Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 183: She took Rhea

Chapter 183: She took Rhea

Finally, it was the day of the exchange between the fire controllers and the dragons at the borders.

The mountain border stretched out before them. At either side, the fire controllers and the ice dragons, all in their human forms, stood in a tense standoff.

Draven and Rhea stood with the Dragons, their eyes fixed on the group of fire controllers and human army a long distance across from them. While Alina and Azure also stood in front of the fire controllers as well.

There had been an agreement of no fighting but exchanging the hostages unharmed and in good shape. However, the fire controllers seemed to bring their entire army with them just for the exchange.

In the midst of the standoff, Enzo stood beside Prince Zade, his expression revealing the turmoil within. He had agreed to this exchange to keep the peace, as he didn’t want any harm to come to his late wife’s family, but the reluctance in his eyes spoke volumes. He would be given back to his enemy who had deprived him of his family...

As if sensing his turmoil, prince Zade placed a reassuring arm on Enzo’s shoulder without looking away from the fire controllers across from them. That kind gesture almost brought tears to Enzo’s eyes. His wife’s family were nice enough not to blame him for her death, even as a hostage, they treated him right, but now he had to go back to Alina’s hellhole.

As everyone stood, the Princess was soon brought forward from behind the army of human soldiers. The dragon let out a low aggressive growl at the sight of their princess. Bound in heavy chains that weighed her down like a prisoner, she stood with her head held high but her spirit visibly crushed.

Rhea’s heart ached as she took in the sight of Aria’s wrists and ankles restrained, her friendly spirit and regal bearing now humbled by the weight of her captivity.

Rhea could feel the anger radiating from the princes as they looked upon the injustice of their sister. Aria was not just a hostage; she was a dragon of royal blood, and the chains that bound her only showed disrespect for her royalty. The Dragons had not demanded such degrading measures for their own hostage, Enzo, and the inequality in treatment stoked the embers of resentment.

The tension in the air was thick, and the exchange of hostages, though agreed upon to be done without a fight, seemed to be impossible with the hostility in the air. However, the dragon maintained their anger as prince Zade stepped forward with Enzo.

"Alina, your fiance is here unharmed. Release my sister from those heavy chains and let the exchange begin!" Zade yelled.

Alina’s eyes narrowed to search Enzo’s body for any injuries, but to her relief, there was none. She then flicked her fingers, and immediately the chains around Aria disappeared. "Let the exchange begin!" She declared.

Prince Zade looked at his late sister’s husband with a nod, "You may go." He said to Enzo, who reluctantly started to walk forward slowly. At the same time, Aria also started to walk towards her family. The two reached the middle of the path at the same time.

However, when everyone’s attention was on the two hostages walking to the opposite sides, Alina signaled a man behind her with a nod of her head. The man quickly prepared himself and moved aside to attack on Alina’s command with his poisonous arrow aiming at the princess.

When Aria was only just a few distance from her family, Alina gave another signal, and the man prepared his poisonous arrow. However, Rhea who kept her eyes glued on Alina because she had been anxious that Alina would somehow go back on her words, noticed the signal Alina gave a man, and then she saw the arrow he aimed at Aria.

Rhea’s eyes widened in horror and disbelief, she quickly yelled out before the man could release the arrow, "Aria move away, Alina is going back on her words!"

The dragons, who were already angry at the fact that their princess was brought to them in chains, were alarmed by Rhea’s alarmed warning. And immediately the dragon soldiers began to transform to their dragon form.

As Rhea noticed the hostility, she glanced towards Enzo who was yet to reach the fire controllers as he was walking slower than Aria. Without thinking, Rhea moved hastily and grabbed him by the hand and turned to run back towards the dragons.

Alina, who had originally planned to kill the princess after Enzo was out of the Dragons reach saw Rhea’s movements. Her face froze as she saw them running back towards the dragons. There wasn’t time for her to think about anything at the sight of her lover being taken back, she raised her hand and aimed to hit Rhea with her magic.

Rhea’s back was turned towards Alina as she was running back with Enzo, so she didn’t see the flame coming at her from behind, but before the flame could hit her, another power collided with the flame powers and burst it before it could reach her. Rhea didn’t have to turn to see that it was Draven who had hit the flame powers, she was focused on dragging Enzo back.

Alina gritted her teeth as she saw that Draven was keeping his eyes on her and had seen her attack coming for the girl. But of course she wouldn’t allow her Enzo be taken right before her eyes, she immediately teleported and appeared before Rhea. She grabbed Rhea’s arm with a force that almost made her stumble backwards.

However, Draven was also quick with his movement, he used his ice powers to slap away Alina’s hand from around Rhea’s arm. Alina was thrown a few feet away from Rhea from the force that hit her hand. She gritted her teeth furiously and glared at Draven with a murderous glint in her eyes.

"El-Dezeus, stop interfering in my business!" She spat angrily.

Draven coldly laughed, "You have no business here wench!"

Alina’s eyes were a mask of fury as she glared at Draven. But even though Draven wasn’t as powerful as before, she knew she wouldn’t be able to strike him so easily.

Rhea, who noticed as the two glared at each other, turned towards the prince who was fighting with the fire controllers, "Prince Zade, take Aria back to the palace immediately!"

The prince wasted no time, securing his sister and guiding her onto a dragon’s back, instructing the creature to return her to the palace.

Amidst Alina’s confrontation with Draven, she shouted, "Azure, retrieve her!"

