Married To The Dragon Prince Against My Will-Chapter 268: THE PLAN
The first scream came like thunder.
"What have you done!"
The voice tore through the air outside Seraphina’s chambers, loud enough to shake the hanging lanterns along the corridor.
It repeated, again and again, echoing through stone, through walls, through flesh.
"What have you done!" The voice came again and inside the chamber, Seraphina staggered back, her breath uneven.
She pressed both hands over her ears, fingers digging into her temples as if she could claw the sound out of her skull.
"Stop," she whispered. "Stop it please... this is getting too much
But the voice did not stop.
It rang inside her head, sharp and accusing, carrying grief so heavy it felt like chains tightening around her chest. Every word struck her heart with the force of a blade.
"What have you done!"
"I said stop!" Seraphina shouted, spinning around the room. "Show yourself. Stop hiding behind that voice!"
Her voice cracked, echoing against the tall walls, but the answer did not come in silence. Instead, the sound grew louder, deeper, filling the chamber like a storm rolling in.
Seraphina dropped to one knee, teeth clenched as pain surged through her body. Her powers stirred without her command. The candles flared violently, shadows twisting across the walls as if alive.
"I cannot take this," she growled, rising slowly. "You will not torment me from the shadows." The air around her shifted.
Seraphina raised one hand and vanished, the chamber emptied in a blink, her presence dissolving like mist.
She reappeared outside, standing barefoot on the cold stone floor of the corridor, her long robes fluttering wildly. The voice followed her instantly.
"What have you done!" Her eyes burned, already exhausted with the voice.
"That is enough," she said, her voice trembling with fury. "You will face me."
The corridor shattered into fragments of light as Seraphina was forced to bend. Walls blurred, space folded, and the air twisted until the palace dissolved into a vast, empty realm of white fog and floating stone pillars. Wind howled through the space, carrying echoes of grief and anger.
Seraphina stood at the center, breathing hard.
"Come out," she commanded. "I know you are here."
The fog thickened, and after a few while it parted.
A figure emerged slowly, walking through the mist as if stepping out of memory itself. Her long hair flowed like dark silk, her face pale and unchanged by time, her eyes burning with pain that had never healed.
Seraphina froze as she recognized the figure, yes there is no where she would not recognize who this is.
"Elena..."
The name fell from her lips in shock.
The woman stopped a few steps away, her gaze sharp, accusing, filled with unbearable sorrow.
"How," Seraphina whispered, her knees weakening, "how can you be here?"
Elena’s lips trembled before she spoke, her voice no longer echoing but raw, human, furious.
"How?" she shouted. "You forced me here, Seraphina. You refused to let me rest. You chained my soul with your guilt and your hatred... That is not the reason why you can still be here!"
Seraphina shook her head desperately. "I could not," she said.
"You died in front of her. Do you know what it took to pull that nightmare from Lumina’s mind? Do you know how much she screamed in her sleep?" Elena’s eyes filled with tears that did not fall.
"I did not want this," she said sharply. "She is sick now and the poison is reacting, all that is because of you." The words struck like a curse.
Seraphina staggered back, clutching her chest. "Stop," she pleaded. "Stop saying that."
"I only did what I had to do," Seraphina cried. "I wanted justice. I wanted vengeance for us."
"I never wanted that!" Elena screamed. The atmosphere trembled at her voice.
"I warned you, Seraphina. My daughter would live true to her name. Light. Compassion. Mercy. Now people are beginning to sense her power, and you have placed her at the center of danger."
"What was I supposed to do?" Seraphina yelled back. "Watch her smile while the people who destroyed us lived in peace?"
Elena stepped closer, her presence crushing.
"She is finally with someone who truly cares for her," Elena said, her voice breaking. "She should not be carrying hatred in her heart. She should not be poisoned. She should not be suffering like this." Seraphina collapsed to her knees.
