Chapter 15: The Midnight Moan

Leila sat out on the bedchamber terrace alone. It was approaching midnight, and Thorn still hadn’t returned.

After the Dragon Moon, and after her family had been slaughtered by the royals, something changed inside her. A feeling of insecurity emerged, as if she was trying to grab a floating branch while drowning. She suddenly realized how fragile and alone she was in the world, and it terrified her.

She wanted to scream and fight with Rina and the queen. But all she could do was hide in the bedchamber. Leila opened the bundle her aunt had given her. Inside, there was a pitch-black flute stone with a hollow core. She observed it under the bright moonlight. She had never seen anything like it before. The smooth surface looked alien to her, but extravagantly beautiful.

A sense of grief weighed down on her again. She had officially become an orphan, without ever knowing her birth mother and father.

In the dark sky, she saw a red dragon coiling above the main castles. Then, the dragon landed on a protruding balcony and transformed to a naked woman. Her silver hair danced against the moonlight. It was Rina. Then, it struck Leila. *Was Rina the one who called upon him? At this hour of the night? The kingdom’s affairs could usually wait until the sun came out… What did she want from him*?

Leila’s heart couldn’t help but quake. By merely thinking about that woman, Leila’s whole body trembled with fear and anger. To imagine that she was with him, in the same room, Leila’s head ached and thudded with loud thoughts.

She paced across the bedchamber in anguish. If not for Rina, innocent humans and her family wouldn’t have been slaughtered like animals. They would still be breathing on earth. All thanks to Rina. She was also enraged by the way Rina talked with Thorn and looked at him. She was a tease and a nasty little flirt. Leila tried to put all of her thoughts aside, but they always came back. She put the stone safely away and decided to sneak into the main castle to find out what they were doing.

Inside the council chamber of the palace, the door was shut tightly. A fire was ignited in the giant hearth. Thorn had just arrived. Dagen was standing at the center. Remus leaned against the wall. The queen, Amaya, was sitting at the hardwood table, beside the king, Eros.

“Did someone die?” With a flighty smile, Rina stepped in the room from the patio while slipping on a silky white robe.

“It’s not a good time for your little jokes,” Dagen remarked.

“What’s the matter?” Rina asked and realized the unusual air hanging in the chamber.

The men in Ironedge was outlandishly wiped out,” Amaya stated, as she tilted her head up.

Eros looked at Amaya out of the corner of his eye with an unchanging expression, even without the presence of the royal court which majorly controlled by the queen, Amaya still dared to speak before the king. But he didn’t say anything for now, instead he confirmed her claim. “Ironedge was always heavily guarded. We’ve never had any trouble before. This strange event should not be underestimated.”

“Any ideas who did this?” Dagen pursued.

“A royal crow was sent to me through the wind, carrying this, then it died of exhaustion.” Eros threw a blood-stained note onto the table.

Dagen took it and read out loud, “The North is here. Ironedge is gone. We guarded it with honor.”

A deathly silence fell over the chamber. The shock was plain on the faces of the princes and princess. They shivered at the mere mention of the North, as if the word itself had the ability to strike their dragon bones with a frigid blow.

“We need someone to look into it, from the clouds.” Eros finally broke the silence, “Not the knights and swordsmen. Without the dragon spirits, they are too slow on foot. A real dragon is needed, urgently.”

Amaya and Remus looked at each other briefly before breaking their shared gaze.

“Could it be a trick?” Rina speculated.

“If it was, then the crow would have known. A royal crow would never deliver a false message without resting its wings,” Eros stated.

“A threat from the North,” Amaya said with a gusto, “It intrigues me. The long-shadowed ghosts have suddenly decided to strike. I would say it’s not worth our time or fear.”

“I doubt it,” Thorn objected, “I personally chose the men guarding Ironedge. They were the toughest men in this kingdom, and held the outer wall of our reign. They wouldn’t be easily annihilated.”

“Maybe the black dragon prince needs to sharpen his eyes when picking guardsmen,” Amaya provoked airily.

“Oh, my queen, trust me. My eyes are just fine.” Thorn countered.

“Thorn,” Eros cut in, after studying the sturdy and impetuous Dagen, his second born, and Remus’s dark and sly face, “Go north and come back as fast as you can. Be careful.” The king hid his deep concern and made his demands flatly.

Thorn nodded and strode over to the balcony. Rina stepped forward and tried to say something, but swallowed her words. The remaining royals in the chamber had been dismissed shortly after, and they would patiently wait for Thorn’s return. The black dragon was the fastest and strongest. He was always the one to provide protection and security. He raced northward with his duty in his heart, as the knowledge of the lost men in Ironedge aggrieved him.

Rina was the last to leave the chamber. She had seen Leila making her way toward the main castle from the window, but had decided to hide this fact from Thorn and use it to her advantage. She came downstairs and grabbed a golden knight guard. “Be quiet and come with me.”

They entered in a room on the path that Leila would take through the castle. She deliberately left the door cracked open. Under the dim candlelight, everything was in near-darkness. Rina sat on a table with her back facing the entrance. The golden knight was demanded to kneel before her. She took off her robe halfway and spread her legs.

Meanwhile, Leila had lost her way. The main castle was like a maze in the dark. She could only pace forward with her unsure instincts. She thought she needed to go to the second floor, where Rina had landed before. But a candlelight had shimmered in the corner of her eye. She walked towards it unwittingly. A lusty moan had caught her attention. It sounded like Rina’s flirtatious voice. Leila moved closer to the doorway and peeked in.

“Ahh…mmm…” Rina whispered, while the knight licked between her thighs. She grasped his head tightly and forbade him from moving. “Right there. I missed you..”

Leila saw the fountain of Rina’s silver hair cascading down her back, but couldn’t see who was in between Rina’s legs. She came closer to listen more clearly. She could sense that a terrible thing might be happening before her eyes, but she had to be sure, even if she knew it would hurt her.

“Mmm…Am I sweeter than Leila, Brother?” Rina moaned. The words pierced through Leila’s heart like an arrow. She ran away and didn’t dare listen any longer.

Leila couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her tears gushed out. The pain made her realize that how deep her feelings were for Thorn, how devastating it was to even imagine him with another woman. She didn’t actually see his face, and doubted that the man was really Thorn. But her emotions had overflown to a point that made it difficult to rely on her logical judgement. *How could she be stupid enough to believe that the black dragon prince had feelings for her*? Maybe she was just a toy to him all along.

She only wanted to escape. Maybe it was time for her to leave the castle after all. As soon as she arrived back at the prince’s castle, she took her mother’s stone, some clothes, and food for the journey, then made her way out of the prince’s castle without a word to anyone.

Before the Dragon Moon, Thorn had told her that her aunt’s house was still being rebuilt. The only place she could think to go was Arthur’s, the milk boy’s place. Leila called upon a small carriage and left the dragon palace for good.