Lahat ng Kabanata ng Lyra, His Second Chance Mate: Kabanata 241 - Kabanata 250

She stepped forward, past the colonnade’s shadowed reach, into the heart of the throne room.Her boots rang like bells over the stone, clear and certain. Not defiant. Not demanding. Simply inevitable.The air shifted. The loyalists - those who remained after the fires and bloodletting - stood straighter as she passed, drawn by a force older than titles.It was not fear that stirred them. It was gravity.This, Lyra thought, is what it means to lead again. Not by right. Not by bloodline. But by becoming the thing they thought had died.She stopped before the dais, her voice quiet - but it carried like a blade sliding free of its scabbard.“I know what you’ve lost.”A silence fell like frost. Heads bowed. Spines straightened under invisible weights.“We all bear scars. Some written across flesh, others hidden deeper - etched in marrow, in memory. In silence.”She let that silence deepen - let them feel the hollow places where friends once stood, where kin once laughed.“I know I vanished

Nyxar POVThe night was heavy, the stars distant and cold as Nyxar stepped onto one of the castle’s upper terraces. The air smelled of old stone, burning oil lamps, and faintly smoke.Ekreth was already there, perched on the edge of the balcony like a great serpent coiled in human form. The dragon’s golden eyes glimmered in the low light, his long fingers tracing idle patterns on the rim of a carved obsidian cup.Without a word, Nyxar poured himself a drink from the decanter resting on the nearby table. The liquid shimmered faintly, infused with something not entirely of this realm. A tonic meant for gods and monsters.“Stronger than mortal wine,” Ekreth murmured.“Less likely to dull the senses.” Nyxar took a long sip, his gaze distant. “We’ll need clear heads soon enough.”Ekreth smiled, the expression faintly predatory. “The winds are shifting.”“They are.” Nyxar exhaled slowly. “The Old Blood is waking.”The dragon inclined his head. “And the gods above grow restless.”For a momen

Lyra POVThe castle halls were quiet when she returned. Only the soft patter of distant guards and the occasional flicker of lamps accompanied her steps. The moon still hung above, its pale light filtering through high arched windows, casting ribbons of silver across the marble floors.She pushed open the doors to her chambers, exhaling as they closed behind her. Here, at least, the weight lessened - though it never truly lifted.The servants had prepared her bath as she requested, steam rising gently from the carved stone basin at the far end of the chamber. She shed her robe, the silk whispering to the floor like shed skin, and stepped into the warm water.Heat enveloped her, loosening the tension knotted in her shoulders. For several long moments, Lyra simply sat in the silence, letting the warmth pull at the edges of her worry. But the thoughts crept in as they always did.Thalen's voice still echoed through her mind. - Fault line. Fracture. The one the gods fear.Lyra’s jaw tight

Nyxar POVThe wind shifted first. A subtle change, but enough to catch Nyxar’s attention even before the others noticed. The steady hush of the trees grew restless, leaves trembling beneath an unnatural current.Then the shadow swept over them.Massive. Fluid. Alive.The great wings beat once, stirring the air into swirling eddies that made the nearby trees groan in protest. Ekreth descended in a slow, controlled spiral, his scales catching what little light remained, gleaming like obsidian laced with molten veins. Power radiated from him, ancient and untamed, as primal as the lands they had crossed to reach this forgotten place.Nyxar felt it press against his skin as Ekreth touched down, the earth vibrating beneath massive claws that bit into moss and stone. The dragon lowered his head slightly, sharp, intelligent eyes locking onto Nyxar and Lyra with a familiar gleam of amusement beneath the raw might of his presence.“Still dramatic,” Nyxar called up, voice calm but wry. “I see no

Lyra POVThey followed Ekreth deeper into the mountain - not by road or trail, but through a veil of shimmering air that cracked like lightning as they passed. Magic here was old, unfiltered. It hummed in Lyra’s bones, sharpening every breath, every heartbeat.Beyond the veil, the world changed.They emerged into a vast canyon carved of black glass and obsidian, stretching beneath an endless crimson sky. Pillars of smoke coiled into the air, and in the distance, winged shapes circled above jagged peaks. The dragon realm - not just a place, but a plane apart, untouched by time.And watching them from the ledges, perched like gods of fire and stone, were the Others.Dragons.More than she expected. Some as massive as towers. Others coiled in humanoid form, draped in robes that shimmered like magma or bone. But all of them shared one thing: eyes that burned with ancient memory - and judgment.Lyra's throat tightened.Ekreth stepped forward, wings half-unfurled. “They are under truce,” he