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6. The Bed Chamber
Last Updated:
2022-04-27 11:10:10Related chapters
The Flaming Heart 7. The Palace Garden
Leila wondered if Thorn’s lips were generating a kind of magical power, making hers reluctant to part from them. When she was little, Leila loved to collect cookie wrappers, as each one was inscribed with short tale. Among all the stories, her favorite had always been about the romance between the dragon queen and king. She often imagined what her own first kiss would be like, visualizing the circumstances, the emotions, and, most importantly, the person she would share it with. But she had never had the opportunity with anyone other than Arthur, the milk boy. Despite his decent looks, he would always only be a friend. Even if she had the choice, she would have turned him down. But she has never expected for her first kiss to be stolen by Thorn, even if everything felt just right. The slight moisture, feathery softness, and his pristine, fresh breath enveloped the brief kiss. Furthermore, there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity that caused Leila to linger there. Thorn was als
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 8. The Conspiracy
Leila turned and saw a group of people holding trays of food and jugs full of liquid. Their skin glistened with a silver sheen under the sunlight. White robes were wrapped around their bodies, tied with silver sashes. They each wore a stack of thin, gold bracelets on both arms. The man who shouted at her seemed to be the leader of their group. “Who are you? And why you are here?” The chamberlain looked down at Leila patronizingly. “I…” Leila looked up at him tentatively. Everything about the chamberlain was graceful–the way he gestured and even the way he spoke. But there was a dangerous sneer hidden behind his thin lips. “Why have you come to the Dragon Prince’s castle?” The man asked again. Left tongue-tied by her recent bizarre experience, Leila’s mind was racing, unsure how to explain her situation. She shouldn’t have followed that butterfly and left the bedchamber after all. Upon discovering Leila’s peculiar eyes and dull skin, the chamberlain’s many years of royal domestic e
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 9. The Hot Spring
Thorn arrived at the garrison first thing in the morning. He had received a note, carried by a royal raven and marked with a black wax seal, sent by Hugo. “My prince,” Hugo came to his side when Thorn entered the yard, “They’ve been locked in the dungeon and are ready for you.” Thorn nodded and asked, “Where were they found?” “At a farm house, located at the edge of King’s Harbor. We discovered many signs indicating that the house has been unoccupied for quite a long time—rusty pots, dried-up drains, and a messy backyard. And this…” Hugo pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and showed it to Thorn, “I found it inside a hollowed-out pit. It was concealed by a wooden board under a bed. They claim they didn’t even know about its existence.” Thorn glanced at the paper, slightly furrowing his brow. It seemed to be Leila’s birth certificate. On it, her name and birth date were clearly marked, but all information about both of her birth parents had been scratched off. No matter a pure bloo
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 10. The Maid
Leila was wandering around the amethyst castle alone. It was exceptionally quiet. The usual bustling servants were nowhere to be seen; only a few were traveling through the long shimmering passages linking massive chambers and grand halls. Thankfully, this gave her the confidence to explore the castle But Leila wasn’t actually alone. She didn’t notice that someone had been following her in the shadows from the second she stepped out from the bedchamber. Soon, she came upon a vast gallery off to the side of the flourishing garden. The room gave her an indescribable feeling. The sensation was undeniably beautiful, but also troubling. It was twice long as it was wide, and it was filled with numerous rare oddities; swords, shields, and finely-forged melee weapons were all symmetrically displayed in the space. At the end of the gallery, a shiny round button, made of obsidian and roughly the size of Leila’s palm, was inlaid on the wall. She was drawn in by its beauty. An obscure, mythica
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 11. The Sigh of a Fallen Bloom
