Chapter 65

“Valiance wait, your shackles” Damien knew it was futile even before he had a chance to complete his sentence. Valiance would not be stopped now. With feet tied in chains, he hobbled as fast as he could. But even if he was Valiance fucking D’evreux, he could not reach the fortress with bound hands and feet. So shaking his head at his friend, Damien lunged after him, got ahead, and spread his wings as soon as he hit open air. As Valiance came into sight, he snatched him up and flew hard towards the fortress. Saying that his heart was about to break free of his ribcage would be a severe understatement.

But what did they know about the girls?

Damien was even surer of the fact that Velarians were behind the kidnapping after knowing that they had sealed their border with Evreux. He didn’t get much to ruminate over the news before reaching the fortress. A sentry stood at attention outside the doors and Damien sent him to bring the keys for Val’s manacles. Damien let go of his best friend before landing after him without finesse. He tucked his wings in and hurried after Val to the formal drawing room. The king rarely used the throne room and he would, given his way, like to turn it into anything other than a throne room.

“Father” Valiance barely remembered to greet his father and turned towards the visitors like they held the moon in their palms for him. And considering what they had to tell about, they might as well be. If they found the Prince of Evreux’s shackled state any odd, they did their best to not let it on. Even before they had a chance to greet them both properly, Valiance asked them what news they’d brought. And Damien was kind of elated that Valiance did that because he didn’t want to be the one to ask and break protocol in front of his king out of sheer respect.

“Master Adriel of Astoria sent us. Our scouts found two girls washed ashore in the river Astor and brought them in for treatment. We weren’t told much about the situation, just to come to you and bring you home to Astoria”.

“What kind of treatment?” Damien beat Valiance to the question burning them both.

“They were injured, probably by falling in the river but as I said we don’t know any more details about them”. One of them answered politely.

“Let’s go” Valiance urged as soon as a sentry succeeded in letting him free of his binds.

“Wait son” the king spoke for the first time, “Our guests had a very long and tiring flight. Let them rest a bit”.

“Father please” Valiance begged.

“What if…” Damien cut in, finding himself as eager to leave as his friend, “what if we go ahead and these guys can follow in the morning? Besides Adriel’s a friend and mated, he would understand”.

Valiance shot him a grateful glance. King Dragomir looked at the messengers for their approval and as soon as they gave their assent, Valiance was in motion.

“Go and take Fenrys with you. Atleast someone needs to have a good head on their shoulders” the king muttered.

Both of them bid hasty farewells and left to prepare for the journey ahead.

…………………………………………

Two more days passed and Sarah still lay unconscious… barely breathing… stuck in limbo between life and death. These days, Adriel had been a constant source of comfort for Raegan… a good friend… and a much needed company. Nights brought nightmares with them… nightmares where she was still a captive and Titan still tortured her day and night. And days brought endless wait… wait for Sarah to wake up… wait for her mate to come back to her.

The only solace was the news of Valiance’s expected arrival. It wasn’t like Raegan didn’t appreciate Adriel’s company, which, despite being busy with his duties as the chief of town, he made sure just for her sake. But being away from Valiance was taking its toll on her. The kidnapping, the torture, the shift, loss of Tristan, and now watching Sarah struggle for her life… it was all too much for her to handle without him.

She’d told Adriel all about her wild adventure and how she ended up in Evreux in the first place… and how she came back with Sarah to seek peace and a home for her restless soul. “The mate bond pulled you back”, Adriel had said, his eyes shining no doubt with the memory of his own mate who was currently out of town to visit her family.

Footsteps sounded outside her bedroom door. There was something like urgency in those steps that made her hurry out of bed and out the door in a minute. She found Adriel along with Sarah’s healer coming towards her.

“Is she awake? Tell me she’s alright?” her voice wavered.

“She is still unconscious but Raegan she is not doing very well. We’ll need to inject her with dragon blood as a last resort to help her body in healing itself. And we’ll have to do it soon. It is risky because she is human but we don’t have any other choice. If we wait any longer we risk losing her”.

She inhaled sharply, fear tearing through her gut.

“Only if she had a dragon mate”, he continued, “It wouldn’t have been risky then. The mate bond would’ve made sure of it”. He tsked.

“She has a mate – Damien. He’ll be with Val”, she hurried into the explanation, “she hasn’t accepted it yet, but I’m sure she feels the pull of the bond. Can it still work Adriel?” hope bloomed inside her once again.

“I’m sure it will” he reassured with a smile.

“When will they be arriving? It’s more than two days now”.

“They’ve crossed the border through the woods of Anador. Those woods join our kingdom to yours and are the fastest and shortest route possible. They should be here within hours” he patted her cheek “Don’t lose hope Raegan. She’ll be fine. She has fight in her still”.

She nodded and they headed towards the healing quarters with the healer in tow.

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