However, in response, the remaining dragons roared, transforming and launching forward to engage in battle with the fire controllers.

In the middle of the chaos, the dragon that carried Aria flew away and Azure moved to stop them, but prince Zade stepped forward and blocked him. Thus the two engaged in a battle as well.

As they fought, Azure noticed Rhea on the opposite side. She was occupied with guarding Draven’s back as he fought Alina in his Dragon form, while also ensuring Enzo’s safety from any incoming attacks. Azure observed Rhea’s selfless dedication to supporting the dragon, which caused him to tighten his grip on his sword’s handle and fight even harder with the prince. However, this time, Azure fought and retreated simultaneously.

Azure was trying to move towards Rhea, he had planned before hand to take her far away from this chaotic world. He would explain everything to her and make her see why he did everything he had done to her. He would protect her from the chaos between Alina and Draven, who he believed was only keeping her only for his core that resided in her body. He would take her away from both Alina and the dragon, he would continue to protect her in a safe place he had prepared for her.

Alina, who was fighting against Draven, coldly mocked, "El-Dezeus, I was wondering why you haven’t taken back the only thing that would give you back your past strength from that girl, are you perhaps planning to play with her heart like I played with yours before you rip her open?" She laughed.

Alina’s voice wasn’t lowered, it was loud enough to reach Rhea, who was below them as they fought in the sky. She stopped in her tracks and glanced up. It seemed Alina’s words had gotten to Draven, because he roared and breathed out his icy powers towards Alina.

Alina swiftly dodged his icy breath with a loud mocking laughter, "Draven, give up. Without your core, you are fighting in vain against me!"

Saying those words, Alina hit Draven’s mighty head with her powers, and that hit was powerful enough to send him falling from the sky. He hit the ground with a resounding boom that shook the earth.

Alina let out another cold laughter.

Rhea saw that Alina was going to hit him again with what seemed to be a stronger magic than the first one, she felt her body tremble in fear. She knew if Alina hit him with that huge magic she was gathering in her hand, it might kill him or harm him. Rhea quickly thought about what to do, and then she glanced at Enzo beside her and an idea came to her mind.

"Enzo, I’m sorry but I have to do this." Before Enzo could ask what she wanted to do, Rhea had pulled out her dagger and placed it around his neck. Then glanced towards the sky and yelled out,

"Alina!" She called, "if you make another move, I swear to the Heavens I will slit his throat open!"

Sure enough, Alina paused her action. She looked down and saw the dagger placed around her Enzo’s neck. She wouldn’t have believed the girl would be capable of cutting his throat but then saw that Rhea had already started to make a cut around his neck, and his blood dropped on the dagger.

Alina felt all the blood drain from her face, her heart subconsciously trembled in fear of that dagger cutting Enzo to death. "Don’t hurt him!"

Rhea mockingly laughed, "Aww, poor Alina. You believed this man is the rebirth of your husband, and you worked hard to make him return, but I wonder what would happen if I killed him here. Do you think he would be reborn again after another twenty years?" She mocked with the same tone Alina had used to mock Draven earlier.

Alina’s heart trembled, and the powers around her hands immediately disappeared. She looked almost like a terrified child as she looked at the dagger pressing against Enzo’s throat. "Stop cutting him, he’s in pain!" She yelled out in a panicked voice as Rhea was slightly cutting his throat.

Rhea liked the fear she was seeing in Alina’s face for the first time, but then she said, "I will not hurt him if you pack your men and leave. But if you refuse..." Rhea’s lips pulled up into a sinter grin, and she hardened her heart and made the cut on Enzo’s neck deeper while silently vowing to cure him with the dragon medicines later. She finished her words, "I will kill him and see if he would be reborn again after twenty years!"

Alina saw the blood dropping out from Enzo’s neck and without hesitation she yelled out, "I will retreat!" She signaled for her men to retreat then looked back at Rhea, "Take your dagger off his neck."

Seeing that Alina’s men were retreating, Enzo couldn’t help the pleased smile that graced his lips as he locked eyes with Alina. But Alina pretended not to see his pleased expression at her own fear for his life, she silently began to retreat, but then noticed Rhea whispered something to Enzo’s ears.

Immediately she knew that the girl had whispered words of apologies to Enzo, and Alina’s expression slightly twitched.

Rhea saw that Alina was backing away with her men, it looked like she was really retreating. Rhea was just about to let out a sigh of relief and loosen the dagger from Enzo’s neck when she felt the ground beneath her feet shake violently, then followed back Draven’s panicked warning in her head,

"Rhea, move away!"

Rhea lost her balance from the shaking of the earth and her dagger almost cut deep into Enzo’s neck, but right at that moment a hand shot out of nowhere and gripped the tip of the dagger. Blood flowed out from the person’s palm and dripped on the floor.

Rhea looked up at the person and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Alina standing a feet away from her. No one was able to hurt Alina in the battle, but to save her lover, she was injured by Rhea’s dagger.

This was the first occasion that Rhea had ever been this near to Alina, yet the expression on Alina’s face indicated to her that she had enraged the woman beyond words. Before Rhea had a chance to consider running or taking any action, she suddenly felt a powerful force strike her head, causing everything to start spinning before her eyes. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, she quickly glanced at Draven and noticed the panic and fear in his eyes, right before she felt the air around her begin to pick up speed.

In an instant, Alina teleported away with Rhea and Enzo.

Draven stood in disbelief and shock, staring at the empty space where the three of them had been just a moment ago. Alina had taken Rhea, she had taken his Rhea!