Nyree knelt on the ground to avoid direct eye contact with the dragon prince. As Thorn put on his clothes, he approached Leila, touching her hair. Hiding his surprise, he asked, “You found your maid already?” “Yes, this is Nyree.” Leila grinned, deciding to leave out the fact that she had almost entered his mother’s tomb. “We met in the garden, and she’s helping me organize my clothes.” Thorn nodded and gave Nyree a brief look. “Be loyal to Leila from now on.” “Aye.” Nyree put her hand to her chest. “You may leave us now,” Thorn said, reaching out to Leila in an attempt to lift her up. Nyree left without lifting her head and closed the door behind her. She couldn’t help but smile; she had successfully become Leila’s maid without drawing suspicion. Dusk was falling outside the open window. The evening breeze chilled Leila’s bare skin, causing her to indulge in Thorn’s warm embrace. He held Leila up by her waist and put her down directly on the bed. The image of her in the dress,
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 12. The Dragon Moon
The sun had set behind the mountains, and dusk was approaching. A majority of the golden knights had been sent to the main palace for Rina’s Dragon Moon. Only a small squadron, led by Hugo, was discreetly searching the city and the dragon palace, seeing as Leila’s aunt, uncle and cousins had all disappeared from the Royal Garrison last night. Hugo met with Thorn in front of the main palace dungeon. “Anything?” Thorn asked. “No.” Hugo shook his head, “We searched everywhere. Still no sign of any of them. The human slaves arrived and were crowded into the cells. I didn’t have the right to interfere. But I checked, and they are not among them.” Thorn’s suspicions were correct. Something would happen at tonight’s ceremony. They walked into the open yard where the event would be held. At the very center of the space, a towering altar had been built. Grooves were engraved into its surface and snaked into a massive totem of a dragon. Rina would complete her Dragon Moon there. He ordered Hu
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 13. The Break of Dawn
The atrium of the main castle was quiet during the night’s final dream, soon to awaken. The King’s council chamber was old and full of dust. Eros had already awoken from the darkness, and was sitting by a gigantic stone hearth. Usually, he would have eaten breakfast at this hour, but instead, he chose to delay that for a moment, as he was expecting Thorn’s arrival. While waiting, Eros watched the dancing fire as his mind drifted miles away. A terrible dream, the same dream that crept up in his bed every night, had haunted him for a long time. Thorn walked by dim rooms and halls. Servants were dexterously getting ready to attend to their chores and start the day. Thorn had finally approached the gigantic, heavy marble door. “Come in,” Eros demanded with a flat tone, as if he could sense his son’s presence. Thorn pushed in and closed the door behind him. “Father. I hope I’m not intruding.” “Not at all. I knew you would come.” Eros turned around from the fire in the hearth. He moved
Last Updated : 2022-05-18The Flaming Heart 14. The Midnight Moan
Leila sat out on the bedchamber terrace alone. It was approaching midnight, and Thorn still hadn’t returned. After the Dragon Moon, and after her family had been slaughtered by the royals, something changed inside her. A feeling of insecurity emerged, as if she was trying to grab a floating branch while drowning. She suddenly realized how fragile and alone she was in the world, and it terrified her. She wanted to scream and fight with Rina and the queen. But all she could do was hide in the bedchamber. Leila opened the bundle her aunt had given her. Inside, there was a pitch-black flute stone with a hollow core. She observed it under the bright moonlight. She had never seen anything like it before. The smooth surface looked alien to her, but extravagantly beautiful. A sense of grief weighed down on her again. She had officially become an orphan, without ever knowing her birth mother and father. In the dark sky, she saw a red dragon coiling above the main castles. Then, the dragon l
Last Updated : 2022-05-18
Latest chapter
The Flaming Heart Epilogue
