Chapter 99: One Big Unhappy Family
"The ancient dragons wrote that every treasure is first claimed by mind before it is ever claimed by touch."
~Rebel Beast
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It was almost magnetic the way Rhydian Drakhar’s gaze found Aria Aspen.
She was exactly as he remembered. And somehow, even worse.
There was an innocence about her that should have made her fragile. Instead, it only made the unassuming boldness in her stand out even more. She looked at the world with every intention of questioning it, even when she knew she shouldn’t.
His dragon stirred.
She didn’t belong in a place like this. Which only made him want her here even more.
Could she survive if he pulled her into the darkness of his world?
His gaze drifted lower.
The cropped shirt she wore exposed a narrow strip of toned skin above the waistband of her sweatpants.
The dragon inside him lifted its head.
Treasure.
The single word reverberated through every part of him, and Rhydian’s jaw tightened.
Dragons coveted gold, jewels, ancient relics—objects worthy of guarding with their lives. Not people. And certainly not a human girl.
Yet his beast refused to acknowledge the difference.
His eyes lingered on the smooth curve of her waist. Without warning, his dragon thrust an image into his mind.
A slender gold chain encircled her waist, resting against her bare skin as if it had always belonged there. Tiny gemstones caught the light with every breath she took. His hands were at the small of her back, fastening the clasp before his fingertips slowly followed the chain where it embraced her body, lingering just long enough to admire how perfectly it suited her.
The image vanished as quickly as it had come, but it left behind a hunger that tightened every muscle in his body.
His dragon wanted to adorn her. To drape her in pieces from his hoard until every beast who looked at her understood she belonged to the Dragon Prince.
The possessive impulse was so sudden, so consuming, that it took every ounce of discipline Rhydian possessed not to cross the hall and discover whether her skin was truly as soft as his dragon imagined.
Instead, he remained where he was, watching her while trying very hard not to wonder what other treasures would look just as perfect against her body.
"Aria."
Someone nudged her.
"H-huh?" Aria blinked, turning to find Trisha watching her with concern.
"Are you okay? You were out of it for a moment."
"Y-yeah." Aria cleared her throat, unconsciously wrapping an arm around her waist as though shielding herself. "I’m fine."
She wasn’t.
Aria had no idea where her mind had gone just now. It was as though she’d lost a few seconds without realizing it, only to return with the lingering feeling that something had happened while she wasn’t fully present.
"Well, thank God for that," Trisha muttered. "Because we have another problem."
"What?"
"Caelis Cobryn is here."
Aria instinctively searched the hall, but she shouldn’t have bothered. He found her first.
Those silver eyes settled on her with frightening precision, as if he had known exactly where she would be standing all along.
A chill crawled down Aria’s spine.
Caelis Cobryn was beautiful in a way that was unsettling. His skin was so pale he could have stepped onto the set of a vampire drama without a trace of makeup.
His features were carved with impossible sharpness, from the clean line of his jaw to the aristocratic bridge of his nose. Like every serpent beast she had seen, his build was lean, almost deceptively so, yet his frame carried the restrained strength of something capable of striking without warning.
It was his eyes that unsettled her most. There wasn’t an ounce of warmth in them.
They were beautiful, cold, and ancient. And at this very moment, they were fixed entirely on her.
"You shouldn’t be looking at him," Trisha whisper-yelled. "He’s a basilisk, for crying out loud."
Right. He was the prince whose gaze could turn living creatures to stone.
Aria almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought because, if anyone had already been petrified, it was her.
She simply couldn’t look away.
"I’m not the one doing the looking," she murmured, her brows drawing together as she continued meeting his gaze. For several long seconds, neither of them moved.
Caelis regarded her with cold disdain, as if questioning why a human had the audacity to return his stare.
Aria answered with one of her own. She refused to lower her eyes.
Who did he think he was?
Unfortunately, the silent standoff was finally broken when someone stepped between them.
"Haven’t you heard it’s a little disrespectful to ogle a woman, Caelis?" Rhydian said, his expression as bright as ever. "Show some manners."
Rhydian’s broad frame blocked Caelis’ view of Aria completely.
A muscle ticked in Caelis’ jaw. That annoying idiot.
However, the interruption also reminded Caelis that he had allowed himself to lose control for a moment. His attention shifted away from the human girl he wanted so desperately to question and back to his meal.
If everything went according to plan, there would be plenty of opportunities to uncover the truth. She could hide. Just not forever.If there was one thing he possessed in abundance, it was patience.
Unfortunately, Caelis and Rhydian were not the only ones caught off guard by the group’s arrival.
Charlotte, Karen, and their respective little entourages stared openly at Aria’s group, their expressions twisting with barely concealed jealousy and resentment.
Karen and Charlotte could hardly stand each other, yet Aria Aspen, Brittney Thorne, Trisha Thorne, and Aleksandra Bellville had become the one thing they could agree on.
Neither of them understood how those four always seemed to land on their feet while they were left picking up the pieces.
To make matters worse, Rhydian—the very dragon Charlotte had entered the dining hall with—ignored them and instead, headed straight for Aria’s group.
"Isn’t this lovely?" Rhydian said, a grin spreading across his face as he approached them. "Humans and beasts finally becoming one big unhappy family."
"My angels."
He slipped effortlessly between Variant and Valerie, bending just enough for each woman to press a playful kiss against one of his cheeks amid soft laughter.
"Rhydian." The two Therion beast greeted him warmly, clearly pleased to see him.
Aria watched the exchange without a word.
The dragon really was a man-slut. Nothing new there.
Rhydian finally straightened, and out of everyone standing before him, his attention settled on her.
He extended his hand.
"Rhydian Drakhar," he introduced himself smoothly. "It’s nice to see you again, Aria Aspen."