Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 789: The Century That Matters ()

The Infernal castle was silent. The only sound was a distant hush of muffled voices from the sanctum and a low humming.

A tune rang in Neveah’s mind and she echoed it quietly, slowly brushing the stray strands of hair from Jian’s forehead.

He was sound asleep and had been for a while already. Habitually, his right hand was still entwined with Neveah’s and he held on tightly, just as he had been before he drifted off.

His grip had neither loosened nor weakened despite his resting state, and Neveah wondered if he was truly at rest or his mind was still unsettled, stuck in a state of unease.

He had not said much before going to sleep.

Even now, watching him like this, it appeared like something she had dreamed up. Like a reality that was too fragile to believe.

"You’re here...so why do I still feel..." Neveah trailed off, her tone faltering.

Was it a sense of foreboding?

She wasn’t certain what to call it. But this warmth, this happiness that was difficult to describe, it was one of those things that felt too good to be true.

The door cracked open, drawing Neveah out of her thoughts. She did not need to look over to know it was Xenon approaching.

"How is he?" Xenon asked, now standing behind Neveah. He placed a hand on her shoulder, offering comfort she didn’t even realize she needed.

"Out like a light." Neveah replied, exhaling quietly. "I would help him out of his robes but..."

Neveah passed a pointed look to their entwined hands and Xenon chuckled quietly.

"Right now, he needs you more than he needs comfort." Xenon replied. "Being away from you, his predator must have constantly been on the edge."

"I know what it feels like, it’s... terrible. And your bond is new and fragile, I don’t know how he pulled through."

Neveah’s gaze scanned Jian, not for the first time. Her heart equal parts warmth and heaviness. "He fell asleep almost instantly. I fear he didn’t get any sleep..."

"I don’t have much experience with it, but I would assume freezing an erupting volcano would take its toll on any man." Xenon replied. "And sleep has never come easy to him...not in his own Keep, I wouldn’t expect much of a prison dimension."

"That is true." Neveah sighed, recalling Jian had been afflicted by insomnia for decades already.

"Do you think... the volcano is sealed for good?" Neveah asked after a moment of silence. "I mean, the lava was so fiery. The ice can only hold it down for so long."

"Jian’s ice breath is as potent as his flame breath. I’ve seen him turn lush territories to icy deserts. If he successfully froze the core of the volcano...then believe me, it will hold." Xenon assured.

"Ice breath... that’s what they call it?" Neveah said, more to herself than to Xenon.

"Is it a distinct trait of the royal bloodline? I’ve never read of a dragon with a similar ability of balancing both ice and fire." Neveah asked curiously.

When Xenon did not respond immediately, Neveah glanced over her shoulder to find a dark look on his face.

"Did I say something wrong?" Neveah asked worriedly.

Xenon shook his head slightly. "No, love. But...it is not my story to tell."

Neveah studied Xenon’s expression for a moment and her eyes widened as understanding dawned almost immediately. Her heart sank right to the pit of her stomach, or even lower if that was possible.

The books may not have told much of dragon kin with unique abilities, but it did say one thing...most of them had been subjected to a range of crude experiments in the dark age, which resulted in their mutation.

Neveah had never considered it... that Jian was one of such, not until now. Not until she saw the look in Xenon’s eyes. Jian handled his ice breath with such grace and acceptance, you would think it had always been a part of him.

He was so in control of it, it was no different to his flame breath to an onlooker. When contrasted with the volatility of Verothrax...

It was difficult to believe both had endured similar conditions that led to their unique abilities.

"Scales..." Neveah breathed the word with all the weight of grief she felt. "There is so much about him... about you, that I still do not know, isn’t there?"

Xenon leaned down, placing a light kiss on Neveah’s hair, and then he gently tilted her head placing a kiss on her forehead, and then her nose, and then both cheeks, by the time his lips hovered over hers, Neveah’s cheeks hurt with how wide her smile was and Xenon grinned in satisfaction.

"We’ve been around for centuries, love. There is too much to know in a few years...but we have a lifetime to change that."

"This century is what matters most. Because it has you in it. I would have hated to have died... when I so desperately prayed for it." Xenon paused briefly, the weight of his words settling. "The greatest loss of my life would have been to have missed the honor of knowing you and loving you."

"Creator knows, Fae and all...I’ve never been more happy to be alive." He confessed.

Neveah bit her lip to suppress the giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach. But she didn’t hold back when Xenon kissed her, sealing his words and the sincerity behind them.

When he finally pulled away, he gestured with his eyes to the side and Neveah glanced over to find Jian was now wide awake, watching them with a lazy smile on his lips.

"Good to know all the time we spent together didn’t count for much." He murmured, earning a chuckle from Xenon.

With a gentle tug, he pulled Neveah to himself and claimed her lips in a slow, passionate kiss. When he pulled away, he stared up at her like he still could not believe she was right there.

"That smile, it was the only thing that kept me sane...I don’t ever want to miss it again." He murmured, his breath warm against her lips.

"You won’t." Neveah replied quietly.

"I won’t." Jian agreed, his tone solemn.

The moment did not linger, Jian was getting off the bed the next moment, much to Neveah’s surprise.

"The Infernal dragons are waiting in the war room." Xenon relayed,

"Wait... what are you both up to?" Neveah asked, also rising.

Jian changed out of his robes, pulling on one of Xenon’s as he spoke. "Beloved, I have made my decision. I will...subjugate the Fae."