Bolts of lightning snaked out from the scepter and scorched the entire dragon skeleton. The energy of the almighty power had given a life to the dormant, ancient bones. It was the undying existence of Father Dragon. The ashes were his flesh, burnt and crystallized.Thorn felt his dragon spirit quiver and heart grow empowered. He looked down at Leila. Her skin was glistened with a creamy glow, like a pearl, as she held the scepter like a goddess. He sensed that she was different; a more powerful being was connected to her soul.Then, the dragon eggs were lit up one by one. Soon, they illuminated the entire room.Olcan withdrew to the back of the room and tried to get away, but he was spotted by Thorn.The dragon scooped him up with his claws, then smashed him onto the ground, flashing his teeth and ready to bite off Olcan's head.Ben suddenly appeared behind them. He walked forward, restraining the urge to shift into a wolf. He moved past Leila to reach Thorn. His skin tickled from the
The Flaming Heart 62.The Moonlight
The MoonlightLeila was free-falling. Her hair was flying upwards. She was surrounded by darkness. She tried to reach, to grab onto anything around her, but there was nothing she could do to slow the fall. Fear flashed across her mind, but it was too brief to take notice. The faint gleaming of the scepter in her hands anchored her—it was a part of her. The constant noise of water sloshing was gone. She felt a tickling sensation in her throat as the air became drier and hotter. Then she heard the same whisper again,Sla..thar... Sla.. thar..As the sound grew louder and clearer, for the first time ever, Leila felt the power the word carried with it. It seemed like some sort of energy was resonating within her, shattering her muscles and bones, affecting her mind and thoughts as if an unknown power was waiting for her, and it was buried deep down below.She couldn’t possibly know how far she had been falling. When she landed, the ground was strewn with smoldering ashes and cushioned her
The Flaming Heart 61. The Fire Gem
Thorn stepped up. He placed himself between Olcan and the water sphere Leila and his baby were in.He stared at the wolf king with a deadly glare, and said with the coldest tone possible, as if every syllable was made of a sharp blade, “It was you all along.”Olcan responded with a wicked grin, pulling the string of the crossbow in his hands, aiming at the sphere, “I suggest you back off, dragon prince, if you don’t want to die with Mother Dragon. I should have killed her along with her annoying husband that day. But after I finally killed that old wretch, I was already too exhausted, giving her a chance to escape.”“But Eros’ ring... how did you get the ring?” Ula asked impatiently with a bewildered expression.“I think I know what happened that night,” Thorn answered, his gaze unwaveringly glued to Olcan as he inched towards Eros with small steps, “Olcan killed my mother and the Luna Queen. Then, he stole Eros’s ring while he was drunk and asleep in Amaya’s chamber. What always both
The Flaming Heart 60. The Mother Dragon
Olcan stood over the rampart, looking down on the ancient draconic city resting under the darkness. The palace was fully under his control. He was the first-ever werewolf king to accomplish standing at the dragon realm capital's highest point. But there was still a hole in his heart that couldn't possibly be healed.“My king,” one of his sentries approached and reported, “The dragon warriors, the so-called "Dark Wings," surrounding the palace were all captured.”“What about the brute prince and his foolish knights?” Olcan withdrew himself from the city view and moved back into the torch light.“All were put in the dungeons.”“Any casualties?”“No. The Frost Stones were very effective. As soon as the stones touched their skin, they were incapable of moving.”“You’ve done well,” Olcan gritted his teeth, “They underestimated us in every possible way, thinking I could easily fall for this imbecile's trickery.” He walked over to Serlon, who was bruised and swollen, lying in a pool of his o
The Flaming Heart 59. The Lunar Eclipse
Fenris had been tied to the back of a horse-drawn carriage. His body ached from sitting on the hard, wooden panels but was incapable of doing anything about it. Ulric’s corpse lay right beside him and had already started to emit a rotten smell.Normally, a werewolf’s corpse wouldn’t decay so quickly, just within an hour. But tonight was a special exception. A cold shiver suddenly washed over Fenris. Utter darkness had befallen the dragon land. He felt in his bones that the power of the moon had vanished. As far as he knew, the lunar eclipse wouldn’t be long—one or two hours at the most. He needed to survive it, then find a chance to escape.With quiet neighing, the horses stopped. The carriage pulled over on an empty alleyway. Fenris stayed put and tried to catch every sound passing through his ears. Someone was coming for him.“How was the trip?” Hugo flashed a grin at Fenris and pulled him out of the carriage. He then dragged him all the way into a dark house. Fenris was surprised b
