CHAPTER 92: CHAPTER NINETY-TWO: I WANT YOU SO BAD.

Damien stood over Cassian’s lifeless body with a blank face. He then reached out and grabbed him by the neck.

He shook him.

"You can’t die yet." he said darkly. "You still haven’t paid for your sins. I’ll make you suffer so much you’ll beg me for death."

Cassian chuckled lightly. "I’m already a dead man, Damien. What more is there to me?" he added.

A lopsided smile carved his face.

"You’ll see."

"Damien!"

Elyria and Lio were walking towards him with Lio’s arm slumped over her shoulders.

When they got to him, Elyria unknowingly dropped the weak man she was supporting and threw herself into Damien’s arms.

Damien in turn dropped Cassian the moment her body pressed on his.

"You did it! You did it!" she cried happily. "Does that mean we can free the dragons now? Huh? Huh?!"

Lio groaned.

"So much for that act of love earlier."

Elyria turned to him with a wry smile. "Sorry Lio." she then turned to Damien, bringing her face much closer to his. She ran her palms on this chest.

"I just got distracted by this hottie."

Elyria puckered her lips, ready to smear Damien’s when a soft crunch echoed a few meters from them. Damien turned to find the source of the noise and froze up.

"Elena..." he muttered, placing his hands briefly on Elyria’s waist and pushing her away from himself. Elyria too understood the message and backed off.

"...is—is that really you?" he asked again.

Tears welled up in Elena’s eyes, blurring her vision until all she could see was him. With a broken sob, she wrenched herself free from Severin’s grasp and stumbled forward.

"Damien!" she sobbed out uncontrollably.

He was already moving before she could reach him swift and desperate and the moment they collided, the world seemed to vanish. His arms wrapped around her, crushing her trembling body against his chest as if he could fuse their souls together by sheer will.

They held each other tightly, bodies pressed so close it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. Their hearts pounded in sync: wild, frantic, terrified of losing the warmth they had just regained.

"Damien..." she breathed, the name breaking apart on her lips. Her tears streamed freely now, hot trails down her cheeks, soaking into his armor.

"Oh my darling. It’s okay, my love. I’ve got you now," he whispered, voice trembling with both relief and anguish. His hand slid up to her hair, fingers tangling in the soft strands as he pressed his face into her neck then trailing it up to her face and head, inhaling her scent like it was the only thing anchoring him to life.

He sprayed gentle kisses on her again and again on her forehead, her cheeks, her soft chestnut hair, as if each touch might erase the pain she carried.

But Elena couldn’t stop crying. She couldn’t be consoled. The tears kept on pouring out non-stop even with his coaxing.

The dam had burst, and months probably even a year of fear, longing, and loss poured out of her in great, heaving sobs. Her fingers clutched at his shirt underneath till her knuckles turned white, unwilling to let him go even for a breath.

Damien tightened his hold, resting his chin atop her head, his own eyes glistening though he said nothing more. Around them, the world seemed to hold its breath, the silence filled only by her muffled cries and the soft rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her ear.

"We should give them some space." Lio spoke up after a while of watching the two literally become one being.

Elyria flicked a tear away, nodding in agreement. She helped Lio to his feet and slowly walked away feeling relief and satisfaction wash over her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month later~~~

A month had passed since the showdown. The dragons who had been hidden miles underground were awakened by Damien, the true keeper of the throne. He had summoned the dragons who were used as fuel to power the relic’s force over Zerathane.

Freeing the dragons meant making utterly useless the ancient relic but he didn’t blink an eye.

"The relic was originally made to keep the dragons out." he said with his arms raised at his coronation. "But now, that long lost friendship between man and beast has been renewed. Today, we stand hale and hearty because of the sacrifice of these dragons who we all feared as evil. Even the ones who were locked up..." Damien turned to his right where hundreds of dragons were seated in their human form and smiled "...we say a big thank you. Zerathane is still whole because of their forced sacrifice."

A loud, standing ovation reverberated throughout the grand hall where the people were gathered combined with the ones coming from the multitude listening outside. "From now on, we shall live in peace with our companions, reveling in the delight of a new era."

Elyria sat all smiles beside Sissy, her sister, beaming from ear to ear. The other dragons that were locked up also clapped at the wonderful speech delivered by the new, rightful king.

"I would also love to use this moment to thank my wonderful wife for being strong admist the tribulations." A smile lit his face. "It takes a lot of courage to hold on for that long. Dear?"

Damien walked over to her and took her hand. He led her to the altar where thousands of eyes were fixed on. Damien looked straight into her eyes, love glittering beautifully in his gaze before taking her hands in his.

"I love you today, tomorrow and forever. Although we didn’t marry for love at first, I’ve fallen even harder for you."

He let go of her hand and took the crown that was placed on the altar.

"I want you to be my lover, my bride and my queen. To love you and cherish you forever."

Gasps and applauds erupted from the gathering once again. In Zerathane, crowning a queen meant after her, the king can no longer have anyone else. But Alexandria had broken this sacred rule because Isolde had reminded him so much of his late wife.

Many say she was the reason for his downfall.

Was she?

Tears flooded her eyes, falling hopelessly on her bared chest. Damien swept her hair over her neck, bringing them together on her back before placing the crown on her head.

Elena threw her hands around him, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of joy bursting out of her. She had never felt this happy in all her days.

Hoots and cheers sounded like thunder in the hallways as everyone congratulated the newly wedded and crowned King and Queen of Zerathane.

...

"We should go on our honeymoon don’t you think? We never really had one." Damien said to Elena when they were finally alone in the palace. It was already evening, the dragons had returned back to their world with the emancipated ones and so they were the only ones in the palace.

Severin was still nowhere to be found. Although during the past month after reuniting with his wife, the last time he saw him was when he brought her to him in that forest. He had tried to find him but decided to give him some space. Despite being the youngest, Severin was the most calculating of the four princes; the kind who never spoke more than he had to, yet somehow made silence feel like a threat.

"I’d love that." Elena said wrapping her arms around him. She tiptoed to his height, pecking him gently on the lips. "I’ve always wanted to do that since you returned. But you were so busy with the reforms and the people that you had no time for me. Even after we just reunited."

Damien smirked at her. He bent down and kissed her cheek, then her ears, biting down on them gently with his hot mouth.

"Did that bother you hmm, darling?" he asked, his hot breath fanning against her ear. Elena shivered at the sudden intrusion. Her arms on his shoulders gave him too much control over her body.

She gasped at the sensation that trickled down her spine.

His mouth trailed down to her neck, leaving small, hot kisses in its wake. He sucked gently on the soft flesh of her neck and Elena cried out weakly.

"Why don’t I make up for that?" he said, lifing his head up from her neck. By the time his eyes met hers, they were already blood red.

Elena’s face was already flushed by the time he pulled away. Damien cupped her face in his palms. "I’ve barely started with you and your already this red." he said with a dark chuckle, running his hand over her small back.

Damien grabbed her waist and pulled her roughly to himself. "Are you sure you can handle me princess. I haven’t tasted my own wife since marriage and I’m damn craving it right now."