The Dragon King

Chapter 22

Duke Antonio Fairmore of the Imperial City, Vrinian

IMPERIAL CITY, VRINIAN

Refusing to listen to the people calling after him, Antonio climbs the long stairways and runs the corridors. He doesn't stop and hasn't stopped since he received the urgent message containing the devastating news of his family. It came nearly an hour after Marnie's grand departure, and he left immediately. He only gave enough information to Zircon for the sudden disappearance, not that Zircon cared much about anything at that moment.

One person manages to stop him, causing him to skid to a stop before running her over. "Tia!" Though the message said nothing of her fate specifically, he feared the worst. "You are alright?"

"I am fine, Tony." Despite being heartbroken over losing her best friend, Tatiana is grateful to have him back. "It isn't me you need to worry yourself over."

Antonio pulls away slightly and stares down at her. "What happened? The message was so vague."

"It had to be." Tia takes a deep breath and lets it out, but she is clearly shaken. He can see that she hasn't slept, and if she has, she faces haunting nightmares. "Everything happened so quickly. I have never seen anything like it before." She shakes her head while flinching when she closes her eyes, remembering everything once again. "I was going to dinner, and I had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. I had thought it was about you, but the closer I got to everyone else, it got so much worse. By the time I got to the room, it was too late. Your parents are gone, Antonio."

He is numb by this point, and the news hasn't sunk in enough for him to break down yet. "Dominic and Jessamine?" He inquires while searching his wife's tearful gaze.

"Jessa is gone too." Her voice finally cracks, and she whimpers. "I was there, by her side. The baby survived but at the expense of Jessa's life." Knowing she needs comforting, Antonio pulls her close, and she clings to him, finally allowing someone to see her break. "She knew the poison was killing her, and she refused to let it take the baby too. She never even got to meet her son. She was so brave, and it wasn't fair."

"And Dominic?" He almost doesn't want to know. Losing his brother is his breaking point.

"He is alive, but only just." She pulls back and sniffs. "The physicians say he doesn't have long. I fear you made it just in time. I think he was waiting to see you one last time."

Antonio takes a deep breath and lets it out, but the sound that comes out is crackled and strange. He is crying; he realizes it now. Not the kind of crying that makes you fall to the floor as if your world has fallen to pieces, but the kind of crying that is slow and long-lasting, like the pain that he knows will never go away.

Tatiana had been stationed outside Dominic's door while a physician was looking him over. The door now opens with a creak, and both Tia and Antonio glance at it to see the elderly doctor emerge. The look on his face says everything. "There is nothing more I can do." He mumbles with the appearance of a man who has failed. He walks away in a slow shuffle of defeat with lost eyes.

Antonio hesitates and takes Tia's hand. "I need you." He isn't looking at her, but he knows she looks up at him. In answer, she squeezes his hand once. Dominic's room is dark despite the bright and colorful setting sun beyond the thick and drawn curtains. Antonio hates it, and he barely notices as Tia walks over to them and pushes them aside. Dominic deserves to see the sunset one last time.

"I was wondering when you would show up." The Vrinian king's voice is hoarse and barely audible, but despite being near death, he cracks a grin. "Always on your own time...late for everything."