The Flaming Heart 58. The Ring
Thorn forced his eyes open. The sharp water spear had become deformed, dissolving into the ocean water. He saw queen Amaya drop lifelessly onto the ground. King Eros was standing next to her. Eros picked up a handful of bubbling shells, buried his nose in them, and took in a big gulp of fresh air.“Dragon King,” Ula drawled, keeping a safe distance, “I didn’t expect you'd dare come here.”“I had to,” Eros lifted his face up from the shells, feeling better with ample air in his lungs, “I had a feeling you would make a move tonight. The streams’ mirrored surfaces only confirmed it.”Thorn looked back to Amaya, observing the fresh cut on her throat. “How did she die?”Eros glanced briefly at Thorn, dodging away from answering directly the question.“Who killed her?” Thorn pushed again, fixing his gaze on Eros.“Why are you looking at me like that?” Eros snapped, suddenly annoyed, “I did! Alright?” He raised his voice. “I had to. The capital is going to be attacked by werewolves! There wa
The Flaming Heart 57. The Golden Badge
Like a dark, looming storm, every werewolf squadron had set off for King’s Harbor under Olcan’s command. They moved faster than the night wind, carrying light-weight but incredibly deadly weapons made of frost stone. It was the night of the Lunar Eclipse, the strongest ever since the dragon race had lost their spirits. The werewolves believed that, if they could conquer the dragon palace, the first beam of searing moonlight would bless them with a century’s-worth of glory, power, and endless fortune. As for their eternal rivals, the dragons would lost their position in the world and fall to the Northern Realm, all thanks to the wolves’ frost stone.“Our fiercest enemy,” Fenris said to Olcan as they left the marshland, “the black dragon, he’s already dead.”“Your meticulous research amazes me, Brother,” Olcan said to Fenris without looking at him, “I underestimated you. I thought you were merely a careless man.”Fenris chuckled, hair prickled on his skin. “I’m glad to be of help. My me
The Flaming Heart 56. The Hidden Desert
Leila heard the voice again. It was louder and clearer this time. Sla-thar.. It came from down below, but it was too dark to see anything from her current distance. A faint reflection of the moon loomed beside Leila as she sunk downwards, cradled in Thorn’s arms. Unlike the cold and remote moon in the sky, its silver light was blazing hot, like the sun hanging over a parched desert. The path ahead was endless. The farther they went, the less it looked like an underwater world. It was the fishy scent that reminded her that she was deep in a river. The pain in her belly was subsiding; it mellowed into a slight discomfort instead of a sharp, breathless ache. What was more disconcerting than the pain was the rate of its growth. Leila’s belly was growing larger at an unprecedented rate. Thorn put his hand on it, feeling its heartbeat. Leila stared at him through the transparent bubbles on their heads, trying to decipher what he was thinking. His thick dark hair swayed in the water. H
The Flaming Heart 55. The Girl in the Room
Fenris was in a rather good mood. He just got a message from the spies he had sent to the Craggy Mountains; they reported that they had seen Thorn die with their own eyes, lying in bed and as his knight mourned. However, unbeknownst to him, it was a fake message—Hugo had forced the spies to write it with swords pointed to their necks before he finished them off for good.James and Serlon had escorted the crossbred girls back to their homes and had made sure any remaining Green Robes had surrendered or were executed. Unfortunately, Luca had died. The pain of losing one eye to Leila and further torture from Thorn was even too much for him to withstand.This city is soon to be mine, Fenris thought. He had dreamt of this moment for a long time. He strode across the damp ground, and the scent of the night seemingly became sweeter. The moon’s light was fading. It’s almost time to for their final strike. In high spirits, he entered the tent where his big brother was waiting.To his surprise,
