Chapter 156: I Sensed The Air Around Her Shimmer

Kaelen leaned forward, his pale eyes sharpening.

"What do you mean?"

Thorne’s dark eyes held his gaze steadily.

"I guessed it’s because something or someone is masking her from them."

Kaelen shook his head.

"Is that even possible? To perform that kind of sorcery, it takes a great witch or wizard. Or for her to be intentionally masked by a dragon."

He paused, his mind working through the implications.

"I doubt if she has access to all that."

Before Thorne could respond, Draeven spoke from the window.

His voice carried the weight of remembered sensation.

"I saw her once at the market."

The other kings’ attention focused on their oldest brother.

"And I sensed the air around her shimmer."

His golden eyes reflected distant memory.

"For a split second, then it was gone."

He turned to face them fully.

"But what bothers me is that I was able to sense her from such distance. And when she is practically under my nose, I sense nothing at all."

Thorne nodded slowly, as if Draeven had confirmed something he had already suspected.

"I think she was masked before she entered the palace."

The words were simple but carried the weight of revelation.

And everything suddenly made sense.

She didn’t arrive at the palace unprotected. Someone or something had masked her. Someone had prepared her. Someone had ensured that the kings would not immediately sense what she was.

"That should explain why we are unable to sense her," Thorne said.

Kaelen’s pale eyes burned with urgency.

"What do we do now?"

Draeven looked at him ans said. "Since she is our ward now, it’s time to claim her."

Kaelen’s immediate response was a smile spreading across his face, a smile that showed everything he was thinking, everything he was feeling, everything he wanted to do.

"Damn right, brother. It’s time."

Draeven shook his head at Kaelen’s expression.

"Do what you must do, brother."

His expression then became hard. "But do not scare her away."

His voice carried command beneath understanding.

"We need her to willingly come to us."

He looked at Thorne, then back to Kaelen.

"And do not make the mistake of marking her now."

His golden eyes burned with intensity.

"Because if you do that, then backlash on both us and also her. We claim her first. And then mark her."

***

Kaelen stood.

His movement was sharp and purposeful. His pale eyes blazed with hunger and anticipation. He began walking toward the heavy wooden doors with the grace of a predator moving toward prey.

But Thorne’s voice cut across the space.

"Where to, brother?"

Kaelen paused at the threshold. He turned back with a predatory smile.

"I’m going to her, Draeven said we are free to claim her now."

His voice carried absolute certainty.

"And trust me, I have waited so long to have her, brother."

He glanced at both of them.

"So if you will excuse me, I have a ward to seduce."

He didn’t wait for response. He simply opened the door with casual grace, stepped through, and closed it behind him with deliberate care.

***

The silence settled heavily.

Thorne turned to face Draeven.

His dark eyes carried doubt.

"You shouldn’t have given him the go-ahead to claim her, brother."

His voice was steady but weighted.

"You know how Kaelen is. You know what he’s capable of when he loses control."

The question was implicit in every word.

Draeven’s response was calm and certain.

"If she is who we suspect she is, then he owns her as much as we do."

He moved closer to the window.

"She belongs to him just as she belongs to us."

His golden eyes met Thorne’s dark gaze.

"And if she is going to be our Mate, then she will have to learn to accept us the way we are."

His voice dropped but did not lose power.

"The good and the bad side. The human and the dragon."

He looked back at Thorne.

"She needs to face this, Thorne. Because being our mate is not going to be easy for her at all. And you know it."

Thorne shook his head.

Not in disagreement but in resigned understanding.

"I understand."

He moved to stand beside Draeven at the window. Both of them looked out at the palace grounds, at the darkness that had fallen over everything, at the torches that threw dancing shadows across stone.

"Let’s just pray that Kaelen doesn’t kill her before then."

The words carried both humor and genuine concern.

Draeven smiled.

"He is your brother, not a monster."

His voice carried absolute certainty.

"He won’t hurt her. Not now that he knows what is at stake."

His golden eyes reflected the darkness outside.

"Let’s trust him to do right this time around."

***

The corridors of the royal wing were silent.

The torches that usually burned throughout the night had been dimmed to mere embers, casting long shadows that seemed to breathe and shift with the dying flames. The stone beneath Kaelen’s feet was cool, ancient, indifferent to the chaos that raged beneath his human skin.

He stopped before her door.

His pale eyes fixed on the carved wooden entrance that separated him from her. His hands were clenched at his sides, the knuckles white with tension. GLACIUS was still surging in his blood, still demanding things that he could not give, still clawing at the edges of his control with the desperation of a predator denied its prey.

He had come here with intention.

To see her. To be near her. To understand what she was, what she meant, why his dragon responded to her in ways that defied logic and centuries of experience.

But now, standing at the threshold, he hesitated.

Because if he crossed that line, if he entered her chambers, if he let himself be in the same space as her while GLACIUS was this close to the surface...

He might not be able to stop himself.

His hand reached out and pushed the door open.