Chapter 86. The Dragon Mother’s Favor, Undercurrents Stirring
Mana flowed from Daenerys’s fingertips, and a gentle yet irresistible force lifted William into the air, carrying him out of the open-air palace.
The mont they reached the outside of the hall, the red copper dragon let out an affectionate low rumble and lowered its enormous head before Daenerys. Its scales reflected a scorching glow beneath the sunlight.
She raised a hand and stroked the dragon’s brow, her voice carrying a rare trace of softness.
“There now, are we not outside already? See these little ones off.”
The red copper dragon swayed its head in response.
With a light tap of her foot, Daenerys leaped gracefully onto the dragon’s back, then looked back at William and the others. “Co up.”
Aila exchanged glances with the three young n. Even though they were still frightened by the dragon’s spine, which was covered in bony spikes, and their legs would not stop trembling, they still clenched their teeth and jumped up one after another when they saw William nod. Each of them grabbed tightly onto the raised scales on the dragon’s back.
As for William, Daenerys once again drew him up with her mana and set him down beside her.
“Hold on tight.”
Before her words had even fully fallen, the red copper dragon suddenly beat its wings. A fierce gale swept up dust into the sky as its massive body shot into the heavens like an arrow.
Xilan had intended to follow, but Daenerys’s cool voice stopped him.
“There is no need to co. I will escort them to the Royal Capital myself.”
He halted and watched as the dragon carried the group through the clouds. The dragon’s roar gradually faded into the distance until it beca nothing more than a tiny black dot at the horizon.
Xilan lifted a hand to straighten his collar, then turned and walked deeper into the Secret Realm.
There were still matters his Ancestor had entrusted to him, including helping that youth with Demigod Aptitude obtain the recognition of the Divine Artifact.
After leaving the Secret Realm, the dragon directly accelerated above the clouds. The forests and mountain ranges below sped backward so quickly that they were almost reduced to afterimages.
William lowered his head and looked at Aila and the other four beside him. Their faces had gone pale, yet they still gripped the dragon’s scales with all their strength, and not one of them cried out in alarm. He could not help nodding inwardly.
Daenerys glanced at him and suddenly spoke.
“The Ancestor said you could see through the aptitudes of all things, and it seems that was no lie. Even the dragon elders could not distinguish those dragon eggs with complete confidence, yet you saw through them at a single glance.”
William smiled. “I rely happen to possess a sowhat special ability.”
“A special ability?”
Daenerys arched a brow. “Being able to discern the aptitude of dragon eggs is not sothing that can be dismissed as rely ‘sowhat’ special.”
She looked toward the outline of the Royal Capital growing clearer in the distance. “We have arrived.”
The red copper dragon let out a long cry and slowly began to descend. Golden sunlight poured over the spired castles of the Royal Capital, reflecting a solemn radiance.
Wrapped in raging winds, the red copper dragon dove downward, and the palace alarms instantly rang out.
Nine powerful auras shot into the air at once. All of them were Legendary Combatants. Eight wore garnts of various kinds, while only one was dressed in royal robes. He was presumably the Legendary Powerhouse the royal family had stationed in the Royal Capital.
Kroll II hurried over as soon as he received the news. The mont he saw William on the dragon’s back, along with the woman whose presence was as cold as winter, he imdiately rose into the air to greet them.
Before he could even speak, Daenerys’s cool voice had already fallen like icy pearls upon jade.
“I am very fond of little William. Do you understand?”
Before her words finished, the red copper dragon beneath her suddenly opened its jaws wide. A deafening dragon roar pierced the sky, and the dragon’s might swept in every direction. Even the air itself seed to freeze.
Kroll II’s heart trembled. He imdiately bowed and said, “Please rest assured, Lady Daenerys. So long as little William remains in the Royal Capital, absolutely no one will dare bully him.”
Only then did Daenerys nod in satisfaction before turning to William.
“If you run into trouble in the future, pour your mana into the reverse scale. My dragon will sense it, and I will co to find you.”
William quickly nodded and thanked her. “Many thanks, Lady Daenerys.”
“The one who should be thanking the other is .” She gave a soft laugh, then changed the subject. “After so ti has passed, I will take you to Dragon Island. Help with sothing there.”
“No problem, Lady Daenerys.”
Mana flowed through Daenerys’s fingertips once more, and a gentle force lightly lifted William and Aila’s group from the dragon’s back and set them on the ground.
“Little William, I will see you again after so ti.”
With that, the red copper dragon beat its wings, stirring up a violent gust as it turned and shot back into the clouds, vanishing into the horizon in short order.
Only after the dragon’s roar had completely faded did the nine Legends hanging above the Royal Capital slowly descend. Kroll II also let out a breath of relief, wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead, and turned to William with joy in his eyes.
“You truly have given quite a few surprises.”
William bowed. “You flatter , Father King.”
Aila and the other four stood to one side, still sowhat dazed as they stared toward the direction in which the dragon had disappeared.
A being whom even the king and the assembled Legends feared so deeply had actually shown such favor toward their own prince. All at once, they felt that by following this young Highness, perhaps their future truly could beco what they had hoped for. Perhaps they really could carve out a different road for themselves.
The air inside the palace gradually returned to normal. Sunlight filtered through the clouds and spilled down, stretching everyone’s shadows across the square. Yet the disturbance caused by the dragon’s arrival lingered for a long ti without fading.
Inside the Queen’s Residence, the crisp sound of shattering porcelain rang out again and again. She stared at her own twisted reflection in the bronze mirror, her fingers clutching a silk handkerchief so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
“William Kroll has actually made even Lady Daenerys think highly of him…”
“What exactly did he do in the Royal Family Secret Realm this ti? How did he earn such regard from the Dragon Mother? Why? Why? All of you are going against .”
The maids were as silent as cicadas in winter, not daring even to breathe too loudly.
Inside the First Prince’s study, a luxurious wineglass was smashed viciously against the wall, and red wine splattered across it.
He slamd a fist onto the desk, and fine cracks instantly spread across the solid wooden surface.
“William. Him again. First he got the Royal Ninth Legion, and now even the Dragon Mother is protecting him… Do they really think I, the eldest son, am just for show?”
In contrast, the courtyard of Third Princess Jessy was completely calm.
Leaning beneath the corridor, she rolled a freshly picked rose between her fingers. As she listened to the report from her subordinate, a faint smile curled at the corners of her lips.
“Lady Daenerys’s favor? So what. The waters of the Royal Capital run deep.”
“You will need to live long enough to reach adulthood first, little William.”
anwhile, the atmosphere within the palace of the Second Prince’s Wife was much heavier.
She sat before her dressing table, looking at the bloodshot veins in her own eyes in the mirror as she slowly spoke.
“Go. Invite Duke Lane into the palace.”
The Palace Knight beside her bowed to receive the order, then turned and left at a brisk pace.
The Second Prince’s Wife lightly brushed her fingertips over the keepsakes her son had left behind in the box, and her gaze gradually turned cold.
“The Second Prince is gone, but I still have another son. I can still fight for this throne.”
Outside the window, sunlight passed through the carved lattice and cast mottled patterns of light and shadow across the floor, yet it still could not illuminate the layered undercurrents surging through this royal palace.
User Comments
0 comments from readers