Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ “Shriek!” Syrax gave a warning growl, her temper fierce and obvious.
“Sorry.” Vaelor slammed to a halt, his smile freezing on his face.
Not every dragon was cool and aloof like Dreamfyre.
Some had tempers.
The corner of Rhaenyra’s mouth rose.
She stroked the great beast’s long, thick neck and gave a command in High Valyrian.
“Quiet, Syrax.” Syrax blinked her vertical pupils and lowered herself with almost human understanding.
“Wow.” Vaelor was so envious he nearly drooled.
Commanding a dragon was simply too handsome.
“Syrax has a poor temper, so be gentle.” Rhaenyra smiled faintly and beckoned with her pale little hand.
Since he had failed to claim Dreamfyre but had still helped win her a chance to be unchained, she could at least let the little fellow satisfy his curiosity.
Vaelor instantly brightened.
“Good.
Here I come.” He carefully approached the yellow dragon, both little hands reaching out with eager caution.
“Roar.” Syrax glanced at him and shifted slightly, as if the contact tickled.
“What should I do?” Vaelor stared expectantly, his hand less than a palm’s breadth from the topaz-colored scales.
Seeing him at such a loss, Rhaenyra took his small hand and pressed it gently to the dragon.
Laughing softly, she said, “Like this.” Vaelor shivered, and his grin nearly reached his ears.
He had touched her.
He had really touched her.
This was not the reckless impulse of throwing himself against Dreamfyre.
This was true contact.
At the same time, the panel’s notification sounded beside his ear.
[Essence Panel] Powerful special magic-rich creature detected.
Scorching fire magic acquired.
A faint red glow invisible to everyone else drifted out, wobbled through the air, and sank into his small chest.
A familiar warmth immediately flowed through his body.
Delighted, Vaelor checked the number beside the golden hourglass.
[Essence Panel] Magic Essence: 268.
He had not only earned back the essence spent on the two cards, he had nearly doubled it.
“Wonderful.
I am rich.” Vaelor, newly wealthy and very pleased with himself, could hardly contain his joy.
More importantly, there was another change.
[Essence Panel] [Vaelor Targaryen] Talent: Dreamer (Gold) Bloodline: Ancient Valyrian Dragonlord (23%) Skills: High Valyrian (Mastery), Arithmetic (Proficient)…
Magic Cards: None Pet: Golden-Nosed Mouse (Blue) Status: “A well-developing human child with the potential to become a powerful warrior.” [Bloodline Column] changed.
Bloodline purity has increased by another 5%.
Vaelor discovered the pattern and muttered quietly in his heart.
‘Every dragon I touch gives me five percent more bloodline purity.’ If he touched every dragon in the family, would his bloodline not soar?
Syrax shook her head and flicked away the human hatchling clinging to the scales of her neck.
Vaelor stumbled back several steps and gave an embarrassed smile.
Syrax’s topaz scales were simply too dazzling.
“Shriek!” A shadow covered the sky, and a piercing roar shook the air.
Vaelor lifted his head and saw a broad pale blue chest blocking his view.
Boom.
As Dreamfyre came in to land, she beat her wings once and settled her massive body steadily on the ground.
“Back so soon?” Vaelor was a little surprised.
His feet began inching closer.
Dreamfyre’s vertical pupils remained indifferent.
Even when she noticed the human hatchling approaching, she kept the same attitude of complete disinterest.
Since she did not drive him away, Vaelor simply crouched beside her head.
“Prince!” The guard detail went rigid with tension, all of them sweating hard.
Vaelor waved a hand.
“It is fine.” Ser Steffon and Ser Ryan exchanged a look.
It did not seem fine at all.
Gunthor was the bold one.
He chose to trust the prince, troublesome as the boy might be, and stopped the other three.
If the prince was not afraid, what were they afraid of?
So a strange scene appeared before the Dragonpit gates.
A pale blue dragon stood before the great bronze doors, while a short silver-haired boy crouched in front of her.
One human and one dragon stayed very close, each crouched there without disturbing the other.
Rhaenyra and Syrax stood off to the side, wisely keeping quiet.
Compared with Dreamfyre, whose length from head to tail exceeded fifty meters, Syrax was no more than fourteen or fifteen meters long.
She was not even a third of Dreamfyre’s size.
Vaelor hugged his knees and tilted his head.
“Still no good.” Beside him, Dreamfyre raised her head and chest.