"Sister," she whispered. "I am sorry. I could not let go. I wanted her to know the truth. I wanted her to understand why you died."
Elena’s eyes darkened.
"I do not care about the truth," she said coldly. "Nothing must happen to my daughter. Let her be happy."
"But her father poisoned her," Seraphina cried. "They said she would not live past twenty. Do you think I could forgive that?"
Elena turned away, her shoulders shaking. "Your hatred is poisoning you as well," she said quietly. "You cannot even find peace because of these wicked people."
"If we do nothing," Seraphina said desperately, "they will never pay. We will never change anything."
Elena faced her again, her expression softer now, tired, aching.
"Seraphina," she said gently.
"Then let it be her choice," Elena continued. "Lumina carries the Heart of Drakonis within her now and that is because her heart is turning dark."
Seraphina lifted her head slowly.
"Elena..."
"Very soon," Elena said, her voice steady, "Ashen will show his true colors and then the dragons will rise again. This is not your battlefield anymore." The wind calmed.
"This is the time we have been waiting for," Elena whispered. "Trust her. Let go... just don’t put evil thoughts in her heart.."
Seraphina bowed her head, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"I only wanted to protect her," she murmured, "I didn’t want her to be weak."
Elena stepped forward and placed a hand over Seraphina’s heart. Warmth spread through her chest, easing the pain.
"Then protect her by stepping back," Elena said softly.
Her form began to fade, dissolving into light.
"Elena, wait," Seraphina cried. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
Elena smiled sadly.
"Watch over her," she said. "But do not turn her life into a weapon." Then she vanished.
Seraphina found herself back in her chamber, collapsed on the floor, the echoes finally gone.
For the first time in years, silence remained and it frightened her more than the voice ever had.
Seraphina was still kneeling on the cold floor, her breath uneven, her heart heavy from the words Elena had left behind, when the doors to her chamber burst open with a loud crash.
A bird flew beside her as it stumbled inside, she morphed into her form and her face was pale, her chest rising and falling in panic.
"My lady!" she cried. "You need to go to the King of the Celestial Realm. Immediately."
Seraphina lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were calm, but something dark stirred beneath them.
She stared at the girl as if she had lost her mind.
"Why," she asked quietly.
The girl swallowed hard, fear shaking her voice. "I... I just found out. They have the power to trigger her poison... and they had just done it now"
Seraphina’s fingers tightened against the floor.
"Who," she asked, her tone sharpening.
"The King of the Celestial Realm and the Drakonis King," she blurted out. "They planned it together. They want to take her out immediately so Prince Ashen can fully marry the lady from the Shadover realm and make her his legal wife."
The air in the chamber dropped to freezing silence.
Seraphina rose to her feet in one smooth movement. Her expression did not change, but the walls trembled, thin cracks crawling across the marble floor.
"So that is their plan," she murmured.
She did not ask for details nor waste another second.
Her cloak swept around her as she turned, power rolling off her in violent waves. The candles exploded into sparks, the doors flew open, and the world bent around her will.
Seraphina vanished.
When she appeared again, she stood in the space between realms, where four worlds met and reality thinned like fragile glass. Light and darkness twisted around her form as she stepped forward.
The Celestial Realm opened before her, of course, he had the power to go into any realm as she wished.
The sky thundered as Seraphina forced her way in, her presence ripping through the protective seals that had stood for centuries.
Alarms rang instantly and the clouds split apart as soldiers poured in from every direction, weapons raised, eyes blazing with alarm.
"Stop her!"
"Protect the palace!"
They charged at her but Seraphina lifted one hand.
With a single, lazy swipe of her fingers, time froze.
The soldiers halted mid-step, blades suspended in the air, faces locked in shock and fear. Not one of them could move, breathe, or cry out.
Seraphina walked through them without a glance, her face hidden beneath a veil of shimmering light.
The palace gates shattered as she approached.
Guards fell to their knees as invisible pressure crushed them down.
