The Dragon King's Substitute Bride

Chapter 81

CH81 Tsuneo

"This is where she rests, Father said. "As every Phoenix before her has rested until her dragon joins her."

My heart ached at the thought, but I approached the coffin. As I approached, I felt a surge of power coursing through me, a connection to her that felt comforting and frightening at once. I could see the light eddy and pool around Father as if it would pull him down into death after her. As I leaned closer to the sarcophagus, my!

y heart pounded in my chest. The woman within, my mother, was bathed in an ethereal glow, her skin shimmering with an unnatural light. It was a sight both mesmerizing and terrifying.

"There's something wrong. Morgan said suddenly.

"What?" Father asked. "What do you mean?"

Morgan shook her head. Her eyes filled with a strange light. A wave of dread washed over me. There was something about the light in her eyes that gave me pause. The light seemed to grow brighter and engulfing us all. The silence around us seemed to grow deafening. It was blinding, but the radiance of it seemed to fill the room with a sense of peace and tranquility. As the light faded, I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the sudden dimness.

When my vision cleared, I gasped. Morgan was gone, vanished without a trace. Panic surged through me, a primal fear that ignited the dragon within

"Morgan?"

Father looked up, rubbing at his eyes and looking around.

"Morgan"" I roared, my voice echoing through the chamber. No one answered. There wasn't e

even a trace of her being there.

turned back to where the two statues stood at the gateway. The two statues had moved, changed. Instead of holding the archway, they were now holding hands, blocking the entrance to it.

1 snarled, lying up into their faces.

filled with a sense of urgency. "Where did she go? Where did

stare forward as if they had not heard

"Tsuneo, calm yourself."

myself. Father, she's

"I cannot feel her!"

in my chest. The fear clawed at my senses. The panic

gone, vanished into thin air. I searched the room frantically, my eyes scanning every inch of the chamber. But there was no sign of her, no trace of her

eyes were wide, staring back

"Father, what-

This is the

of the palate," he said calmly. The heart of the kingdom.

will return."

gum. He dropped his gaze.

to the casket.

mother was

Morgan.

as I opened my eyes, the familiar scent of wildflowers filling the air. I sat up, my heart pounding in my chest. Where was 1? One moment before I had been in that cave, staring down at Tsuneo's mother and now I was... I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The vast meadow stretched out before me, a sea

the beauty of the world around me. Then I looked up at the mountain and really looked at it. I knew this place. It had to be the valley beneath the mountain where I had been taken to the Trial. But that made no sense. The valley was

ring of wildflowers, was a woman who looked strikingly familiar. She was dressed in the same flowing robes that I had seen on Tsuneo's mother in the casket, her hair adorned with a crown of flowers and the

mother was dead, but not dead. 1 remember taking her body inside the casket felt strange. They had

as I approached, her eyes

you?" she demanded, her voice cold

quality to our voice that I couldn't exactly place. Was that the power of

was powerful, but she sounded no older than me.

my fate as well? In the scheme

Morgan," I replied, my voice barely