Prince of Dragons

Chapter Fifty-Five

Alaban burst through the bedroom doors about fifteen minutes later, his eyes wide and panic evident on his face. My immediate response was guilt, and my chest tightened and twisted uncomfortably, but after silently yelling at myself, I decided to make myself known instead, so that he would see that I was ok.

"Ala—oof!"

As soon as I opened my mouth, those amber eyes snapped towards me, filling with relief before he launched at me and pulled me to him, his body shaking. I wrapped my arms around him, too worried about him to notice the stares I got from the others. In this moment, only Alaban mattered as I held his shaking form and comforted him—reassuring him that I was fine, and that no it was nothing he did, and that it was my age and the stress I had gone through that didn't help. Anything to make sure he was ok, and after half an hour had passed, he finally had calmed down and was now sipping at a steaming drink as we all sat around Evander's dining table.

"Aerylin...I know you often help Heltha with patching people up, and the like," Alaban spoke, his voice a bit scratchy as that amber gaze peered at me before flickering back, "Is there anything Drakell can do to prevent this from happening again? A-An herb? Remedy? Spell, even? He shouldn't have to worry about his nightmares ripping him away from me..."

Aerylin glanced at me with a slight frown. "Honestly? Being active can strengthen his heart. As well as not stressing so much about little things, and Drakell, before you open your adorable little mouth, yes you do worry about just about everything, and while some days its cute, stress is never healthy for the heart." She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. "You also should cut back on your meat intake, or anything that has a decent amount of grease on it and start eating more greens. You know what, I'll write off a list of foods I recommend eating, and I'll give it to you later."

"That...ok, yeah sounds good," I said, feeling a bit awkward. I looked towards Narvi, then to Alaban and gave him an awkward smile—which in turn made the sun dragon 's lips twitch. I wasn't sure what else to say, after all, what could I say? It didn't help that I felt incredibly anxious being the "subject of conversation", so to speak.

"I can help with the greens," Narvi spoke, which snatched my attention away from my thoughts, my gaze snapping towards him.

Aerylin nodded. "Perfect, if anyone knows about edible greenery, its Narvi! Anyway, y'all go shoo now, I've things to do, fiancé's to please...you know how it is."

I blinked and nodded, completely caught off guard as my pale cheeks darkened. "Oh, ok."

I stood up, and my little trio left Evander's home—the icy breeze greeting us as soon as we stepped outside. I shivered, and that had Alaban and Narvi pulling close to me, their bodies warm as we made our way back to the place we all called home.

My cheeks pinkened even more when they suddenly stopped walking and ambushed me with tight hugs that, honestly kind of made it hard to breathe with how tight they held me. But...I knew they needed this, so I let them hug me to their hearts content.

Honestly...I felt incredibly safe between their arms, and it gave me a sense of home that had me leaning in a bit closer to the duo.

"I'm sorry if...if I made the both of you worry like that—"

Immediately Alaban pulled back and gently grabbed my face, amber gaze sad as he looked at me. "Don't apologize, Drakell, you did nothing wrong. I love you. I worry because I don't want you to be taken from me."

I lowered my gaze, my heart heavy in my chest. I then grabbed his hand and kissed his palm, glancing back up into those amber eyes. "I love you too, Alaban."

Alaban's thumb brushed against my cheek, and a shiver went up my spine from the intensity of his gaze alone—though his eyes flickered to the side a moment later. "And I...I don't think you had a heart attack."

My brows furrowed, though my mind immediately went to my conversation with Narvi, and how he said Alaban thought as much. I turned, then glanced at said moon dragon with a nod. "Yeah, Narvi told me you thought as much. I'm not really sure myself with everything that happened..."

"Drakell, you are the healthiest, most active person I know. Your heart is probably the strongest one here, which means it surely cannot be a heart attack." Alaban stared at me for a moment, his eyes swirling with thought. "I-I'm...I feel like I sensed the residue of magic in our room, after I went to investigate, but I..." He shook his head. "Something is off and I'm going to figure out what it is."

My heart immediately filled with dread, and I couldn't help but instinctually glance around our surroundings. "Y-You think someone is trying to kill me?" I shook my head in disbelief. Why would someone want to kill me? I-I wasn't a mean person, I helped around the village if anyone needed it. Who among them hated me? So much that they wanted to take my life?

A warmth came back to my cheek and had me pulling out of my spiraling thoughts, my gaze focusing on Alaban's gentle face as he pressed a soft kiss against the corner of my lips. "I will not let anything happen to you, Drakell. I'd sooner give my own life to make sure you're ok." He also looked around, his gaze intense before he glanced back towards me. "Let's get home so we don't have this conversation in the open. I'd rather not be heard by prying ears, especially if someone here is conspiring against you.

"I don't hear anyone around," Narvi spoke, "however, Alaban is right. We probably should not be speaking so openly."

I nodded and together we headed back to the home the three of us had built with our own hands. The walk had been silent after that, though, my mind was a mess of thoughts and emotion at the prospect that someone was deliberately trying to kill me.

Who could it be? Why did they have a vendetta towards me? Did they just not like me?

Why?

I felt much better when we were behind the safety of our walls, and once the door was closed, Alaban immediately went to our bedroom—the man on a mission as his palms began to faintly glow that intense amber color.

I then felt a hand on my back, and I turned to look at Narvi. "Alaban is not wrong," he spoke softly, light eyes gleaming with a sincerity that I hadn't quite seen to this extent before, "we will find whoever tried to take you from us, and we will make them pay." He then stood on his toes and kissed my cheek, instantly catching me off guard before he pulled back and grabbed a small satchel off of the table. "I will return. While it may not be your health that did this to you, Aerylin was not wrong when she stated you do need to eat healthier. I am going to gather some food." He nibbled at his bottom lip. "I'll also be keeping a close eye out for anything unnatural."

With that, he was out, and my cheeks burned darkly as I lifted a hand to gently touch my cheek—my heart hammering in my chest.

When Alaban returned, I immediately dropped my hand, clearing my throat awkwardly as I stepped towards the sun dragon. "So...Narvi went out to gather some food. Um..." I nodded towards him, "were you searching for something? With your magic, I mean?"

Alaban nodded in response to both questions, his gaze still weary, but seemingly relieved as well as he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. "I wanted to try and see if I could sense the origin of the magic...try to see if it is similar to anyone I may know."

"And?" I prompted, causing him to gaze at me.

"I can't tell. It's...masked in a way that's more advanced than my capabilities. I couldn't even decipher what type of spell was used to harm you." He shook his head and kissed my cheek—the same one Narvi had kissed only seconds before. "I'm going to try to go to the library whenever we make our trek to the city and see if they possibly have anything that might help me find out who this individual is." He leaned his forehead on mine, hands finding their way onto my waist. "I'm tired of the fates trying to take you from me, Drakell."

I nodded in agreement, leaning closer to him to gather some comfort. "Me too, Alaban. Me too."