Chapter 453: Episode 451: Where is mother?

Back in the Beastworld.

The silence in the birthing chamber lasted for only a fraction of a second, but it felt like a rotting eternity.

Where Roxy had been lying just moments ago, there was nothing but empty air. The golden dust of her disappearance settled quietly onto the blood-stained furs.

Then, the Obsidian Palace erupted into a state of denial. The five Warlords, men who had conquered continents and commanded massive armies, completely lost their minds. Their logic shattered, replaced by a blind, feral panic that violently tore through the room.

Where the fuck did Roxy go?!!

Why the hell did she leave?

WHERE HAS THEIR MATE GONE?

"Where did she go?!" Torian roared. The massive White Tiger Alpha dropped to his knees, his claws extending as he frantically tore at the heavy furs on the bed, desperately searching for a hidden magical rift. When he found nothing, he turned his fury on the room itself, his claws gouging deep, jagged trenches into the solid stone walls. "Roxy!"

Kaelen slammed his palms against the floorboards. "She is not here," Kaelen choked out, his voice cracking with raw terror. "I cannot feel her. She is just gone."

Even their mate bond was slowly disappearing.

"She is not gone!" Caspian yelled, yet his voice wasn’t loud enough. "She would not leave us!"

Zarek did not stay in the room.

The Dragon King threw himself off the grand balcony. He didn’t even wait to hit the ground. Mid-air, his human form violently expanded, bones cracking and scales erupting as he shifted into his colossal dragon form.

His massive, midnight-scaled wings snapped open, catching the harsh mountain wind. Zarek tore up into the clouds, blotting out the moon. He breathed a massive column of scorching fire into the night sky, illuminating the jagged peaks.

He flew with desperate, terrifying speed, his golden eyes scanning the horizon, the valleys, and the courtyards below. He roared her name, a deafening sound that sent the local dragon lords scrambling from their sleep. He was ready to burn the entire world to ash if it meant finding whoever had taken his mate.

Back inside the ruined birthing chamber, the chaos was deafening.

The elite midwives stood frozen against the back wall, terrified by the feral display of the Kings. They were healers, not soldiers, and the combat auras flaring in the room were suffocating. But despite their fear, their professional instincts pushed them forward. The Matriarch was gone. They had seen her fade into nothingness with their own eyes.

The head midwife cautiously stepped toward the massive bed, reaching out her hands to clear away the ruined silk and the blood-soaked pelts.

Torian spun around instantly. His blue eyes were entirely wild, his chest heaving as he threw his massive body between the midwife and the empty mattress.

"Do not touch it!" Torian snarled, baring his fangs in a lethal warning.

The midwife flinched, taking a quick step back. "My Lord, the bed needs to be cleaned. She is—"

"Do not touch her bed!" Torian shouted, his voice breaking. He grabbed the edge of the mattress as if defending a fortress. "Leave her things exactly as they are! She is coming back. She is just... she is playing a trick. She is coming back!"

In their blind, apocalyptic panic, none of the towering Alphas seemed to remember the actual reason they were in this room. The adrenaline and the shock of her sudden disappearance had entirely wiped their short-term memory. They were tearing the room apart looking for their wife, completely forgetting that Roxy had just given birth.

But the newborn baby had not forgotten.

Left alone on the edge of the cooling furs, the tiny infant felt the sudden, jarring absence of her mother’s warmth. The room was growing freezing cold due to Kaelen’s uncontrolled magic. She was incredibly small, but she possessed the blood of the family. She was hungry, uncomfortable, and entirely ignored.

The baby girl opened her mouth, her tiny face turning red, and let out a loud, fierce, demanding wail.

The sound was sharp and piercing. It cut through the shouting, the crashing of furniture, and the suffocating magical tension in the room.

Torian froze mid-snarl. Kaelen looked up from the frozen floorboards, his icy blue eyes widening in sudden realization. Syris, who had been frantically tearing through the ancient texts on the bookshelf searching for something, slowly turned around.

The Snake King’s chest hitched. His emerald eyes locked onto the tiny, squirming bundle resting on the furs. He stared at the baby, the harsh reality of the situation crashing down over him like a falling mountain. Roxy had not been stolen. She had given everything she had to bring this child into the world.

Syris walked slowly toward the bed, his elegant hands trembling uncontrollably.

He looked down at the infant. She had a thick tuft of dark hair, exactly like Roxy’s. As she cried, her tiny, iridescent dragon scales caught the light. She was so fragile, yet she was screaming with the fierce, undeniable strength of her mother.

Syris reached down and gently scooped the crying infant into his arms. He pulled her against his chest, wrapping his emerald silk robes around her to shield her from the cold. He rested his chin gently against the top of her dark head, closing his eyes as hot tears finally spilled over his lashes.

He held her tight, realizing the heavy, agonizing truth. He had to protect this child. He had to protect the very last piece of the woman he loved.

Before the other Kings could step forward to look at the baby, the heavy, battered wooden doors of the chamber were violently pushed open.

Drax stood in the doorway. The teenage King was still dressed in his formal black attire, ready for his coronation. Flanking him were the rest of the children—Tanith, Iris, Axel, Onyx, Zale, Tyara, and little Fedor.

They had heard Zarek’s earth-shattering roars from down the hall. They had rushed toward the royal chambers, fully expecting to walk into a joyous celebration. They expected to see their mother resting, smiling, holding their new sibling.

Instead, they walked into a nightmare.

Drax’s dark green eyes scanned the destruction. He saw the deep claw marks in the stone. He saw the thick layer of ice coating the walls. He saw Torian gripping the bedpost, Kaelen kneeling on the floor, and Caspian weeping openly. He saw Syris holding a crying infant, his face twisted in profound grief.

And then, Drax looked at the bed.

It was covered in blood and ruined furs. But it was entirely empty.

The proud, confident smile Drax had worn all evening instantly vanished. The blood completely drained from his face. Behind him, Axel and Onyx froze, their wolf instincts sensing the overwhelming scent of despair in the room. Iris grabbed her older brother’s sleeve, her violet eyes wide with terror.

No one spoke. The heavy, agonising silence was only broken by the demanding cries of the newborn baby in Syris’s arms.

Tanith stepped forward, breaking the line of her siblings. She looked at the empty bed, then looked up at her weeping fathers, her face falling in horror.

"Where is mother?"