Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 160: The forest

Chapter 160: The forest

The moon had already risen in the sky, appearing enormous with a red hue emanating from it. Its brightness illuminated the entire night. However, Rhea didn’t care about the danger of the night, she ran out of the palace and headed towards the forest Lilac had said she’d seen Draven.

The moonlight made the frozen forest hazy and gloomy. It was ominously silent, and the still silence made Rhea more dreadful as she couldn’t find any signs of Draven despite having walked into the forest.

As she walked, Rhea heard a noise coming from the opposite direction and instinctively ran towards hoping it was Draven. However, she suddenly collided with someone, stumbling backwards from the impact. Initially thinking it was Draven, she prepared to scold him, but as she raised her head to face the person, her heart froze in fear at the sight of his golden eyes glaring down at her.

Startled, Rhea quickly distanced herself from the unfamiliar man before she could apologize for bumping into him. However, before she could speak, he clenched his teeth and sneered, "You must be the human girl from the palace, and you must be foolish to be alone out here." He began to approach her menacingly.

Rhea began to retreat as she sensed the danger in the man’s savage golden eyes. While many in the dragon realm knew about her presence in the palace, no one had ever posed a threat to her. However, she could sense that this man was different; he wasn’t going to let her escape easily.

"I’m out here looking for my friend, and I apologize for running into you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go my own way," Rhea said calmly, trying to conceal her fear. But the man continued to advance towards her, like a predator closing in on its prey. She realized that she was in no condition to use her ice powers, as she hadn’t fully recovered from the previous punishment of flame whips. If this strange man were to attack her, she had no means of defending herself.

The man threw back his head and let out a sinister laugh. Rhea felt the urge to flee, but she knew that she wouldn’t get far before he caught up to her.

"Go your own way? You humans are damned. I’d like to see you escape from me!" he exclaimed, before transforming into a massive dragon and roaring into the sky.

Rhea swiftly turned on her heels, ready to run. However, before she could make any significant distance, the dragon struck her with its tail, causing her to fall forcefully to the ground. She attempted to crawl away, but the creature pounced on her, using its clawed hand to pin her down. The dragon opened its enormous mouth, seemingly preparing to devour her head. Just as Rhea thought he’d bite off her head, another dragon’s roar echoed through the sky.

Braced for the impending dragon teeth, Rhea was taken aback when, in the blink of an eye, the dragon that had been holding her down was forcefully thrown away. It cried out like a wounded animal as it collided with a tree.

Rhea saw the other dragon in the sky descending towards the injured dragon. Reacting swiftly, she crawled away in the opposite direction as the two engaged in a fierce battle. Although she couldn’t get a close look at the other dragon, she could sense it was Draven by the chilling feeling in her body emitting from the core.

Suddenly, everything became quiet from that direction. Rhea strained her neck, trying to peer into the darkness to assess the situation, but she couldn’t see or hear anything. Leaning against a tree for support, she stood up.

"Draven, are you okay?" she asked, but there was no response.

Just as Rhea started moving towards the direction, Draven swiftly ascended into the sky. She gazed up at his majestic figure against the backdrop of the massive moon as he soared into the night. However, he didn’t fly far before he began to struggle and eventually plummeted from the sky.

Rhea could tell that he was desperately trying to stabilize himself in the air, but failed. Before she knew it, he crashed onto the forest floor with a loud boom that shook the earth.

Rhea sprinted towards the direction, by the time she reached, Draven was already trying to fly away again, but he couldn’t get up from the ground.

The bright moonlight illuminated his entire body, and Rhea’s breaths stopped short in her lungs at the sight of his body. Her hands covered her mouth in pure horror. His body looked injured, most of the scales on his body were missing, or rather peeled off. Every single place where his scales were supposed to be was now a deep wound, some of the wounds were so deep Rhea thought she could see his raw flesh and bones. The sight was so bad she couldn’t help but shudder.

Rhea felt tears burned her eyes as she watched him struggle on the ground like a wounded animal. It was at this moment she realized how much pain Draven must have been enduring after retrieving his dragon, but yet he never showed his pain and took care of her. In truth, he was suffering deep down...

Draven looked to be in so much pain he couldn’t hold back his loud roar that shook the ground.

"Draven..." Rhea called out his name and took a step forward. But it only seemed to rouse Draven, he turned towards her and growled, as if warning her not to come closer to him. He fixed his blue piercing eyes on her, and when he noticed the pain in her eyes as she looked at his injured body, he swept his tail forward trying to hide his wounds from her.

Rhea stopped and looked at him, she didn’t even realize when a tear rolled down her eyes. Was that why he had been avoiding her? She was going to take away his pain no matter what. She thought and said, "Draven, you are in pain, I can take it away if you drink from my blood, my blood has the powers of your core, it will take away your pain. Take my blood." She held out her hand, but Draven retreated backwards, away from her.

