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Chapter 61
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2022-08-22 23:12:24
Bab terkait
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 62
The night before their wedding day, House Warner throws the grandest, most lavish celebration of all: a masquerade ball.Alcina had never been to one before.In House Clair, everything was about superiority in association with their famed bloodline; anything that would at all conceal their identities would be diametrically opposed to what her parents deemed as the one and only importance of such events.But Brendan had read a book about a masked ball to Alcina once, and since then, Alcina has been fascinated with the idea.And what is Brendan to do but to make the arrangements when he catches Alcina re-reading the passage on the masquerade with wide eyes?For the first time in a long time, however, Alcina enters the grand ballroom alone, as Brendan had been called away to attend to some matters briefly.It makes her strangely nervous, as though attending her first ball in the Western Plains all over again, to do so without Brendan's grounding presence steadily at her side.When Alcina
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-08-30My little Dragon Queen Chapter 63
It is nearing midnight, Alcina breathless after countless rounds along the dance floor, when Brendan begins to guide her to the doors.It is late, but the ball is still in full swing, the music crescendoing louder as the people, too, grow more vibrant and rowdy with the sinking evening.Alcina, cheeks flushed with exertion, glances in confusion between Brendan and the slowly diminishing dance floor, but going willingly nonetheless.“What is it?” she asks but receives no answer in favor of a little, secretive smile.Halfway down the marble hallway, Brendan discards his mask, and Alcina, befuddled, slowly does the same.In silence - though not unbroken by Alcina’s occasional grumbles, something along the lines of acting so mysterious for no reason other than to seem bizarre - the two of them walk along a series of halls until Alcina finds herself being led through a previously unexplored part of the palace.It feels calmer here, as though there aren’t enough people walking through it on
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-09-05My little Dragon Queen Chapter 64
The wedding is a small, intimate affair, given that it has been born more of political necessity than celebratory fanfare. It had intentionally been kept small for the purposes of efficiency. For all of Alcina’s personal emotions on the matter, the stark reality is that there is a looming war on the horizon and that Alcina and Brendan’s betrothal is the next key piece on the board. Even Lady Darla and Lord Arison have agreed not to make an appearance, given the present circumstances involved. Said circumstances being that pesky matter of repeated attempts from mercenaries as numerous as flies flitting around. Alcina had caught a glimpse of the grand hall, which had been transformed into the place of ceremony earlier that morning. Despite the limited time he had, Nordin had - predictably - managed to create a scene, not unlike a fairy tale. Dark, green silks have been hung from the ceilings and down the walls, creating a lush backdrop for the towering, blooming wall of greenery a
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-09-13My little Dragon Queen Chapter 65
Marriage, Alcina finds, is oddly not very different from being engaged.At least in the way that she experiences it.Nothing changes between the two of them, and it’s a constancy that Alcina revels in - this feeling of being settled. Of being wanted and of being kept.Her two brothers depart rather quickly after the wedding, given that they’d already stayed longer than they were really able to.It’s a bit of a tearful goodbye, of course, and Alcina clings to them for longer than propriety might have deemed proper.It helps that they would be seeing one another in only two months’ time. Nordin and Alfred’s wedding, after all - a grand and widespread event that had been in the works for years - would be their next reunion. It also helps that Alcina has Brendan’s hand to clutch onto as she watches her brothers board the carriage that would take them back to the Heartlands.She stands on the front steps of the castle, holding too-tightly onto Brendan’s hand, watching with wet eyes the
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-09-20My little Dragon Queen Chapter 66
Two weeks before their departure for the Heartlands, the dragons have grown too large to reasonably house within their bedroom, even if they try to house one in each of their rooms.The dragons are fortunate that the main doors to the rooms are spacious and double-doored, or else they may have had to find some way to tear down the walls to move them outside.Alcina is in the middle of fretting, hemming, and hawing and trying in vain to come up with any solutions.It is Brendan who, in the end, comes up with the idea.There is an area of the castle, he tells them, that has been unused and untouched for many years. It had once served as a study for one of Brendan’s great-grandfathers. He was an astronomer who liked to look up at the stars through his telescope and measure the movement of the planets.It is located in the furthermost back portion of the castle, the interior virtually a large marble cavern with ceilings that open up to the skies. In the dead of night, through a series of
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-09-29My little Dragon Queen Chapter 67
