Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 181: Chaotic night

Chapter 181: Chaotic night

The entire palace was awoken by the chaos caused by Alina. And as the princes and soldiers surrounded the grounds, none of them spoke a word but the atmosphere was extremely heavy with tension.

King Henry, without the need to transform into his dragon form, used his powers to leap into the air and stared angrily at the woman who had invaded his territory and destroyed his late wife’s palace. "You must be Alina," he stated rather than asked.

Alina looked up at the king, noticing the powerful surge of ice powers surrounding his body, but she remained unfazed and met his gaze head-on. "And what if I am?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

With those words, a heavy pressure descended upon the atmosphere, as the king released his overwhelming aura. Rhea, who had not yet become a dragon, felt suffocated by the invisible weight in the air. Compared to everyone else, she was the one struggling to maintain stability. The pressure made it difficult for her to stay still, causing her legs to shake and forcing her down onto her knees.

Seeing that the king’s aura was affecting Rhea, Draven transformed back into his human form and quickly pulled her into his arms, pressing her face against his chest. He provided her with warmth and a barrier from the king’s powerful aura, allowing her to breathe more easily.

In a flash, Alina’s powers were suppressed by the dragons, she immediately raised her hand and built a barrier around her body.

"You undisciplined woman, you came alone into our territory, yet you think you can run your mouth and harm my guests then escape," the king spat angrily as he increased his powers, "You thought wrong, woman!"

When Draven heard those words from king Henry, he knew what the man would do next. He also knew that Rhea would be unable to withstand the king’s formidable powers. Hastily, he grasped her arm and swiftly plunged them both into the healing pool. As they submerged into the water, the king unleashed his overwhelming powers, the force of the powers sent objects soaring through the air and even disturbing the pool surface, making Draven firmly enclose Rhea within the safety of his embrace.

Alina fought against the king’s powers with her own flames. As the two powers clashed together, the resulting light was blinding, and it made a loud rumbling sound that shook the palace grounds like an earthquake, collapsing the walls of the Queen’s palace. Even the fence around the pool collapsed completely.

After the blinding light and the rumbling sound, the surroundings fell silent again. The grounds of the palace was cracked from the chaos. Alina stood in the middle of the pit of a sunken ground. She stood in the center, seemingly unharmed by all the chaos, only her lips were pale from the cold of the king’s power.

She glanced up at the king, "I brought myself here because I am confident enough in my powers to leave unharmed, but I will not leave until I get what I came here for," she glanced towards the pool where Draven and Rhea were, "No matter what, I will finish my business here. I will kill those two and take back my husband!"

Saying those words, the surface of the pool immediately caught fire. Fire burned brightly atop the water like kerosene.

Draven, who noticed the flames on the water’s surface, used his ice powers to create a clearing and pulled Rhea and himself out of the water. However, as soon as they emerged, a massive flame sword swiftly approached, targeting their heads.

Just before the sword could reach them, two men appeared from the sides and used their abilities to redirect the sword in a different direction. These men were none other than Prince Zade and another one of the princes. They positioned themselves protectively in front of Draven and Rhea, facing Alina.

Prince Zade stared at Alina, saying, "Do you honestly believe that we would allow you to harm any of our people while we are here? Keep dreaming!"

Observing the situation, Rhea, still held in Draven’s embrace, felt relieved. Looking up at Alina, surrounded by dragons from every angle, Rhea couldn’t help but think it would be impossible for Alina to leave unharmed as she had initially assumed.

However, before those thoughts completely settled in Rhea’s mind, she saw a man suddenly appeared beside Alina in the sunken ground. Her heart subconsciously skipped a beat at the sight of the man she had admired for years, the man who had sworn to protect her but in the end, hurt her and left her to die.

Azure. He stood in the sunken ground with Alina, wearing a casually loose white shirt and black trousers. It was evident he had hastily come here, his hair disheveled from the rush. Rhea observed as he put his arm around Alina for support and leaned in to whisper something to her, causing Alina to furrow her brows.

