Dare To Love A Dragon - Chapter 99

Annak made her way into the hall, she was lost and confused and mostly sad for the loss of the prince. She took her seat next to Sofia and Malcolm not sure why the man boldly embraced the Queen in public like that but was just glad she had someone to comfort her.

Only the sounds of the cries could be in the room apart from that all else was quiet. The wake was to last till morning before the prince would be put to his final resting place.

Alexander stared at the lifeless body of his sons with no words to explain how he felt. He was a bad father, that he could attest to and his son died hating him. He couldn’t bring himself to accept that he was gone forever, he never got the chance to make it with him.

He felt guilty for Ander’s death. He blamed himself for his death, he found that Ander’s death was more painful for him than when he had lost Francis. He had no idea why that is so when they weren’t even that close.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

He averted his gaze from the boy and looked around the room to find that most of the people were moaning about the death of his son. He was surprised by the number of people and dragons who showed up at very short notice to be with him before they sent him away.

“Was I blind that I could not see the good in you?” he asked.

He closed his eyes, there were no tears in his eyes. He wanted to cry to release the pain in his chest but his tears refused to comply. It felt like karma was punishing him for always putting tears in Ander’s eyes.

He got up from the floor and walked out of the hall as quietly as he could not disturb the moaners. He took a walk to the garden and sat down under a big tree, leaning his back on the tree he looked up to the sky.

“Thinking too much isn’t good for your health my king,” Annak said joining him. “What is wrong, it isn’t like you to be so quiet,” she added.

“I was just thinking of my conversation with Francis. He blames me for what happened to Ander,” Alexander said while playing with his fingers nervously.

“Why? How did Ander die and how are responsible for his death?” she asked him. The truth was that she was itching to tell someone about the incident in the forest. There is a possibility that Ander is alive just not in his body.

“I shouldn’t have fought back,” Alex mumbled recalling what happened in the room. “Ander was right, my love for Francis makes me blind to the pain I cause other people. All in the name of love.”

“Love is painful Alex, for all who are involved. Be it for the lovers or the supporting characters that witness their love grow. Your story won’t be the first to do that,” Annak said trying to comfort him. It is true, over the years she had witnessed many life stories that have destroyed kingdoms and led to millions of lives being ruined.

“But how can I say that I am without fault. My love for Francis drove Olivia to the edge and instead of trying to bring her back, I distanced myself from her making her worse. And now it has killed my son,” Alex stated in a pained voice.

He hated that Ander was right about him. All that Ander ever wanted from him and the rest of the world was love. Something so simple that grows when you give to others and doesn’t decrease one’s value by giving and he couldn’t even do that. He thought of Ander as a monster but the boy didn’t kill Francis, he just trapped him between the land of the dead and the living. Whereas he who made himself the judge of his son’s life had blood on his hands.

“Ander was stubborn, emotional, and a little spoilt. You shouldn’t blame yourself for the things he said and done, he was just short-tempered that’s all,” Annak said when Alex had gone quiet. She wasn’t sure what had happened but surely he wasn’t the only one to blame.

“He was only like that because he was denied what was rightfully his,” he spoke recalling all the times Ander begged him to accept him. Or the times that he cried all because of what he did in anger.

The smile on Ander’s face on the eve of his birthday flashed before his eyes increasing the guilt that he felt. He judged him without ever getting to know him and now he was gone forever.

“It’s all my fault. If I didn’t get Olivia pregnant then Francis wouldn’t have felt the need to create a child that would end Ander’s life,” he said giving Annak a little idea of how Ander must have passed away.

“What would you do if I told you that there might be a chance that prince Ander is alive?” she asked him. Alex’s hands shook on hearing her words. He looked up at her, his gaze sharp and intense.

“What do you know?” he asked. Knowing Annak, there was no way that she would bring up such a topic in such a moment without having anything to offer.

“I’m not sure if I am right but on my way here I ran into two boys. One was injured and the other was carrying him. When I healed him and got into his mind, I felt Ander’s soul in the boy. And so I decided to test it, at first nothing happened but then Ander’s elemental stones glowed pointing at the direction the boys went to,” she said to him narrating the incident in the forest.

“What are you trying to say?” Alex asked a ray of hope lighting his face.

“I am saying that maybe when Ander was dying he might have found a way to cover someone else’s body. It is possible and many witches do it when they are about to die,” Annak explained.

“So according to you, Ander might still be alive?” Alexander asked excitedly.

“The point to note is might, there us a possibility but it is only a possibility. Until we have evidence that he is indeed alive, we can’t believe otherwise,” she said to him before he got too excited. There was a chance that she could be wrong and she didn’t want to get his hopes up just to have them crushed when it turned out to be wrong.

“Ander is alive,” they heard behind them and jumped. Avan appeared before them another released the breath they were holding on to recognizing him.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Annak said to him.

“But I do,” Avan said holding up his shirt. Annak cast a spell to create fire to eliminate the darkness for them to see what he was trying to show them.

“Ander’s dragon mark?” the king asked. “How is that possible. It was shattered.”

“I don’t know either. I was just inside when my chest started burning so I came out, when I removed my shirt the mark was there,” Avan explained. “It must mean that Ander is still alive right?” he asked Annak in hopes that she would say yes.

Annak nodded her head. This is the evidence we needed, now it’s official. The prince of Arimelari is still alive,” Annak announced. A smile bloomed on Avan’s face. Not only was Ander alive but now he was the dragon prince’s mate. He felt overjoyed.

“I didn’t know you liked Ander that much,” Annak stated to him teasingly.

“I do..don’t,” Avan said his voice betraying him.

“But if Ander is alive how do we find him?” the king asked interrupting the two of them.

“I can try a locater spell,” Annak suggested before they all went with her to her room. It was a separate room where she practices her spells and keeps most of her magic staff.

She gathered black ask and used it to draw the map of Arimelari on the ground. She took hold of Avan’s hand. “I need a little blood from his mate to track him,” she said.

Avan was more than willing to help her, she cut his palm and his bleed into the map. While the blood stained the map, she began the spell to track down his location.

Her closed eyes started following the trail that Kazar used to getaway. She was getting close to where they were, she could feel it. She just needed an exact location.

“Boo,” she heard and got startled, she broke her concentration stopping the spell from further tracking down Ander.

“What happened?” Alexander asked worried that she may bear bad news.

“Someone disrupted my spell and I think that it was Ander,” she said getting her composer back by taking deep breaths. She was certain of the fact, the energy that stopped her belonged to the dragon prince.