Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 226: No time...

Chapter 226: No time...

A month passed by in the blink of an eye, everyone was expecting Erebus to show up but there were no signs of him, which meant they had to keep living in tense anticipation until the day he would show up.

However, as two months passed and he didn’t show up, Rhea had already begun to notice how her health was declining with each passing day.

She stood in front of the floor length mirror in their dressing room with no clothes on. She stared at the woman who looked back at her in the mirror, this woman was her, but strangely, Rhea didn’t see herself in the reflection. Because she looked completely different from herself. She had lost a lot of weight, and her pregnancy had started to show itself: she had a visible baby bump.

Rhea had thought she wouldn’t live for a month after the core was removed from her body, but she had lived to even see her baby bump, which she wished she didn’t live to see. What was the use of seeing it when neither she nor the baby would live?

Rhea smiled bitterly as she ran her hand around her baby bump. Her reflection wasn’t only showing her declining body, but the death aura around her. She had been born with the ability to see the dead, she knew it when someone was going to die because of the deadly vapors that would move around the person. The vapors had stages, it would start from white, then gray, before turning dark at the last stage of death. Unfortunately, hers was starting to turn dark...

She was going to die. Even though the thought scared her, she didn’t want to be afraid. When she was a little girl, she had always wondered what it would be like to be dead and become one of those ghosts who moved around disturbing her, but now that she knew she was going to die...she didn’t want to, but she had to.

Draven. He would hate her for this, but he would forgive her given time, he would come to understand why she had to kill herself along with his child to save the world and him.

As days passed by, Rhea’s death vapors kept getting darker and darker, while her body was also declining. Knowing that she only had little time left, she made sure to spend every second of it with Draven. She would tag along with him to the forest as his body had stopped reacting badly, and he believed it was because of the medicine the king sent to him everyday.

She would sit under the tree and endure the cold while she’d silently watch him train. Sometimes, she would even fall asleep and wake up to find him still training. He only took water breaks and whenever he requested for her to give him a kiss to add to his energy, she would willing do so.

And when it was time to go home, she would be too weak to even walk. Thus, she would smile and say, "My legs are numb from sitting on the snow all day, will you mind carrying this lazy wife of yours back home?"

Draven never declined any of her requests to be carried. He was always eager to do things for her no matter how little they were. Even though it was the silliest things like requesting him to help her dress because she was too lazy and he would do it. Sometimes, even Rhea began to feel that she was being spoiled too much and might come out as a burden, thus she had asked him, "Don’t you feel like I’m becoming too spoiled and a lazy person who can’t take care of herself?"

Draven had laughed and patted her head like a child, "Not at all. It’s my pleasure to spoil my wife rotten. You can get lazy all you want, I am here to do your bidding, there’s nothing wrong with that."

There was a lot wrong with that. Rhea had thought bitterly. Because he couldn’t see the huge changes in her body, so of course he wouldn’t know that she was depending on him because she was dying.

One night, Rhea requested for Draven to take her to the biggest mountain in the Dragon realm so they could watch the full moonlight together. He had transformed into his dragon form on their balcony and bent down for her to climb his back. Rhea lied on his back and held on to the fur on his neck. As he soared across the night sky, she closed her eyes and breathed in the cold wind, that once used to be a part of her but now it’s chilliness was biting her skin. Yet, she smiled and looked up at the stars in the night sky as Draven flew in a slow pace.

She sighed, "I suddenly feel like a princess sitting on your back tonight."

"You’re not a princess, you’re a queen. My queen." Draven replied in her head, and Rhea was taken aback to hear his voice in her head when she no longer possessed his core anymore. How was that possible? She then remember his words in the past. He had told her that even though she didn’t possess his core, she would still be connected with him somehow because she was his soulmate.

Soulmate.

In that moment, Rhea actually felt like his queen being carried around the world by her king. Her loving king...

Few weeks passed by again. But this time when Rhea looked at her reflection in the mirror, she could no longer see her face. The vapors have turned completely dark and were now swirling around her like smoke. The sight frightened her and she had almost screamed out but she covered her mouth and muffled her cry. She looked like an evil ghost from the underworld. These dark vapors were a signs that she had little to no time left to live.

No time.

No time...

As those words were resonating in her head, Rhea felt a sharp pain in her chest, she fell down to her knees clutching her chest. Tears swelled her eyes. Was it time already? Oh please not now, she needed to be alive until Draven fought his battles, until she was sure her sacrifices weren’t for nothing. Oh, please give her more time, just a little more...

As Rhea was silently praying for time, it was as if the Heavens could hear her because at that moment, there was a loud alarming drum from the palace. Then not long, Lilac came to report to her that Erebus’ had finally appeared in Birhhan. And to their advantage, he wasn’t as powerful as they’d all expected because he needed to feed on Dragon cores to get stronger. His powers were still the same as when he attacked them months ago. He was already destroying humans and taking their life essences to gain powers.

It was time for Draven to strike him before he would consume all the human essence and become unstoppable.

Draven made all the arrangements of his battle with the princes. However, before he left for the battle, he rushed back home to his wife. He met her at the threshold as if she was waiting for him. He wrapped his arms around her body and hugged her tightly, he buried his head in the crook of her neck and breathed in her scent then murmured against her skin. "Please don’t insist on going with me this time, Rhea." He said.

She could hear the thickness of emotion in his voice, it was his desire to keep her safe kicking in once more knowing that she never hesitated to jump into danger for him. Rhea chocked back the lump in her throat, he was trying to protect her from making any sacrifices that would put her in danger for him, little did he know, the huge sacrifice she’d already made.

She knew it would be hard to live with the pain when she was finally gone, but she hoped...that someday she would be a beautiful memory in his heart, no resentments, no pain, just love... just the boundless love they’d shared together.

"I will be back, I promise. Wait for me at home, okay?" He asked as he pushed away from the hug and cupped her cheeks, "Will you?"

Rhea smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, I will." She lied.

Draven leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. He stared at her face for awhile before he let go.

With one last glance at her, Draven turned on his heels and left.

Once Draven left, Lilac immediately appeared and supported Rhea before she could fall. Only Draven could see her as she used to be, but everyone in the house knew what she looked like now. She was like a walking and living skeleton. Her eyes had sunk in with deep dark circles around her eyes. Her thick long hair had now thinned and had lost its glow. Her skin looked ashy and unhealthy. All of her clothes no longer fit her anymore, and her baby bump only made her looked like someone with some disease...

Lilac’s eyes welled up with tears again, but she supported Rhea to the couch then said, "My savior, I have to go after Mister because myself cannot be far away from him or else the magic will break and he will remember all the things I’ve made him forget. You should stay here, I will be back with Mister..."

"No,"Rhea grabbed Lilac’s hand, "I want to go with you and see him defeat Erebus." She said.

Lilac shook her head, "No, you can’t. You are_"

"Please, Lilac,"Rhea pleased. She looked down at her hand that looked like a dead person then looked up at Lilac, "I’m afraid I won’t be here when he returns victorious. I want to take one last glance at him, I want to see him win."