Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 253: Draconic IV

Chapter 253: Draconic IV

Daphne ducked, holding her hands out above her before focusing her energy. Her garnet earrings glowed and in a flash, a fireball of her own shot forth from her palms and blasted a piece of debris that had been falling down towards her and the group of children she was leading. It was decimated immediately, turning into a cloud of harmless dust and small, light pebbles.

"Princess Daphne..." one of the older children muttered in awe, watching her like she was a goddess that had just descended from the heavens to save her. "You... You..."

Daphne merely smiled. Of course, every child in Reaweth would’ve heard of the useless, magicless princess. She understood why they would be so surprised to see the rumors proved false.

"No time to explain. Get going now," she urged, practically shoving them into the basement. "Someone will meet you at the end of the tunnel. Just keep going and don’t stop. Break this," she handed them a small piece of clear quartz that Silas had given to her to hand out, "if you need any help."

The oldest of the children nodded, clasping the younger kids’ hands in theirs. They quickly did as told, disappearing into the tunnel and out of sight. Daphne covered the tunnel’s entrance again, making sure it wouldn’t sustain too much damage even if it did.

She headed out just in time to see another slab of debris rise into the sky, crashing against the dragon’s snout and smattering into a hundred pieces upon impact. Her eyes began to scour the skies in search of the owner of the purple aura, her breath caught in her throat.

When Daphne caught sight of him, a smile lit up her face.

"Atticus!"

Despite the numerous rumors of the cruel king of the North and his bloodthirsty combat experience, Daphne had never truly seen Atticus fight. There was the fight with the griffin in Raxuvia, but he showed off his swordsmanship rather than magical prowess. As for the assassins that were sent into their chambers on their original wedding night, well...

That was more like a cat toying with its food before eating.

Every other opponent that Atticus had ever encountered — where Daphne could see — had been more like a fight that was play-pretend. The fights were always so rigged in favor of Atticus that Daphne wondered if it could even be considered a warm-up for him.

Even when dealing with Eugene, Atticus was able to use magic without the aid of his ring.

Now, he was finally fighting someone — or something — on his level. And even then, Atticus made it seem so easy. Maybe even a dragon wasn’t on par with Atticus’s battle prowess.

He had used the magic of telekinesis to give himself the gift of flight. There was an aura of purple that surrounded him, allowing him to navigate expertly in the air wherever he wished to go. Judging by the fluidity of his motions, Daphne had no doubt that this wasn’t his first rodeo.

The dragon had been slammed in the face numerous times, enough for it to grow irritated. Atticus had so easily accomplished what Daphne’s brother and sister could not even after an hour or more― capture the dragon’s attention completely.

If the situation had been any less dire, Daphne could even imagine Atticus joking about how he had unrivaled charm, to be able to get even a dragon’s sights on him. Yet, given how the town was in shreds and an uncountable number of people had perished in the attack, Daphne was more worried about her husband’s safety, no matter how powerful he was.

"Daphne? Daphne?! Are you still there?" The sodalite crystal that was in Daphne’s hands crackled to life. Hearing Luis’s voice blaring through the stone, Daphne jumped in surprise, nearly dropping the crystal due to that.

"I’m here," she responded, still keeping her eyes glued to Atticus.

He had weaved through the clouds, slamming half of a building right into the dragon’s face. The wyrm staggered back from the impact, bringing down a whole row of buildings with it. Even the ground beneath Daphne’s feet shook, trembling due to the weight of the beast.

"Where are you?!" Luis screamed from the other end. "The entire town is going down! Why aren’t you with the children?"

That caught Daphne’s attention. She looked away for a second, holding her breath in anticipation. "Have they made it?"

"Not quite, but I can track the signal from their clear quartz," Luis replied. "They’re already out of the danger zones and I should be able to see them shortly."

"Then how are you so sure I am not with the children?" Daphne asked.

"Are you insane?" Luis barked, "I can hear the entire town collapsing in the background from your end. Of course I would know that you aren’t underground with them!"

Right. Daphne had forgotten about that.

Although, Daphne wasn’t too sure why Luis cared so much. He was never one to particularly mind her feelings or safety, given how he only ever watched the others bully and prod at her. He might’ve never done anything out of hand personally, but a bystander was just as guilty.

"Your husband is in there fighting the dragon right now," Luis said.

"I know."

She grinned proudly at the sky, easily blasting another piece of rock that would’ve landed on her face if she had been any slower. Her hands were tingling with warmth and her blood was roaring through her veins, fueled by adrenaline. Daphne loved that feeling― she loved feeling alive.

"I saw," she said.

"Then get out!"

Daphne had to pull the sodalite a little further away from her ear to prevent herself from going deaf. Even the ruckus caused by the battle between man and beast hadn’t been so dreadful on her ears when compared to Luis’s screeches.

He said, "What are you still hovering around for?"

"I am almost done checking all of the buildings," Daphne said. "There might be survivors hiding or trapped."

She began to pick up her pace, casting a glance in the direction of the battle every few seconds. It wasn’t to admire her husband’s heroic feats in battle — even though it was very much worth admiring — but rather to make sure she wouldn’t become an instant pancake due to a random slab of debris.

"Who cares?" Luis groaned. "It’s just a handful of commoners. They’re collateral damage; their lives aren’t as important as yours!"

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