Chapter 138 Two days
Chapter 138 Two days
~ Kael's POV ~
When I opened my eyes, the first thing that registered in my mind was the unfamiliar ceiling above me.
The wooden beams crossing overhead were nothing like the ones back at Ironfang, and for a few disoriented seconds I simply stared at them, trying to make sense of where I was and how I had gotten there. Panic surged through me instantly, wiping away every other thought.
“Lyra,” I whispered her name and immediately tried to push myself into a sitting position, only to realize my body refused to cooperate.
A glance downward revealed why. Thick restraints held me firmly against a wooden platform, keeping me pinned in place. My pulse spiked.
“Lyra,” I called again, louder this time, struggling against the bindings despite the protest from my body.
“No, no, no,” A strange female voice reached my ears before I could attempt it again. Turning toward the sound, I found a young woman hurrying toward me with concern written all over her face.
Her eyes were wide and anxious, and there was something almost frantic about the way she moved.
“Stay still,” she urged, lifting both hands as if trying to calm a wild animal. “You are injured.” Before I could demand answers, she spun around and raised her voice. “Papa, he's awake.”
“Lyra. Where is Lyra?” I asked once more.
The words came out rough and urgent, driven by a fear I could not suppress. Everything that happened before darkness claimed me replayed vividly in my mind, and the uncertainty was unbearable.
“She's fine,” the young lady replied quickly. “Please stay calm so the poison doesn't spread.”
The panic in her eyes only confused me further. If Lyra was truly fine, why did she look so worried? Questions crowded my thoughts. Who was she? Where exactly was I? Why was I restrained?
Before I could ask any of them, two more people entered the room. A man and a woman stepped inside, and the moment I saw the man clearly, recognition struck.
“You are awake,” he said, moving closer.
“Alpha Vale?” I stared at him in disbelief, my mind struggling to catch up with everything happening around me. “What are you doing here? Where is this place? Where is Lyra?”
The questions came one after another without pause. I didn't care how frantic I sounded. I needed answers. If Lyra's father was here, then Lyra should be here too right?
Alpha Vale closed the distance between us and crouched slightly, his expression calm despite my agitation.
“Lyra is fine,” he assured me. “She's outside waiting for you to recover. If you want to see her again, then you need to remain still so the poison inside your body can be neutralized. Don't move. Every unnecessary movement will cause it to spread further, and if that happens, you will not survive.”
His explanation brought my attention back to my own condition. Until then, my concern for Lyra had drowned out everything else, but now I became aware of the persistent pain radiating from my chest. The sensation intensified the more I focused on it. Then I remembered. Dagan had stabbed me.
“Should we give you some space?” Alpha Vale asked, directing the question toward the young lady who had been beside me since I woke up.
She immediately shook her head. “No, Papa. You need to stay here in case he breaks free from the restraints.”
Then she looked directly at me, sympathy and determination mixing in her gaze. “This is going to hurt.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she lifted her hands above my chest and began moving them in deliberate patterns while chanting spells under her breath.
The effect was instant. Agony exploded through my body with such force that every muscle locked up. The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
My entire frame began trembling violently against the wooden platform, and despite the restraints holding me down, I could feel myself straining against them. The sensation tore through me relentlessly, leaving me gritting my teeth and fighting the urge to scream.
Seeing how violently I reacted, Alpha Vale moved without hesitation and placed both hands against the restraints, reinforcing them with his own strength. He held me firmly in place while the young woman continued her work.
Minutes crawled by endlessly. Every second felt stretched into eternity as the pain continued to burn through my chest and veins. Sweat drenched my skin, my breathing became ragged, yet the chanting never stopped.
The young lady remained focused, refusing to break her concentration until nearly ten minutes had passed. Only then did the torment begin to ease.
Gradually, the unbearable intensity lessened, leaving behind a lingering ache that felt almost merciful by comparison. The young woman finally lowered her hands and stepped back, exhaustion visible on her face.
Once she finished, she left the tent alongside the other woman who had entered with Alpha Vale earlier.
Their departure left me alone with him, and the silence that followed felt unusually telling. I studied his expression carefully for several moments before finally speaking.
“Lyra is not here, is she?” I asked quietly. By then I already knew the answer. Something in the way everyone had spoken had made the truth impossible for me to miss.
For a moment he said nothing. Then he released a slow breath and met my gaze.
“She's not,” he admitted. “But she is safe, just as I told you. I only said she was here because I needed you focused on surviving. If I had told you the truth immediately, you would have fought every attempt to help you.”
His words did nothing to calm me down. In fact, it made dread coil tightly inside my chest. Lyra was somewhere out there while I lay helpless on a wooden platform, poisoned, wounded, and unable to reach her. Tha disturbed me far more than the pain did.
I kept my gaze fixed on him, trying to make sense of his confidence despite the fact that Lyra was nowhere near us. Every instinct inside me demanded action. Every second that passed felt wasted when I knew she was in enemy hands. Yet Alpha Vale remained remarkably composed, and that only made me question him more.
“If she is not here, then how are you sure she's safe?” I asked, my voice calmer than before despite the storm raging inside my head.
“Because I know,” Alpha Vale replied without hesitation. His confidence never wavered. “Valira needs her alive and will only kill her after they achieve what they have been working toward for years. For now, Lyra remains valuable to them, which means she is safe. The problem is that I cannot promise how long that safety will last. I cannot tell you with certainty that she will still be safe in two days.”
His answer immediately set alarm bells ringing in my head.
“What do you mean two days?” I asked, staring at him in confusion. Then another realization struck me. “You just said... wait. How long was I out?”
I suddenly wondered if far more time had passed than I realized. Panic threatened to rise again as countless possibilities crossed my mind.