Azure had indeed come for Alina, and he had come alone. This made sense since, apart from him and Alina, no other fire controllers possessed the ability to teleport so swiftly.

Alina turned her head to Azure and said, "You shouldn’t have come here for me. I can handle the situation."

In a calm and friendly tone, Azure replied, "It’s nothing. I’ll always be there for you."

Rhea couldn’t help but tighten her grip on Draven’s arm upon hearing those words. He had once uttered the same promise to her in the past, but he wasn’t there when Cal was dying in her arms. Yet, today he rushed to support Alina. Rhea swallowed the bitter resentment that welled up in her throat as she looked at the pair in the sunken ground.

Azure’s attention shifted from Alina as he surveyed the battle situation. He had rushed here to make sure Alina wouldn’t get her hands on Rhea or cause her any harm. His gaze finally landed on Rhea, who he had been hoping to meet for weeks after she was taken by the dragon. To his disappointment, Rhea was now wrapped in another man’s embrace, and she regarded him with resentment. Her piercing look sent a painful twinge to his heart, prompting him to avert his eyes and glance at the man holding her. Jealousy and hatred surged within him.

Rhea, noticing how quickly Azure looked away, believed he despised her to the point of avoiding eye contact. She tightened her grip on Draven in anger, realizing she had been foolish to almost believe that Azure had valid reasons for his actions. He had no valid reasons at all, he was just a deceitful man who misled a young girl into believing in him, only to shatter her trust in the end.

Draven, sensing Rhea’s tremors from her firm hold on his arm, glanced down at her and noticed her gaze fixed on Azure. He refrained from saying anything, although a strong urge to throw a fist at Azure’s face for what he had done to Rhea welled up within him. Yet, the intense pain in his back left him trying not to display any weakness as he continued to hold Rhea, silently soothing her tremors.

King Henry finally spoke, breaking the tense silence in the atmosphere, "It’s good you came as well, at least the two leaders of flames will die together today!"

Azure’s gaze swept towards the king, he looked as calm as ever as he said, "Don’t get too excited about our death, king. Before I left Birhhan, I instructed my men that if Alina and I did not return in one hour, your princess should be killed and her body should be burned."

All five princes looked towards their father in silent alarm. The atmosphere was agitated, none of them were willing to let Alina and Azure go, but if they don’t let them leave, then Aria would be killed in cold-blood.

Azure saw that his threat worked, he didn’t speak again and supported Alina by the waist and turned to leave. But Rhea could no longer endure her stirred up emotions anymore, she blurted out, "Using the princess to blackmail, Is that all you’ve got as the so called leaders you are? You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Azure’s footsteps paused, but when he felt Alina’s gaze on him, he composed his expression and stared blankly at Rhea like she was an insignificant ant talking to him. Without another word, he started to lead Alina away again, but this time, Alina grabbed his arm, "Wait," she stopped him and turned around to face king Henry.

"You have my fiance in your custody, I will like to exchange him with your daughter. If you will be willing to give back my fiance, I will give you back your daughter unharmed. What do you think?"

The atmosphere fell silent again. Although the princes were extremely angry, none of them dared to give in to the urge to speak or attack with the fear of their sister’s life in the hands of their enemy. All of them silently waited for the king’s decision.

Rhea also anxiously waited. Although she had come to like Enzo and wouldn’t want him to be given back to that witch, but again Aria’s life matters a lot.

After a long moment of tense silence, king Henry finally spoke, "In two days, there will be an exchange at the borders!" He declared, implying he would let them go this time as well. He wouldn’t risk his daughter’s life for anything again, he had lost one, he wouldn’t lost the other one.

Alina nodded in satisfaction and immediately teleported away with Azure with the silent vow of finding another chance to get Rhea and avenge her niece and then remove the core.

After Alina left, king Henry looked around the collapsed grounds of his late wife’s palace. Without a word, he raised his hands and the broken grounds and building began to rebuild themselves. The fence around the pool also closed back with it’s roof. In a flash, everything was back to it’s way as if the violent clash never occurred.

With one last glanced at Draven, king Henry left the place followed by his sons and men.