Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 192: Spring Parade IV

Chapter 192: Spring Parade IV

Suddenly, it seemed like the rain was gone, for Daphne no longer heard the harsh sounds of raindrops pelting against the cobbled pavements. But when she focused her eyes, she realized she was drastically mistaken.

The rain wasn’t gone. It had simply stopped falling.

Daphne’s eyes widened in pure amazement, her mouth parted in a silent gasp of astonishment. Every fiber of her being was captivated by the spectacle unfolding right in front of her. The raindrops that had been relentlessly pelting the ground had frozen in mid-flight, as though they were suspended in time.

She had only ever seen rain fall straight down from the heavens to the earth. Never had she ever seen them stop mid-air, right in front of her eyes, hanging like droplets of diamonds on a crystal chandelier.

"What is going on..." she murmured under her breath in awe and disbelief. Perhaps the stress of the afternoon had finally caught up to her, causing her to hallucinate.

This shouldn’t be possible.

She reluctantly tore her gaze away from the frozen drops of rain to the pair of boots that were in front of her. Perhaps Atticus had returned once he heard what happened.

But when her eyes drifted up the pair of long legs, she only met a cold, blue gaze. A slow gasp slipped from Daphne’s lips as she sucked in a breath of cold air through her teeth, her gaze clashing with that of Nereus’s. He stared down at her, his face devoid of emotion.

His green eyes, however, now had an eerie electric blue glow to them.

"There is no need to fear," he said. There almost seemed to be an otherworldly echo to his words, ringing in her ears.

Then came a familiar sensation that Daphne had not felt in a while, not since her wedding ceremony. For a brief second, she felt as though she was floating. Her mind was blank with euphoria, completely numb to thought. When she finally regained awareness as to where she was and what she was doing, Nereus had already looked away.

With his gaze leaving her body, he seemed to also take away the anxiety that had built up in her chest earlier, leaving nothing behind but a wave of calm.

Daphne snapped out just in time to see Nereus raise his hand, holding it up slightly. Following his movement, the droplets of rain slowly began to rise into the air. It was almost as though Nereus had the power to turn back time, though Daphne knew that he was just controlling the water. Even the rainwater that had gathered on the ground, threatening to flood the town, had followed suit, causing little streams to flow upward and back into the clouds.

"The rain is gone," said Nereus, his voice cool and collected.

That left Daphne still on the cold stone of the ground, her jaw slack with surprise as she stared at the man — or dark creature — before her.

"How..." Daphne knew that kelpies had water-affiliated abilities, that much had been explained to her by various different people after her many encounters with the kelpie, but she hadn’t expected it to reach the degree of effortlessly controlling and manipulating the weather!

Of course, Nereus had no intention of answering her questions. He reached down, gently helping her back to her feet as the crowds started to peek out of their shelters. Curious heads darted out one by one, all having witnessed the great feat of magic that Nereus had just displayed.

"The rain! It stopped!"

However, sharp eyes had caught on faster than Daphne would’ve liked. Not only had they noticed that the rain had ceased, they too had realized how the water had all miraculously risen back into the skies, leaving no trace of evidence behind.

Not to mention the mysterious, handsome stranger that had Queen Daphne cradled in his arms.

"But how?" Daphne heard someone ask from the crowd.

"Hydromancy?" someone else suggested. However, even they didn’t sound too sure of themselves.

"It’s that man!"

This time, Daphne turned back to look at the speaker for she recognized that voice. Lady Veronica Yarrowood had her index finger pointed at Nereus, her shrill voice quickly garnering the attention of the townsfolk that stood right next to her.

"The man that is holding the Queen," she said. "He’s the one that did all of this?"

"He’s not royalty, is he?"

"Doesn’t seem like it, though he is surely well-dressed enough to be a noble. An illegitimate child of a royal family, perhaps?"

Slowly, the whispers in the crowd began to grow. Only this time, they weren’t discussing how the rain had stopped with just a wave of a hand but rather who had so easily stopped it.

Nereus. The very same man who happened to have his arm wrapped around Daphne’s shoulder in an attempt to support her.

If he let go, Daphne wasn’t sure if she could stand properly on her own. Her knees still felt a little wobbly and she could barely muster enough strength to lift her feet off the ground to walk.

Hyper-aware of all the things these people were saying behind her back, pointing and whispering under their breaths, Daphne turned to face Nereus.

"It’s alright, Nereus," she said hushedly. "I’m fine now. You can let go of me. I’ll be fine standing on my own."

Only, this man did not seem to have any clue about what the common folk were murmuring to each other about. Daphne would’ve even thought that he perhaps simply did not care if it weren’t for the fact that Nereus looked like a lost child stuck in the middle of a busy street, unable to find his parents.

"But why?" he asked, his head slightly tilted to one side. "You’re still trembling. Are you cold?"

Right as he asked that, Nereus’s hands dropped from Daphne’s shoulders. Yet, she barely even had the time to breathe out a sigh of relief when Nereus began to shrug off his outermost coat. He quickly placed the coat onto Daphne’s shoulders, his movements way too swift to allow her any chance of protest.

While she was relieved to be encased in warmth after the cold rain, the murmurs behind her only grew louder.

"Did you see that?"

"What is the relationship between them?"

"Does the King know about this?"

"With all due respect, Queen Daphne..."

Ah, there it was.

Daphne closed her eyes shut, slowly exhaling in an attempt to calm herself down. She had hoped and prayed that Marchioness Francessa Seibert would’ve been a little busy tending to her possible injuries instead of witnessing this entire debacle. Yet, for the seemingly hundredth time this month, the heavens had forsaken her.

Of course, this woman had caught sight of everything from start to finish and of course, she would ask about it. If she hadn’t, Daphne would have all due right to wonder if she had been possessed.

Daphne spun around, coming face to face with Lady Francessa. This time, she was unwilling to back down, her gaze steady as she readied herself for whatever this woman was about to say.

The Marchioness continued, "Shouldn’t you learn to distance yourself from other men? After all, Queen Daphne, you are a married woman."

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