Semua Bab Lyra, His Second Chance Mate: Bab 271 - Bab 275

Ekreth POVThe gates opened before they reached them. No horns sounded. No soldiers lined the walls. No grand welcome waited beyond the stone.Ekreth stared up at the fortress carved into the mountainside. He knew every tower. Every wall. Every scar in the ancient stone.He had once called this place home. Before chains. Before imprisonment. Before centuries buried beneath another kingdom.The sight stole his breath. Even the wolves behind him fell silent. Moera’s pack seemed to sense they were crossing into something ancient. Something larger than themselves.The gates groaned wider. Warm air rolled outward. Not ordinary warmth. This was dragon warmth. The living heat of a place built atop ancient fire veins running beneath the mountains.For a moment Ekreth simply stood there. Unable to move. Vaeleth noticed it. “You’re staring.” Her voice pulled him from memories.Ekreth looked down. His daughter stood beside him. Her arms were crossed, and she was trying very hard not to look co

“He’s awake.”Three simple words.Yet Lyra felt them settle into the room like a death sentence.Vaeleth stood frozen beside the table. Her silver eyes had gone distant again. Listening. As if some invisible thread had suddenly pulled taut.Ekreth was already beside her. Lyra hadn’t even seen him move. One moment he had been across the table. The next he was at his daughter’s side.The sight struck something unexpected inside her. She remembered the dragon she had first met beneath the castle. Ancient. Dangerous. Unreachable. And now? Now she saw a father. A man trying desperately to make up for centuries he could never reclaim.“Vaeleth.” Ekreth’s voice was quiet. Careful. “What do you mean?”The girl blinked slowly. Then focused on him again.“I don’t know.” Frustration flashed across her face. “He was sleeping.” The room remained deathly still. “Now he isn’t.”Maeraxa exchanged a glance with several dragons positioned along the hall’s edge. None of them looked reassured. That worri

Vaeleth POVSleep should have come easily. For the first time in weeks, she wasn’t sleeping on frozen ground.For the first time in her life, there were walls around her. Real walls. No storms. No crumbling wards. No volcano threatening to split the mountain apart. No whispers rising from beneath the earth.She should have slept. Instead, she lay awake staring at the carved ceiling above her bed. The chamber was beautiful.Golden lanterns glowed softly in crystal alcoves. Ancient runes drifted across the stone like liquid silver. Through the tall arched windows, moonlight poured across the floor.Everything felt wrong. Not dangerous. Just unfamiliar. Yet safe. The realization made her uncomfortable. Safe was something she’d never learned how to be.Eventually exhaustion won. Her eyes closed. And the moment they did the world vanished.Vaeleth stood barefoot in shallow, silver water. It stretched endlessly in every direction. A perfect mirror reflecting a sky full of unfamiliar stars.