In another few weeks’ time, it is time to depart for the Heartlands to attend Nordin and Alfred’s wedding.Alcina finds herself, for the most part, overcome with a conflicting mess of emotions as to her return home.“Home,” she’d called it, but it hadn’t been until her arrival to the Western Plains, to Brendan, that she’d realized, perhaps it had never truly been much of a home at all.Alcina thinks of looking up into her parents’ faces - that stone-faced silence from her father and the sharp edge of lingering disappointment that had never left her mother’s - and something curdles in her stomach.But she supposes, for all of her reservations about returning to the House that had thrown her aside, she will be doing so to attend the most sacred and treasured event for the two people who had made it home, nonetheless, for her first twenty-two years.And she will do so with the person who, for the past few months, had been her home; had made Alcina a home, here, giving Alcina the space an
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-10-07My little Dragon Queen Chapter 68
Dimly, Alcina registers a bluster of sounds around her as guards and noble attendees alike react in degrees of retaliation and terror, and outrage. Still, it all feels distant, as though she were witnessing the events from behind a foggy glass wall, the sounds and sensations and visions muffled.Albrecht, as he walks through the gaping doorway, the doors hanging off the broken hinges, wears a devastating smile, a dark, purple-colored haze spilling from his palms to swirl around those in the back rows.Miasma.Cedric Albrecht, Duke of House Albrecht; he who had emerged victorious following a long and bloody, bitter battle between brothers of the same bloodline to seize the throne alongside the sibling who had supported him in slaughtering their own kin. He, who is said to wield the Gift of poison: a lethal, gaseous substance emitted from his hands, the exact nature of which has never been ascertained but which has been confirmed to be fatal in many instances.Alcina watches as a row o
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-10-14My little Dragon Queen Chapter 69
Alcina doesn’t remember very well what happens next.She can only recall in blurred snippets of colors and sensations, filling her heart with a blackened char and ice.But what she does remember is this:She remembers running into the fire headfirst.Remembers locating that crumpled, prone form in the center of the inferno and throwing herself at it with a choked, painful sob.Remembers desperately pulling Brendan’s shoulders into her lap, curling over him. The feeling of sorrow, panic, and rage is so strong that it consumes her whole, leaving behind nothing but this dark, black pit in the center of her chest where her heart ought to be.She doesn’t realize, then, that the fire doesn’t burn.That all around her, where the flames lick at her skin, the only sensation she feels is a dull, pleasant warmth.She doesn’t realize, either, that as she cradles Brendan’s unconscious - dead? - body in her arms, the fire slowly ceases to burn him, too.Because all Alcina can focus on, the only th
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-10-22
Bab terbaru
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 121
That afternoon, Alcina takes off for the Heartlands with Perseus to inform her family of House Warners’s decision, while Brandon remains behind to see Percy and Darla off.When Brandon makes his intentions known to the soon-departing lords of the Ranges, there’s hardly a pause before Percy shrugs.“Very well, then.”Brandon raises a brow. “Is that all?”Darla grins, razor-sharp and vicious. “I’ve wanted to gut those pathetic vermin for a while now,” she says as she stretches her neck, languid and incredibly dangerous.Conversational. “Ever since they reared their stupid heads and tried to act like lions instead of the prey that they are.”Ever since they managed to escape unscathed from the massacre of the wedding at the Heartlands, Darla’s been unsettled. Like a shark that smelt blood in the water, only to have lost its prey.Darla has the kind of bloodlust that won’t settle until she’s standing above the carcasses of her chosen prey.Percy merely smiles, as warm as an indulgent love
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 120
They say that Captain Lincoln of the Western Plains’ military is a man unmatched, for he carries with him the favor of the goddess of victory, herself.Stella thinks they might be mistaken.For watching him now - watching the way he leaps into battle with nothing but a sword and his gleaming armor, having stepped down from his steed because he does not wish to risk harm to his horse makes Stella think-He is the god.Stella wishes to never fight another day in her life and has loathed fighting and everything it means and entails, but even she cannot deny that Captain Lincoln in battle is nothing short of mesmerizing.What a frightening man, to make something that Stella loathes like no other, into something- strangely beautiful.Even as the other men under Lincoln’s command have charged in to engage the others in combat, Lincoln remains at the front lines of the conflict, a dancing hurricane flitting across the ground to leave devastation in its wake.He takes on two, three, five, eve
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 119
A figure has come to stand beside her, tall and broad and armor gleaming under the moonlight, white teeth sparkling in a roguish grin-“Commander?”It cannot be.But it is.Commander Lincoln stands before her with all the casual grace of a man out for a stroll, confidence is as alien as it is captivating on the shoulders of a person who stands on a battlefield and yet still somehow manages to look as though he is at home.Stella gapes at him.Lincoln smiles.“What- wh- what are, what are you-““The cavalry has arrived,” Lincoln announces grandly, cheerfully. Always so bloody incomprehensibly cheerful, how-“What?”Lincoln’s smile turns just an edge softer, for just a moment. He tilts his head backwards, and Stella swivels her head, only to choke at the sight of- of soldiers, several hundred of them, bearing the glorious banner of the Western Plains-Stella’s wide eyes must betray her stupor, for Lincoln drops gracefully to a single knee beside her.Stella’s stupor turns into a stilted
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 118
