Chapter 87 The Unmatched Love
"My only fault was that I fell in love," the man said.
Those words hit him hard because he felt the same way. He was desperate to know more now. He stayed very still, listening closely, as the stranger’s story started to sound exactly like his own.
"What kind of love was that?" Orion asked. He raised his brow and waited, wanting to hear the rest.
"The incomplete kind," the man answered. "The kind of love that never met. It just burned the lovers slowly."
His voice was withered and weak as he said those words. He sounded like a man who had been on fire for a long time. Orion felt a heavy sadness in the room, realizing this love was the reason for all the man's pain.
"I don't understand you," Orion said. He was confused and tried to make sense of the man's words, but he couldn't find the connection.
"The Queen of Dragons... Aerona," the man whispered.
Orion felt a wave of distress. He had heard that name many times when he was a child. But his memory was blurry and dark. The only thing he could clearly remember was the terror of the last fight.
Everything else was a fog, but the name Aerona made his chest tighten with a strange, old pain.
"We fell in love with each other," the man said. "But we knew we were not a good match." He broke into another heavy cough.
Orion smirked as he listened.
The stranger's words made him remember his own story. He thought about the King of Darkness and how he had fallen in love with the Dragon of Golden Light.
It was the same kind of impossible love. Orion felt a deep connection to the prisoner now, realizing they both carried the same heavy secret in their hearts.
"The enemies who should be killing each other are the ones saving each other," Orion whispered.
"Why are you smirking?" the man asked. He heard the rasp in Orion's throat and confronted him.
"Do you think I am lying?"
The man’s voice turned tough and sharp. Instead of answering, Orion let out a louder sneer. He found it bitter and funny that they were both trapped for the same kind of unmatched love.
"This is not about you, this is about me," Orion said. A soft smile stayed on his lips. "I have found myself in an unmatched love too."
The air in the cell felt heavy as Orion spoke again. "The light of life has been found in the darkness of death."
The stranger went silent. Those words gave him the chills. He realized that Orion wasn't just a prisoner he was a man who had found something beautiful in a very dark place, just like he had.
"Why would that happen?" the man asked.
Orion just smiled. "Before I tell you my story, I want to hear yours first," he demanded.
He heard the man let out a dry, tired chuckle.
"This is the first time in my life I am saying this out loud," the stranger said. "I don’t think I will ever see the daylight again. So, I want to share it with someone who can live it with their own life, ."
The man took a deep breath and continued his story.
"The queen Aerona was my love, but destiny was never meant to rejoin us, but to break this love and make us stranger for each other," He let out as Orion was listening to his voice carefully, as his soul was craving for that story.
"One day, a filthy gaze of the incoming dragon king fell on her, and as her beauty was remarkable the cannot resist the urge to marry her," Orion's ears got stunned as he heard the same thing.
" Our kind was notorious, the infamous one," he gasped and continued, "We were not allowed to live so how could we be allowed to someone who is so pristine and deserves every love in this world," he let out as his throat cracked.
"My father forced me to marry a woman I didn't even know," the man said, his voice withering. "And Aerona... she was married off to the Dragon King."
He sounded completely broken. "I couldn't get her out of my mind. I wanted her. She was mine. How could this happen? My heart was flooded with questions."
He let out a sharp gasp as tears began to flow.
"But I was trapped. The cold reality held me down. I destroyed the life of the innocent woman who married me. She wanted love and affection, but she got a broken man. I couldn't heal the scars on my soul."
Orion felt a heavy weight in his chest. This man’s story was full of regret, and it was clear that his forced marriage had hurt everyone involved.
"I was not able to accept the reality of unmatched love, our kind hate that dragon king, and I wanted to kill him, that urge was strengthened as he married the love of my life," his voice got heavy.
"Aerona never wanted me to do that, I know this would break her, but who would be responsible for all that happened to me?"
"I asked everyone but got nothing, We were survivors, we needed to hide from the dragons of the Drakon world," As he let out and Orion felt a strong connection.