Chapter 86: Tears of a thousand years
( Mixed POV)
"What do you mean?"
Gwen’s voice wavered, confusion fused in every syllable.
Drogon Drakon stood before her, his fiery gaze locked onto hers, his entire body rigid with barely contained emotion. His fists trembled at his sides, his chest rising and falling as though he were struggling to breathe.
"You heard me," he ground out softly, his voice low and hoarse. "I am ruined without you. Nothing without you. Just like a thousand years ago. And just like now." His breath hitched, frustration and agony intertwining.
"I have watched you within these palace walls, so close yet untouchable. I have watched you suffer, and I couldn't do anything to help you. And you… you have forgotten me."
Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Gwen frowned, her brows knitting together. "I don’t understand. A thousand years ago? What do you mean?"
Drogon inhaled sharply, his gaze flashing with something dangerous, something raw. Like he wanted to kill someone. Gwen took a step back out of fear because of the look in his eyes.
"You were mine first."
The words left his mouth like it answered all her questions. However, all it did was confuse Gwen, more.
“ You are scaring me, Drogon.” Gwen's voice quivered. It was edged with unease and fear.
"Before this life, before you ever loved another, before you even became Gwen." His voice dropped lower, filled with unshaken certainty. "Your soul was once mine. You were mine, Arabelle. Arabelle, the Queen of the Witches. And I was yours."
“ What?” She moves back again. This time, hitting her legs against a chair. For a moment, Gwen thought she was going to fall and break something but as usual, Drogon came to her rescue within a blink of an eye.
They just stared at each other as he held her waist to support her from falling. The air around them seemed to still, the weight of his words pressed down on them both.
Gwen stared at him, lips parted, as though she wanted to say something but no words came out.
Her heart thundered violently against her ribs, an unfamiliar panic swelling inside her. She wanted to run. Run home to Anastasia. Go home to Ava. Those were the precious people she loved.
So why? Why? Why does she want to lean into the hands of this man? Let him wrap his hands around her like he did earlier.
Maybe, just maybe, she knew, she knew he wasn’t lying. Even if she didn’t remember, something deep within her did. It has always felt so right with him. Even this now, him holding her right now.
It felt like something ancient. Something that had been clawing at the corner of her soul ever since she first laid eyes on him.
Drogon saw the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. The hesitation. The quiet, unbearable pull.
Just like before.
"You were meant to be my salvation," he continued, voice rough with the scars and tears of a thousand years of pain. "And I was meant to be your protector."
His hands clenched tighter around her waist.
"But I failed you."
The words came out raw, filled with absolute guilt.
"I was given a duty by the gods themselves, to guard the ancient beast, the one that now resides within Raphael. The one that started the war between the gods."
His jaw locked, as if even speaking the truth was painful. "The beast was never meant to inhabit a Lycan, much less a king. It was meant to be contained. Sealed. And I… I was its guardian."
Gwen's breath caught.
"Grey." The name left her lips in a whisper, as if speaking it made everything even more real.
Drogon gave a stiff nod. "Grey. The spirit beast of war. The one who thrives on bloodshed, who fuels Raphael’s endless carnage." His golden-red eyes darkened. "He was supposed to be kept imprisoned. He was never meant to escape."
Gwen swallowed hard, but her throat felt like sandpaper. "But… but he did."
Drogon let out a slow, shuddering breath.
"Because I failed." His voice was barely above a whisper now. "Because I got distracted. Because I fell in love with you. By doing that, I became weakened… thereby becoming no match for the beast of war.”
“ Oh,” The confession sent a violent shiver down Gwen’s spine.
"I was so consumed by you, by us, by everything we were… that I let myself forget that I had sworn an oath to the goddess to remain mateless forever." His hands curled into fists, the tremor in his body impossible to hide. "And in that moment of weakness, Grey escaped. He merged with Raphael. And from that moment on, the world was never the same."
Gwen's stomach twisted painfully.
Raphael had lived for over a thousand years. No Lycan was supposed to live that long. But if what Drogon was saying was true… if Grey had become one with Raphael, if the beast had fueled his existence, his madness, his unquenchable thirst for blood…
Then this wasn’t just a story. This was history. This was the beginning of everything. And Raphael was just an innocent Lycan that had kept the beast within secured from causing more harm.
And it was because Drogon had loved her. If he hadn't, the beast wouldn't have escaped. He wouldn't have been weakened.
"The gods were furious," Drogon continued, his voice now hollow. "They saw my failure as an act of defiance. The Moon Goddess especially. She loved the mother of Raphael more than she let on, and she wanted revenge for what I had done. They decided I needed to be punished."
His jaw clenched.
"And so did you."
Gwen’s blood ran cold. "Me?"
Drogon’s laugh was bitter. "Did you think the gods would simply let you walk free, Arabelle?" His voice turned harsh, mixed with unbearable grief. "No. They came for you too. And they gave you a choice. That's what I found out."
Gwen felt herself tremble.
"They told you they would erase me from existence." His voice broke slightly, but he pushed through. "That they would wipe me out completely, just like the rest of my kind." His eyes burned with restrained agony. "Or… they would let you live again."
The words slammed into Gwen’s chest, making it hard to breathe.
"But the cost was me."
The realization hit like a hammer.
"You chose to forget me, Arabelle." His voice was nothing but a whisper now. "You chose to forget everything. And in exchange I will live and you will die. However, you would be given a second chance at life without any memory of me. I was to live my life aimlessly."
A sharp breath left her lips.
"You were reborn a thousand years later. Reborn as Gwendolyn Saraif. Shielded, protected by a force no one could break. And I…" His hands shook violently, a thousand years of rage and sorrow burning behind his eyes. "I was bound to this palace. Trapped in a time where no one could see me, no one could hear me. Cursed to roam endlessly, unable to be touched, unable to be freed."
The more he spoke, the crushed Gwen felt. He was made to suffer for just loving me. What was his crime? Was he not worthy of love as well? How can the fates be so cruel?
Mother Earth’s strange reaction when she first arrived. The unexplainable pull. The suffocating heat she felt around him.
It wasn’t just an attraction. It was the remnants of a love that had once destroyed the world. Her soul knew him even though her mind didn't. It seems her body remembers him as well.
Drogon took a shaky breath, his gaze piercing through her soul.
"And now, you are here again. You still don’t remember me. You don’t remember anything." His voice dropped, so quiet she almost didn’t hear him. "But I remember everything."
Silence.
Heavy. Suffocating. Unbearable.
Gwen's lips parted, but no words came. Because what could she even say?
Because deep inside her, beyond the confusion, beyond the shock…
Something inside her ached for this big beast before her. Ached in a way that felt too familiar. Too raw.
Like something she had once lost was now standing right in front of her again.
Oh, she was truly lost.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
