Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 325: Freezing Heat I

Chapter 325: Freezing Heat I

The sight of Zephyr crashing into the gardens would not have garnered anything more than passing curiosity for Atticus, but then his eyes caught sight of a familiar head of blonde hair tucked underneath his wing.

Atticus’s heart fell to his shoes. He dashed towards Zephyr quickly, subconsciously flinging Drusilla into the wall with his powers.

Drusilla bit her tongue to stifle the yelp of pain that was threatening to emerge as her body slammed against the solid wall. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself now that King Atticus was distracted.

Instead, she took the chance to slowly crawl away in pain. She wanted nothing more than to witness Daphne’s possible death, but her self-preservation instincts were stronger. Once King Atticus and the rest of the royal court remembered her existence, she would be fed to the dogs. She had to find her brother!

True enough, in all the commotion, no one saw a blonde woman sneaking away. Atticus’s eyes were fully focused on Daphne. He wasn’t going to waste time with the treasonous fake since he had no doubt he would be able to hunt her down later.

Especially if she dared to steal the face of his wife.

His world narrowed down to Daphne’s face, her lips pale with exertion. Yet, there was a strange flush in her cheeks. This was simply unnatural.

"Daphne! Daphne, can you hear me?" he asked frantically, pulling her away from Zephyr’s protective hold, frowning as he felt the heat radiating from Daphne’s skin. It was as though she was burning up from within― it reminded him of those days he spent pacing at her bedside on tenterhooks, wondering if she would wake after her kidnapping.

Daphne didn’t even open her eyes. If not for the shallow movements of her chest as she breathed and the freezing heat of her skin — a juxtaposition if he ever saw one — Atticus would have thought he was cradling a beautiful corpse.

"Sirona! Quick! Where are you?" he bellowed, sending the servants into a panic as they finally realized what was happening.

The ground thundered with the sound of multiple footsteps as people raced around like headless chickens, trying to get a hold of the royals and the nobility that were still idly mingling in the ballroom.

Zephyr let out a groan in protest at the noise, barely managing to open his eyes, only to be greeted with Atticus’s upset face.

"Oh, it’s you," Zephyr wheezed as he saw Daphne’s annoying husband. Finally, he could rest easy. King Atticus was a menace, but he definitely would fix everything.

"What happened?" Atticus demanded hotly, but that stupid chicken had apparently used up the last of his energy and passed out right on the grass in exhaustion.

"Fuck," Atticus cursed, and he looked over his wife more carefully. There was some soot on her hair, and her dress was a waterlogged mess, but at least she didn’t seem to have any burns on her.

So why was her body burning up?

"I’m here," Sirona panted as she finally arrived at the scene of the disaster, Jonah hot on her heels.

While Jonah had updated her regarding Atticus’s plans to do away with the fake Daphne, she had never expected things to take such a drastic turn for the worse. Her hands glowed as she looked over Daphne’s condition.

"How is it?" Atticus asked anxiously, not liking the frown that formed on Sirona’s face.

Atticus’s men have formed a human barrier to prevent other people from entering the courtyard, but it couldn’t stop the crowd of curious nobility who did their best to see what was going on. Even Daphne’s siblings were there, trying to shove their way through, their blonde heads bobbing in the crowd.

"What is the meaning of this? How dare you stop me in my own palace!"

"We have intruders in the castle! Guards!"

"What do you mean that’s Daphne? We just saw her in the ballroom!"

"Is that the griffin? Why is he dead?"

Thankfully, his men weren’t cowed at all by the show of power displayed by Daphne’s annoying siblings. Atticus didn’t need them sticking their noses into this matter, pecking around where they didn’t belong.

"Get her to the healing quarters," Sirona ordered. "I can’t treat her and the rest of them," she cast a quick, worried look at the other two bodies lying on the floor like broken dolls, "like this."

"Got it," Atticus said, quickly scooping his wife into his arms, leaving Jonah to drag Nereus and Zephyr in his arms. His men helped clear a path straight to Reaweth’s healing quarters, which were now commandeered by Sirona.

Initially, Reaweth’s palace healers were resistant to having an interloper in their midst, least of all one that was from such a foreign land. And they made it known via petty insults, determined to chase Sirona away by humiliating her. Sirona didn’t bother to tell Atticus, because she knew they would change their minds.

Sure enough, after the first week and Atticus’s display of power, no Reawethen healer dared to put up an outright fight against her. They stayed clear out of her way, refusing to meet her eyes. They also did not want to share any information with her.

But with Daphne’s new position, Sirona now had free reign over the healers. And she would use every resource that they had to ensure that Daphne, their new queen, could make it out of this mess.

As they laid the three of them on the beds, Sirona began her in-depth diagnosis. Zephyr was the easiest case; he was merely exhausted, and a good meal and rest would fix him up. Next was Nereus. He had grievous wounds all over his body, but unfortunately, Sirona’s medical expertise was meant for treating humans, not dark creatures.

In the end, she had the servants fill up a huge bathtub of cool water and put him inside where she could keep an eye on him, hoping that increased exposure to his element might improve his own natural healing. She wasn’t going to toss him into the lake when he was utterly defenseless― who knew if some other opportunistic noble would use this chance to capture him?

The real problem was Daphne.