Rhea advanced, but his long whiskers raised in the air as he growled at her to stay away. Rhea ignored his growling and kept advancing, she took out her hairpin and used it’s sharp edge to cut her wrist, and immediately, her blood began to pour out, the smell of her blood flowed out.

In no time the smell reached him, and he began to act reckless, but Rhea didn’t stop advancing on him. He roared loudly as if he couldn’t handle the smell of her tempting blood. He pounced at her direction, but Rhea didn’t dodge nor duck, cold wind blew past her, lifting her hair loose her around her.

Draven halted in front of her, but he didn’t attack her, he only used his massive head to push her backwards, he pushed her until her back hit the tree behind. Then, he started to draw back, meaning to leave.

Rhea didn’t hesitate, she quickly reached out and grabbed the fur around his neck. "Come back here," it was almost an order, "Be a good boy and drink my blood. It’s not going to harm anyone if you take a lick." She held up her bleeding wrist to his mouth, but Draven turned his head away avoiding her wrist.

However, Rhea was determined, she clung tightly to his fur. He attempted to warn her with his eyes, but she stubbornly refused to release him. In a fit of anger, he bellowed at her, shaking the ground and thrashing his tail, causing trees to break and fall.

Draven was clearly angered by her stubbornness, yet he refrained from hurting her or attempting to pull away with force, aware that it could cause harm. However, Rhea paid no heed to his fury. Taking advantage of his open mouth, she pressed her bleeding wrist against his tongue. Her blood seemed to entice him, as it was the only thing that could cure his savage corruption and alleviate his current pain.

Draven’s tail whipped against a towering tree, splitting it in two. His head lunged forward, teeth poised to bite her neck. Rhea calmly admonished him, "No, dragon. That is not a place you can bite in your current form." She remained composed, gently patting his head. "I’ll die if you bite me there in your dragon form."

His mouth so close she could hear the rumbling in his throat, an internal struggle raged within him. Eventually, he withdrew his mouth from her neck, but moved his head towards her chest, emitting a soft growl. It was a warning, yet also carried the vulnerability of a wounded animal seeking solace.

Rhea faintly smiled, forcefully sliding her bleeding wrist between his fangs and rubbing her blood on his teeth. He attempted to resist, but she exerted all her strength to push the blood into his mouth. As it reached his throat, his body gradually calmed down.

Rhea rested her back on the tree behind her, while Draven’s head rested on her chest. He was such a formidable figure, but right now he looked like a sated, pampered pet.

The duo remained in that spot, with the radiant moonlight shining upon them in the darkness, that made them look like a beautiful portrait of a girl and a dragon.

After awhile, Draven’s body grew weak and his body started to emit a cold fog before he finally transformed back to his human form. However, as soon as he transformed, he lost the ability to stand and began to fall. Fortunately, Rhea reacted quickly, catching his falling body and drawing him close to her. Her surprise grew, though, when she realized he was completely naked..

Rhea swallowed nervously and cautiously glanced down at his exposed form. Despite this, she couldn’t help but smirk and commented, "I guess this could be considered even." With that said, she removed her outer robe and draped it over his body. The garment barely covered his muscular physique, so she simply tied it around his waist to conceal his lower body. Finishing her task, she settled into a seated position and cradled Draven’s head in her lap, allowing him to rest.

Rhea studied his pale face and sighed in relief when his breath turned even. She knew she wouldn’t be able to drag Draven back to the palace in his condition, thus, she would stay here with him until he was strong enough to walk.

She brushed away the sweat damped hair strands on his forehead and gently stroked his hair back. She recalled his injured Dragon form and couldn’t help but murmur, "So that’s why you also use the healing pool...but why didn’t you tell me it was that bad..." She murmured softly to his sleeping form.

"I didn’t want you to see..."

Rhea was surprised to hear him reply, but his voice was barley above a whisper. She leaned down and asked, "What did you say?"

"I didn’t want you to see that part of me...the ugly and ruined part of me, I didn’t want you to feel disgusted at the sight of my terrible wounds..."

His muttered words for some reason suddenly felt like she had been whipped. Rhea felt her heart tightened with an unbearable suffocation, with a huge lump in her throat that made it hard to swallow. He hadn’t shown her his wounds because he was ashamed and afraid that she’d feel disgusted of it?

"Draven..." She gently creased his cold cheeks as she fought back her tears to speak. His eyes were closed but she knew he could hear her, "You are not ugly, and I will never find you disgusting, you are beautiful, the ugly ones are the ones responsible for your wounds. And I want you to know, I will do anything in my powers to avenge you and get back your scales."