The Dragon King's Hated Bride
Chapter 41: The Desolation Of Raki Village

Chapter 41: The Desolation Of Raki Village

>>Aelin

What?

My stomach churned at her words, and a cold sweat broke out on my skin. The way she spoke of the Abyss made my blood run cold. I pressed myself further into the shadows, hoping to stay hidden, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them.

What does she mean when she said Draegon is corrupted? What is that supposed to mean? He’ll never be free from it? Why? And what will it do to him???

Ruoxy moved with horrifying speed, her elongated limbs stretching unnaturally as she attacked again. Draegon countered with a blast of fire that illuminated the entire chamber, briefly pushing her back. But she didn’t falter, her laughter echoing once more as she advanced on him.

"Enough!" Draegon’s roar shook the air as flames erupted around him, swirling in a fiery vortex that forced her to retreat momentarily.

I clutched the wall, my hands trembling as I watched the battle unfold.

***

>>Draegon (A few months back)

The war had ended, but the silence it left behind was deafening. My body ached with exhaustion, a constant reminder of the battles fought and the lives lost. Fighting the monsters from the Abyss had drained more than my strength—it had eroded my spirit.

I could feel that something was wrong with me. My mind was foggy at this point, like I was fighting something trying to consume me.

"Why?" Ariston’s voice broke the quiet as we stood amidst the scattered remains of our camp. The soldiers, battered and weary, were packing their gear, ready to return to whatever semblance of life they had left. "There’s nothing in Raki Village. It’s just an empty ruin."

I let out a soft sigh, my gaze fixed on the horizon. "I just want to see it for myself," I replied. "The people in the village disappeared, and then the gate opened. That can’t be a coincidence. It has to be connected."

Ariston hesitated, his usual confidence giving way to unease. "Maybe... gates like that don’t open on their own. Someone must have done something to cause it. This kind of thing is always intentional." He avoided my gaze.

His certainty piqued my curiosity. "You seem confident in that statement," I said, turning to face him.

"It’s..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I’d still advise you not to go there. You should take the men you have left and go home. You’ve done enough."

I shook my head. "I will—after I’ve seen the village." My voice was firm, resolute. "It’s only a day’s walk from here. I need to know."

Ariston said nothing more, but the warning in his eyes lingered as I turned away.

***

The walk to Raki Village was quiet, the landscape eerily still. The sun hung low in the sky by the time I arrived, casting long shadows over the desolate place. The village was exactly as I had heard: abandoned, untouched, and unnervingly silent.

Dust coated every surface, a thick layer of neglect that spoke of the years since anyone had lived here. The houses stood intact, their doors and windows closed, their walls unmarked. There were no signs of violence—no broken doors, no scorch marks, no blood.

...

The people hadn’t been killed or kidnapped. But then, how did they simply vanish?

I wandered through the empty streets, my boots stirring up clouds of dust with each step. The air was stale, heavy with an unnatural stillness that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

There was something here that was bothering me, but I couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

As I kept walking around, I arrived at the main house. A wooden house with sliding doors, its entrance slightly ajar.

This must be the village chief’s house.

I approached cautiously, not making any sound as I went ahead. The house was larger than the others, its weathered exterior suggesting it had been the home of someone important.

Peeking through the door that was slightly a jar, I saw some movement

!

Coinciding how empty the rest of the place was, it was odd that someone was here. I opened the door and stepped inside. The air was colder here, the shadows deeper. And sitting in the center of the room was a woman, her fox-like features striking against the dim light. Her hair shimmered faintly, and her golden eyes glinted as she faced the wall with an eye drawn on it.

She was drinking something when I entered,"Oh?" She placed the glass down, sliding it behind her as she turned to face me. Her voice was smooth, "A guest?" My eyebrow twitched

I didn’t lower my guard. "Who are you?" I demanded. "I thought everyone from the village disappeared."

Her gaze lingered on me, taking in my horns, my eyes—every detail of me. She smiled, a slow, knowing expression. "Yes, everyone from the village met their end," she said, standing gracefully. "But I had run away before the village was attacked."

