it took every ounce of his restraint not to flatten the entire mountain range.
Who?
Who dared to touch him?
Who dared to touch the twig?
The Queen?
Did she seriously think it wouldn’t be obvious?
He could smell her scent in the air like a sickness. It made him sick.
But Kael didn’t care about protocol. Or politics. Or consequences.
Not when fury and something far more terrifying—fear—had begun to coil inside him like an ancient beast awakening.
With a body as weak as that, Riley shouldn’t even be walking. And now it seemed they had gone and hid him. He could theoretically use the sigil to track Riley. However, doing so would deplete the twig’s vitality much faster than usual.
So he followed his last traces, walking through the palace like a god of wrath. Each step sounded like a boulder falling. Every strike of his foot left scorch marks. His aura spilled outward like a flood, thick enough to choke the air.
Even the surviving decorative plants curled away from him.
Portraits blackened. Tapestries shriveled. Stone walls began to sweat from the heat.
And yet he kept going.
Unblinking.
Unyielding.
Unforgiving.
If not for the sudden stop of that familiar pain—if not for the realization that Riley might be too close to collapsing stone—Kael would have already reduced the entire palace to a crater.
His claws sharpened, breath ragged, as he lifted his arm to destroy the next set of double doors.
But he froze.
And disappeared.
One heartbeat later, Riley Hale stumbled through what should have been a solid wall.
And standing right there in front of him, waiting like a storm contained in human form, was Kael.
Riley almost fell back in surprise because why would he suddenly appear like that?!
He was about to complain about surviving something only to die of a heart attack, but the human aide shut up when he looked over at him.
Riley, who had already been shaken by curses, kidnapping, and lying through his teeth, went perfectly still.
Oh no.
This was not the usual Kael.
This Kael looked murderous, his eyes glowing with a primal intensity.
For a moment, Riley almost raised his hands because he really had to do something. With that look, he wasn’t even sure his crazed boss would recognize him!
But the words never came out.
Because Kael moved.
And Riley was swept up in a powerful, crushing embrace.
It wasn’t violent.
It wasn’t even rough.
It was just fierce.
So fierce, Riley stiffened at first, only for the tension to drain from his shoulders as he slumped in the dragon lord’s arms.