The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 432: The Hunt Begins

"Kael."

Riley shifted slightly within the golden dragon’s embrace before quietly saying, "I’m alive. We’re alive."

It was actually the third time he’d said it.

The first had been for himself after making sure he was still in one piece. The second had been for his mate. The third was because Kael still didn’t seem to believe him.

The dragon lord continued holding him tightly against his chest as though he was still trying to protect him from an attack that had already ended.

But Riley didn’t complain about nearly being squeezed to death. Instead, he simply adjusted himself until he was comfortably resting against Kael, listening to the frantic pounding of his mate’s heart while absentmindedly rubbing slow circles across his chest in the hope that the familiar contact would eventually convince the golden dragon that they really had escaped.

And while part of it was because he genuinely wanted to reassure the clearly distressed dragon, a much bigger part was because he knew they couldn’t afford to remain like this forever.

As much as Riley wanted to give Kael more time to calm down, there was another problem sitting squarely in his hand. His fingers unconsciously tightened around the broken bracelet, and he was fairly certain he didn’t even need to look through the archives to know there wasn’t a single precedent for a Primordial Dragon’s gift ending up split apart.

More importantly, the other half was now in the possession of one extremely hair-raising Wyvern Queen.

That alone was enough to give him a headache.

The last Iltheran admittedly hadn’t spent very long among this strange coalition of beings that really shouldn’t exist, but he understood well enough where he stood.

Becoming a black dragon through the most unconventional yet legitimate path imaginable had left him with a level of strength that would’ve sounded ridiculous by almost anyone’s standards. Humans liked calling people with obscene amounts of money filthy rich. If there were an equivalent expression for strength, Riley was fairly certain he’d fall into that category.

Yet someone like the Wyvern Queen had still forced Kael to retreat.

That changed everything.

If even the dragon lord had decided the safest option was to escape, then they needed to rethink every plan they’d made. Bringing more people into a confrontation like that wouldn’t necessarily increase their chances of victory. More likely, it would simply increase the number of people who’d end up serving as cannon fodder.

Realizing they needed to warn everyone as soon as possible, Riley finally pulled away from Kael’s embrace and opened his mouth.

"Kael..."

The golden dragon continued staring at the vaulted ceiling before quietly answering, "I know."

That was a rather loaded admission, but if Riley were to unpack that, then he himself may just end up wanting to crawl into some corner.

So instead of doing just that, he pushed himself to his feet, only for his wrist to be caught by his stern husband.

"Don’t even think about confronting that woman by yourself."

The ex-mortal, who only a short while ago had believed his lifespan to be that of a mayfly compared to his beloved dragon’s, looked up at him in complete confusion.

Did Kael honestly think he was that overconfident?

Or that insane?

"Kael," Riley said, unable to stop himself from sounding faintly offended. "I swear I won’t. I don’t really have a death wish, you know."

He wasn’t saying it just to reassure his mate.

Nor was he trying to offer the same lip service those saints would so people wouldn’t worry about them.

He genuinely meant it.

After seeing what that woman was capable of, voluntarily seeking her out sounded less like bravery and more like a spectacular way to shorten one’s lifespan.

Unfortunately for Riley, the universe had a remarkably twisted sense of humor.

Because as much as he fully intended to keep that promise, there really were forces of evil in this world that seemed absolutely determined to make him sound like a liar.

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The first wave of attacks descended upon Eryndra like a storm.

After Riley and Kael returned to the MBE and informed everyone about what had transpired at the white dragon clan’s crypt, the atmosphere throughout the continent immediately shifted. Their cover had been blown, the Wyvern Queen now knew about Riley’s existence, and whatever advantage secrecy had once afforded them was effectively gone. From that moment onward, there was only one option left.

Prepare.

The day that followed was eerily quiet.

Like the unsettling calm before said storm, everyone threw themselves into their respective responsibilities. Messages were rapidly relayed across territories, defensive formations were reinforced, evacuation plans were reviewed, supplies were gathered, and those capable of fighting quietly began making peace with the fact that the confrontation they’d all been trying to postpone was now approaching far faster than anyone would’ve liked.

Kael and Lord Karion hardly had a moment to rest either. Together, they gathered the remaining dragon clans and informed them that the wyverns had been excavating and ransacking dragon crypts across Eryndra in an effort to revive the Wyvern Lord.

Needless to say, that revelation was met with immediate outrage.

The dragons had plenty of grievances with one another. Some openly disagreed with Kael’s leadership, others distrusted authority altogether, and there were certainly clans that would’ve gladly argued with one another under normal circumstances. But hearing that the resting places of their ancestors had been desecrated was one insult every dragon understood. For perhaps the first time in a very long while, the anger of the dragon clans found a common direction.

Unfortunately, so did their arrogance.

When Lord Karion warned them that the enemy they were about to face wasn’t one they could afford to underestimate, several clan leaders responded with little more than skeptical sneers. Some questioned whether the golden dragon clan was truly capable of leading them, while others dismissed the warning altogether, seemingly convinced that whatever threat had forced Kael to call them together couldn’t possibly be beyond their ability to handle.

Kael couldn’t have cared less.

He neither argued nor attempted to prove himself.

After delivering everything they needed to hear, the Dragon Lord simply turned around and left, his complete lack of interest in entertaining their pride making one thing abundantly clear.

Whether they listened or died because of their own hubris was entirely their own choice.

Compared to the dragons, the other magical races reacted with considerably more caution.

The elves immediately began reorganizing their territories, quietly relocating civilians toward safer regions while reinforcing their borders. The dwarves doubled down on fortifications. The beastkin increased patrols. Even races that typically preferred remaining uninvolved found themselves making preparations, because unlike the dragons, very few were arrogant enough to assume they couldn’t become the next target.

For a brief moment, it almost seemed as though they’d managed to stay one step ahead.

Defensive barriers had been activated.

Provisions had been secured.

Evacuation routes had been established.

Everyone waited.

Then the Wyvern Queen made her move.

Unlike before, when her followers had preferred quietly making people disappear without leaving so much as a trace, this time they abandoned subtlety altogether. They wanted to be seen. They wanted everyone to understand exactly what would happen to those who stood in their way, and so they built themselves a stage using corpses instead of wood, turning the dead into messages that every magical race would be forced to read.

Riley felt a knot tighten in his stomach the moment someone burst into the MBE to report that bodies had begun appearing throughout Eryndra.

He’d already developed a very bad feeling.

Sure enough...

He should’ve trusted it.

Because those bodies hadn’t simply been dumped there.

They’d been delivered like letters.

And written across them all was a single message.