"The village was attacked?" I repeated, frowning. Something didn’t add up. There were no signs of an attack, no destruction, no bodies. The houses looked like the people had locked them up nicely. The same way people do before leaving for a journey

I shook my head, my mind felt fuzzy.

She began to walk towards me "Yes," she said softly, her golden eyes locking onto mine. "But I was scared. I shouldn’t have run alone. I know, it was wrong,"

Without warning, she reached out and grabbed my hand. Her touch was cold, sending a shiver up my arm. "I was so scared," she murmured, her voice trembling with a convincing vulnerability.

I pulled my hand back, my eyes narrowing. Something about her felt... off. My gaze flickered to the glass she had been drinking from, still sitting behind her. "What were you drinking?" I asked.

"Oh," she said, not glancing back at it as she took my hand again, this time even tighter. I tried to remove it but she kept her grip "Just some milk." Her smile widened,

"Let my hand go," I told her. It was weird how I couldn’t push her away

"You seem very exhausted."

"Me?" I blinked, suddenly aware of the weight pressing down on me, heavier than before. My vision blurred, and my knees wobbled.

***

>>Aelin (Present)

The dungeon was chaos—clashing weapons, roaring monsters, and the faint glow of dark cores pulsing in the murk. My pulse raced as I kept to the edges, watching, helpless and useless.

"You didn’t come from across the Abyss gate, did you?" Draegon growled, his voice sharp and biting as he skidded back across the stone floor. There were scratches on his skin but it was nothing compared to how damaged Ruoxy was.

Unlike the other monsters that regenerated immediately, her body’s wounds weren’t closing up so fast. Her body was bleeding from multiple wounds, her movements growing more erratic, more desperate.

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she lunged forward again, her clawed hand slicing through the air.

My gaze darted to the others—Drakkar, Draken, and Ariston—who were fighting the larger monster. They had finally found the core. "The core is in the back of the head!" Ariston’s shout cut through the clamor of battle, his voice hoarse but triumphant.

I saw them zero in on it, their attacks growing more precise, more focused. I clutched my chest, feeling the faint sting of my own fear. I couldn’t help them. I couldn’t do anything.

I turned back to Draegon. He moved like a storm, his strikes relentless, his focus unyielding. Ruoxy was slowing down. Draegon’s big scaled hands and claws glinted in the faint light as he landed one final blow.

With a sickening sound, he ripped her heart from her chest. It wasn’t a normal heart—it glowed darkly, pulsing with the same eerie light as the cores of the Abyss monsters. Draegon didn’t hesitate. His claws closed around it, and he crushed it in his hand.

!?!?

The black blood from it sputtering everywhere, even staining Draegon’s face.

Ruoxy let out a choked gasp, she stumbled backwards, her long limbs clutching her chest that bled profoundly as there was a gaping hole left there. She fell towards the ground but her body didn’t wither up like the other monster.

I barely had a moment to breathe before something cold brushed against my shoulder.

!?!?

I froze, my blood running icy in my veins. Slowly, I turned my head.

It was small—so small I hadn’t even noticed it before. A distorted creature, its shape unnatural and twisted. It hovered just in front of me, its leathery wings flapping softly. Its body was bat-like but grotesquely disproportionate, with a single, big grotesque eye in the center of its round head.

It was about the size of my face. The big-eyed monster stared at me, unblinking, its gaze boring into mine. My stomach churned as I watched it.

It moved—no, it shifted in a way that defied natural movement—and then its mouth began to open.

!!?

Weirdly enough the big round eye was its mouth and it made my stomach drop. The eye slit horizontally from the middle, revealing the mouth

It was an instantly fast movement. The eye slit up, wider, and wider, until it was impossibly large. It wasn’t even possible to open up a mouth so big when the thing was about the size of my face but the razor sharp mouth it opened was the size of my body

Big enough to swallow me whole. The gaping maw seemed endless, the darkness inside it stretching far beyond the creature’s small frame.

I stumbled back, my breath caught in my throat, but the creature followed, inching closer. Its jagged teeth glistened, and the sound of its wings flapping filled my ears like a nightmarish hum.

And then it lunged.

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