Even while her great chest rose and fell from the flight, she still rejected the idea of a rider.
“This dragon does not want to be claimed.” Vaelor pouted.
He felt regret, but he could accept it.
He had chosen Dreamfyre mostly because she was close at hand and worth trying.
There were still several dragons on Dragonstone.
He had better options.
Dreamfyre suddenly lowered her head and nudged the human hatchling with no sense of courtesy, her nostrils working hard.
She seemed to have smelled something familiar.
Vaelor was bewildered and nearly fell over.
“Ow.” Dreamfyre soon lifted her head again, turned on her own, and walked back into the Dragonpit.
The tail lined with pale silver dorsal scales swayed lightly behind her.
The elderly dragonkeeper had already been waiting.
He hurried forward with the others to oversee the dragon’s return to her lair.
“So heartless.” Vaelor pulled a miserable little face and drew circles on the ground.
Fortunately, he had not come away empty-handed.
Especially just now.
After his bloodline purity rose, he seemed faintly able to sense a dragon’s mood.
Dreamfyre was not interested in him, but she did not reject his presence either.
Vaelor felt that even if he hugged her leg again, she would not attack him.
Rhaenyra walked over, already thinking of the consequences.
“Dreamfyre flying out of the Dragonpit will certainly cause panic.
I will send Syrax back.
We should return to the Red Keep first.” “Then I will see Dreamfyre off.” Vaelor patted his clothes and followed with a swagger.
He would be scolded when he went back anyway.
He might as well play a little longer.
Rhaenyra rolled her eyes at him prettily, looking at this younger brother with new respect.
Daemon’s son, sure enough.
He had nerve.
Vaelor followed the dragonkeepers as they led Dreamfyre back to her pit, passing through tunnels where light and shadow shifted.
Then they entered the underground cavern where Dreamfyre nested.
“Prince, please do not run around.” The elderly dragonkeeper looked deeply worried.
He called the others into a half circle and began, slowly and with great effort, to fasten the great dragon’s chains again.
With nothing else to do, Vaelor looked east and west.
The cavern was enormous, a man-made hollow dug into Rhaenys’s Hill beneath the Dragonpit.
Wind poured through cracks in the stone.
Because of those cracks, the air flowed well, and the light was brighter than in the tunnels.
Vaelor turned in a circle and pinched his brows.
The ground was uneven, covered everywhere with sticky dragon dung, blackened bones scorched by dragonfire, and foul-smelling wastewater.
Dreamfyre seemed a little resistant.
Her vertical pupil slid toward the human hatchling not far away, then toward a mound of dark dragon dung.
Vaelor noticed.
He blinked.
“Squeak, squeak.” His backpack stirred.
The furry Golden-Nosed Mouse poked out, set its paws on the satchel, and sniffed hard toward the black mound.
Seeing that, even Vaelor understood.
Crack.
He “accidentally” stepped on the mound.
Three dragon eggs, one blue, one green, and one purple, appeared amid a puff of rising white steam.
Vaelor’s eyes went straight, and his breathing stopped.
That was not dragon dung.
It was clearly an incubating mass left after a dragon laid eggs.
The hard, smooth shell of dung lowered their presence, while the black mucus maintained a steady warmth and kept the eggs safely stored.
“If no one saw them, then they are mine.” Vaelor’s round cheeks flushed.
He quickly called up the radiant panel and tapped it.
[Sleight of Hand] exchange successful.
While the dragonkeepers’ attention remained on Dreamfyre, he turned sideways to block the “dragon dung” and pulled the adorable mouse out of his backpack.
“Squeak!” The Golden-Nosed Mouse panicked.
Vaelor moved with practiced speed, beckoning one dragon egg after another into his hand, then prying open the mouse’s mouth.
“Open up, little mouse.
This is urgent.” A magical scene followed.
The dragon eggs flew into his hand from a distance, then vanished strangely into the Golden-Nosed Mouse’s mouth.
Three eggs the size of leather balls disappeared in an instant.
“Squeak…” The Golden-Nosed Mouse looked pitiful, then shrank back into the backpack and curled into a ball.
The timing was perfect.
The dragonkeepers finished chaining Dreamfyre and withdrew at once.
Vaelor clasped his hands behind his back, whistled, and followed them out with a guilty conscience.
These were not stolen dragon eggs.
Dreamfyre had given them to him.
The reserve eggs in the Dragonpit were still safely where they belonged.
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.