“And where were you, when this intruder managed to slip past our defenses?” Brandon drawls.“Sinking the edge of my blade into his stomach, my lord,” Lincoln replies.They share a grim smile.“I only regret that I could not do so sooner, before he had killed the serving girl,” Lincoln sighs. At that, Brandon’s expression darkens.Alcina had been near catatonic with grief.Ridiculous, in some ways, that a princess should have grown so attached to her servant that she’d mourn Mary’s death like so. But that ridiculous heart is Brandon’s.They’ve hurt what belongs to the Shadowed Beast, and penance will be forcibly wrenched by payment in blood.“They’d likely been searching for Alcina,” Lincoln says. “Or at least, any viable intelligence on her command of the dragons.”“Yes.” Brandon has been made all too well aware of Duke Albrecht’s interest in the dragons. An interest that had spanned years before Alcina’s ever came into the world, if that dilapidated fortress were any indicator.For h
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 117
Brandon emerges from their shared bedroom with keen intent in every step, cloak swirling behind him. Alcina remains in their room, curled along the window seat, Orion’s quiet rumbles bringing her whatever semblance of peace is possible.He pins a standing guard with a raised brow. “And where, pray tell,” he says. “Is Commander Lincoln?”The answer makes Brandon’s brow curve higher and higher on his forehead.* * * * * * * * * *Long before he becomes Commander Lincoln, the man they whisper to be graced by the goddess of victory, the man who leads the greatest military force in all the land to nothing but absolute triumph and glory, Lincoln was just a Lin, a penniless street urchin who’d grow up in an orphanage that had too many mouths to feed and too few beds.It’s been a long time since Lincoln was that skinny, trembling boy in rags with dirt smeared across his cheeks and an aching in his belly; a long time since he’s tasted anything but the sweet, euphoric taste of victory and iron
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 116
With a bloodthirsty vengeance perched on her shoulder in glittering hues of ruby red, Lady Alcina arrives back at the Western Plains to find the castle sunk deep in discord.Although nothing looks to be amiss, it is undeniable in the very tension that permeates the air, that something is wrong.As the two of them enter through the main doors, Alcina can see the flicker of trepidation in the gazes of every guard and attendant who welcomes them back home.Something has happened.“Brandon,” Alcina murmurs, and feels the weight of her husband’s hand pressed against her back in response.“I know,” Brandon says. He too has sensed the unease.Even Lincoln - who ordinarily would be the first to greet Brandon upon his return from any excursion - is glaringly absent.The party has long ended and the lavishly dressed throngs of attendees have long since waltzed out of the castle doors to their own homes. It isn’t odd, then, for the castle to be so quiet, given the circumstances.What is odd, how
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 115
The iron shackles laying at their feet, massive and heavy and bolted to the floor with chains so great that even in their rusted state, have not deteriorated in strength, were clearly once used to contain a beast of unimaginable size and power.A beast terrible - and fearsome - enough, to have warranted such an egregious means of constraint.Alcina’s hands - those gentle, kind things, soft to the touch for how few hardships they’d ever seen, so tender that they’d blistered and bled when she first began to take up swordplay, unused as they were to adversity - curl into fists, still resting against the ivory.Brandon watches as they curl so tightly that he fears Alcina’s nails may draw blood on her own palms, shaking - not with fear, but anger.That is when something new catches Brandon’s eye.Something that catches one of the scant few rays of light, flitting in from the broken doorway.Something that looks like a massive jewel, curved vaguely in the shape of an egg.Something nestled
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 114
Mary catches them just as Perseus dips his head low for Alcina to climb aboard.From beside him, Orion paws at the ground with an irritated snort, displeased at being left behind. But with Perseus’s darker scales, Alcina had thought it would grant them a far better chance at going unnoticed at all, in the inky blackness of the night.“My Lady!”Alcina turns, just in time to see Mary run up to her, her breaths visible in foggy clouds in the night chill. In her arms is a dark bundle, revealed to be one of Alcina’s warm cloaks, lined with fur. Mary heaves for air as Alcina turns to fully face her, having evidently run the entire way from the palace.“My Lady,” Mary says breathlessly, expression lined with worry as she holds up the cloak. “You cannot simply take off into the night without even a cloak,” she says, edging close to a reprimand.Even as that pull pounds with a vengeance in Alcina’s chest still, ever stronger now that she’s recognized the call for what it is, Alcina can’t help
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 113
Alcina catches Nordin's eye from across the room, and though her brothers are unable to extricate themselves from the political small talk they are caught in, they send her a warm smile nonetheless.She beams back, and something in Nordin's smile softens, ever so slightly, at the sight of the sheer happiness the Lord of House Warner has managed to put on their sister's lips.When Brandon had suddenly declared a ball at the week's end, he and Alfred had shared a momentarily skeptical look. But then, Alfred's eyes had dawned with recognition, and he'd stifled a quiet laugh into his hand. Had, as Nordin demanded what was so funny, explained-It would seem that the great beast is entirely bewitched by our willful little sister.And Nordin had felt his own lips twitch into a helpless smile in turn, at the frankly ridiculous lengths it would seem the Lord was willing to go to if it would bring a smile on their little sister's lips in such dire times.Brandon leans down to ask if Alcina woul
