The Dragon King's Hated Bride
Chapter 18: This New Power

Chapter 18: This New Power

>>Aelin

I took the book with the cosmic cover, the one that woke something in me and made my way back to my room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind me, I felt an odd sense of urgency, like the weight of something waiting to be uncovered. The pages of the book were soft, yet somehow they felt alive in my hands.

Initially the book cover was cracked but now it’s completely fine and so are the pages.

I sat at the edge of the bed and flipped open the first page. The text was written in elegant script, though the meaning seemed to shift in and out of focus. It was a strange feeling, like I wasn’t just reading the words but feeling them sink into my soul, threading through the deepest parts of me.

It was a- very odd feeling...

I had never heard of something like this. There was an introductory Chapter about a nation, a tribe to be exact that was blessed with divine power.

’Solwyn tribe’

I felt my heart pounding as I read about the fire—a cosmic white flame that was said to burn with the light of creation itself. I had always been told that fire was destructive, dangerous, but this flame... it was different. It was not the kind that scorched or consumed; it was the kind that illuminated, that created and eradicated evil.

Solwyn tribe... I’ve never heard of these people before. How long ago did they exist? I closed the book and stared at the cover. How old is this book?

I opened it again and read further.

The tribe lived in the highlands, in a place called ’Emberlight’. Again it was something I had never heard of. Solwyn people were worshipped as saints since they were the only ones capable of keeping the darkness away. Inept in finding weak points and finishing what threatened to bring the world to ruin.

Hmmm

Darkness? What darkness is the book talking about? So, they used their light magic to fight some sort of darkness?

I wonder...

Closing the book, I placed it gently aside and lifted my hand in front of me.

I wonder if what I received is that magic? I could feel it inside of me, something warm, all fuzzy and cozy swirling in me. It-

I paused

I think it also helped me clear up a lot of my depression. I closed my eyes. My fingers trembled slightly as I concentrated. The energy inside me, that spark of something greater, swirled in my chest, pushing outward. I focused on it, willing it to respond, to take form.

I felt something moving in my veins and I opened my eyes softly.

Slowly, a flicker of light appeared at the tip of my fingers, and then—faint but undeniable—a small flame danced on my hand.

!!!

Woah!! I felt my skin stand up as I stared at it. It wasn’t hot. In fact, it only felt warm to the touch, almost soothing, like the gentle warmth of sunlight on a winter’s day. But there was something undeniably holy about it. The flame shimmered with an ethereal glow, like a reflection of the moon’s light on a calm sea. It didn’t burn, didn’t crackle or crack—it simply existed, quietly yet powerfully, in the palm of my hand.

I stared at it, mesmerized. I had never imagined anything like this. A flame, yes, but one that didn’t burn. One that felt pure, almost sacred.

I moved my hand around, watching as the flame shifted with me, like it was alive, responding to my thoughts and emotions. It felt... comforting.

I closed my eyes, letting the flame flicker in my palm, feeling the gentle heat that it gave off.

I wonder though, what can I use this for?

***

The night was still, the kind of silence that presses down on you and makes it hard to sleep. I had finally drifted off after what felt like hours of tossing and turning, my mind unable to quiet itself. The weight of the book I’d been reading still lingered on my bedside table, and the faint memory of the holy flame I’d conjured hovered at the edge of my dreams.

A loud bang jolted me awake.

!!!

My heart raced, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it. But then came another—an unmistakable slam against my door, shaking the fragile wooden frame. My eyes snapped open, and I sat up, clutching the blanket to my chest as fear took hold.

Bang. Bang.

The sound grew louder, more insistent, as if someone—or something—was determined to break it down. My room in the main palace wasn’t as fortified as the isolated wing I used to stay in. The door wouldn’t hold for long. And then, with a final crash, it splintered and gave way.

I gasped, frozen in place, as Draegon stepped into the room. His presence was commanding as ever, but something about him seemed different. His black hair was disheveled, and his glowing purple eyes held an intensity I wasn’t prepared for. They weren’t cold or detached like I’d seen before—no, they were warm.

Desperate?

"Draegon?" I managed to whisper, my voice shaking. I wasn’t expecting to see him, not like this, not in the middle of the night. He crossed the room in quick strides and knelt by my bed, grabbing my hands in his. His touch was firm but not rough, and the heat of his skin felt like a lifeline against the icy chill of my fear.

"You have to trust me," he said, his voice low but urgent. The way he looked at me—it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. There was no anger, no apathy, no distance.

"Trust you?" I echoed, my mind spinning. "What’s going on? Why are you here—?"

"That isn’t me," he interrupted, his grip on my hands tightening slightly, as if he feared I might pull away. "Can’t you see? I wouldn’t do that—" His voice cracked, and the rawness of it sent a shiver down my spine. He wasn’t making sense, but the way he looked at me, the way he said those words, made my chest ache. What was he trying to tell me?

Before he could finish, the doorframe creaked again, and a figure stepped into the room. Rouxy. She was calm, collected, her presence like a blade cutting through the tension. Her golden eyes locked onto Draegon, and her lips curved into a tight, knowing smile.

"Sorry," Rouxy said as she lingered at the doorway, her tone light but dripping with mockery. "He got drunk." Her lips curved into that nasty little smile of hers, the kind that made me want to crawl out of my own skin. "You know, fox sake is very different. Stronger than what you humans are used to." She walked over so fast I couldn’t even process it. Draegon was about to move away from me when she grabbed his wrist and he froze.

She tilted her head slightly, feigning innocence, but her golden eyes glittered with amusement mixed with something else

Anger?

She was angry about something. I glanced at Draegon whose expressions were not blank. Is she angry at him? Why? Because he came to me? Or is it something else?

"Don’t mind us, okay?" Ruoxy said as she passed me a desperate smile

I nodded mutely, offering her nothing. My heart, however, wouldn’t stop racing. Something wasn’t right—I could feel it deep in my gut. Draegon’s words, his desperate tone, his trembling hands as he clung to mine.

’That isn’t me.’

But what truly made me pause, what dug deep into my mind and refused to let go, were my daughter’s words.

Daddy is in danger.’

I replayed her tiny voice over and over in my head, as if trying to unravel some hidden meaning. But Draegon didn’t look like he was in danger. He looked fine... didn’t he?

"We’ll be leaving then." She began to drag Draegon away and there was nothing I could do but watch.

Once they were gone, I couldn’t do much about anything. The door was broken and I couldn’t sleep with it that way, so I got up. The sun was about to rise soon anyway.

The more I thought about it, the less certain I became. His eyes tonight, the way they pleaded with me, the crack in his voice when he spoke—there was something off. And then Rouxy, always hovering, always watching, always pulling him away.

I stared at the broken door, its shattered pieces a reflection of my spiraling thoughts. Something wasn’t adding up.

If he wasn’t in danger, then why would Asha warn me? Why would she appear in my subconscious at all? She hadn’t come to me just to give me false hope, had she? I refused to believe that.

And if Draegon wasn’t truly himself... then who, or what, was he? What was happening to him?

I looked down at the faint imprint of his grip still lingering on my hands.

There was something I noticed this time, in his eyes. When Ruoxy came to get him, there was this darkness... in his eyes that took over as soon as she touched him.