Chapter 504: Uncertainty

Meanwhile, in a chamber several meters above the dungeon....

Irene lay on her back, staring silently at the ceiling as her thoughts wandered.

Then she felt this sudden sensation as her eyes widened.

For a moment, Irene barely moved, almost afraid she was imagining the sensation.

But there was no mistaking it. Dragons could sense their kin on a level most other races could not, especially when the bond was as close as blood.

Irene abruptly sat upright, the surprise in her eyes unlike anything.

Ethan was here.

He was somewhere nearby. And if he was, then her husband was here as well, and they had come to get her as he promised.

The realization sent her heart pounding, but the sudden movement also drew the attention of the dragon stationed outside the chamber.

Xygias, the Lightning Dragon, turned toward her at once. His gaze settled on Irene through the entrance, watching her closely.

Irene was powerful in her own right, and the Dragon Emperor knew that.

Freeing her from the restraints in the dungeon did not mean he intended to give her any real freedom. She was way too important to him for that.

That was why he placed an Elder Dragon like Xygias outside her chamber.

The Lightning Dragon said nothing as he watched her for several seconds before eventually looking away again.

But the brief attention served its purpose, reminding Irene to be careful.

Whatever was happening below, Xygias didn’t seem to realize it yet.

Irene slowly settled herself, forcing down the immediate urge to act. She was free of the chains now, but one wrong move could create a much bigger problem.

With her Space Affinity, she could attempt to teleport from the chamber and reappear somewhere below, perhaps even return directly to the dungeon where she sensed Ethan.

But Xygias was a Lightning Dragon.

His movements were extraordinarily fast, fast enough that Irene couldn’t be certain teleportation alone would allow her to escape him before he reacted.

Her ability to teleport using her space affinity had a ramp-up time disadvantage. Against the speed of the lightning dragon, she was at a loss.

And after more than a decade of imprisonment, her body was nowhere near the condition it needed to be in for a confrontation with an Elder Dragon.

She needed to think.

She needed to—

’Irene.’

Her entire body froze at the sound of Nathan’s voice coming from inside her mind.

For a second, Irene forgot about Xygias.

Nathan was truly here and that realization nearly broke her.

More than a decade of separation, of hearing his voice only through the strange refuge his magic sometimes created for them, and now he wasn’t somewhere impossibly far away.

He was close.

Close enough that every instinct in her body screamed at her to go to him.

’Nathan," Irene answered through the connection.

-

Several meters below, amid the chaos unfolding throughout the dungeon, Nathan sat away from the battle with his eyes closed.

He took no part in the fighting around him as his attention was fixed upon the Astral connection he shared with Irene.

The moment he heard Irene answer, some of the tension in his expression broke.

She was alive and close.

But they still had one huge problem.

’Where are you?’ Nathan asked. ’We’ve come to get you out of here, but we have to do it now.’

Irene’s gaze stayed fixed on the entrance to her chamber as she answered him. ’They moved me. Somewhere higher in the palace, and closer to the Emperor.’

Just as Nathan responded, the heavy beat of wings drew Irene’s attention outside.

Yvnil descended before the chamber, landing a few meters from Xygias as her wings folded against her back.

The Meteor Dragon glanced toward Irene, then turned to Xygias and leaned closer to whisper something to him.

Irene continued speaking with Nathan while watching them carefully, unable to make out most of what Yvnil said.

Then one word reached her.

"...intruders."

Irene’s expression changed.

In the same moment, yellow lightning erupted around his body, and in the next instant, the Elder Dragon disappeared down the passage in a streak of electricity.

’Nathan!’ Alarm filled Irene’s voice through their connection. ’Nathan, please listen to me. You have to go. Xygias is coming.’

Yvnil turned toward the chamber and started walking inside.

That confirmed more of Irene’s assumptions; they knew

Whatever happened in the dungeon alerted the dragons, and with Xygias leaving to deal with the intruders, Yvnil was taking his place as Irene’s guard.

’Irene—’

’Please, my love,’ she cut Nathan off before he could argue. ’We’ll figure this out. I promise you, we will. But you have to leave now.’

Nathan fell silent.

’Xygias will be there any moment.’

Irene wanted nothing more than to teleport straight into the dungeon herself. Ethan and Nathan were finally here, only a short distance below her after all these years.

But doing that now would only make matters worse.

Yvnil stood between her and the exit, while Xygias was already racing toward the dungeon.

If Irene attempted to force her way down there, Yvnil would follow, adding another powerful dragon to a battle that was already escalating.

And directly above all of this was the Dragon Emperor.

If the commotion below hadn’t drawn his attention already, it soon would.

Once he became involved, Irene couldn’t predict how any of this would end.

She needed Nathan to understand that. And to understand that whatever chance they possessed to withdraw cleanly was already disappearing.

Xygias was on his way.

——

Meanwhile, in the dungeon...

The battle continued around Nathan.

Any argument that might have broken out between Morgana and Ethan over remaining in the dungeon ended when Bella intervened, instructing Morgana to give Nathan time to reach Irene and determine where the dragons moved her.

Morgana had reluctantly agreed and for the next several minutes, the rest of the team fought within a tighter perimeter around Nathan, preventing any of the dragons from reaching him while he sat cross-legged in their midst.