All Chapters of A Kingdom of Corruption and Chaos: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

I just stayed there with him until it was lunchtime, and neither of them had so much as stirred. 'Maybe we should go get them some lunch? I'm sure it would help. They have to be hungry.' I asked Nova, and she just looked up at me. 'It's a good idea, but you have to have one of them with you to get back into the room.' She answered, and I looked between the two sleeping forms. I didn't want to wake either of them, not yet. 'I could take Bane with me. Lexi and Genie should be down there by now, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping me bring food back up here for them. Then I would be able to get a ration for Xavier, too, and both of them could continue resting for now.' She thought it over for a moment before agreeing, and I carefully got up before gently scooping up the still sleeping dragon. Nova helped as I carefully rearranged him into a more comfortable position, as she wrapped his long tail around my waist before tucking it in my arms with him so it wasn't dragging the ground

As he got cleaned up, I changed the bedding so it was clean for him to lie back down, and Nova had all but forced Bane into the bathroom shortly after Xavier had started the shower up to clean up as well. After he was done, he did in fact come back and almost instantly go back to sleep, but this time I was very happily curled back against his chest, absently rubbing over Bane's chest scales as I was all but squished between the two of them. I'd be lying if I had said that I didn't like it, though.Between the comforting weight of Xavier's arm over my side, the feel of his breath as it stirred the hair on top of my head, and the warmth of him pressed against my back, I hadn't even realized I had drifted off to sleep myself until a sharp knock on the door had me jumping awake. Xavier let out a soft groan in his sleep, but his grip on me only tightened, pulling me further back against his chest. As much as I liked the fact that even in sleep, he was unwilling to let go of me, I really nee

Xavier held the door, ushering us all inside his office before shutting it behind us and coming over to where I was leaning back against his desk from where I had set Bane down onto it. "Do you mind?" He asked, and I just looked at him for a moment before realizing that he wanted the missive. I quickly fished it back out of my bag before handing it over to him. He quickly read back through the mission before shaking his head as he went over to one of his bookcases and pulled out a large rolled piece of parchment. As he set it on the desk, I moved to stand behind it with him as he unrolled the map, setting a couple of heavy books along the edges to hold it in place before looking over it for a long moment with a sigh. Lexi and Genie both came up to the other side of the desk to see what we were looking at as we all looked over the map, just as Xavier pointed out Celestia's capital city of Elysium. "The first problem with this mission is that coming from Elys

I was trying to be careful about how much I was actually leaning back into Xavier, considering I didn't want to aggravate his still-healing ribs, but that didn't last very long. His arm tightened around my waist, hand splaying across my stomach as he pulled me back even further into his warm embrace. "Relax, Ari. You're not going to hurt me. You're too small to actually press on anything hard enough to hurt me, and even if you did, I'd still prefer to hold you closer, princess." He whispered against my ear, sending a shiver down my spine, but I had already lost the fight as I allowed my body to all but melt back against him. "When we get there, stay close, and make sure they do as well. King Titus has a habit of trying to draw pretty things away and keep them. One of the advisors to the throne already tried to get their hands on you, and if they find you alone there in any capacity..." He left the statement open-ended, but it wasn't hard for me to fill in the blank. "If for any reason

The king came up, placing his hands on the railing just on the other side of Bane, who promptly snarled at the man as he leaned over the railing to once more address the crowd. "Are we ready to play?" He called over the crowd, and they roared with cheers, but I just watched Xavier. He wasn't paying attention to the king in the slightest. Instead, that sharp gaze was trained on me, watching every single little move I made. "Bring out the horde." The man bellowed, and the roar of the crowd heightened to an almost deafening level as they chanted the last statement of their king. "A whole horde?" Genie questioned in a frantic whisper as her livid green eyes locked with mine. "Ari, I feel like we should be worried about this one. Like, don't get me wrong, I know he's a total badass and all, but a whole horde of enemies when he's by himself?" I could see the fear in those bright eyes; it was the same fear that was burning a hole in my gut, but now was not the time to show that fear. I clo