The Dragon’s Savage Queen Chapter 08

The Dragon’s Savage Queen Chapter 08

Aurora’s POV

This wasn’t a room for hiding someone.

It was a studio?

Paintings covered every wall.

All of me.

Me in my academy uniform. Me reading in the library, caught in profile. Me casting spells at the training grounds. Me smiling in the herb garden as I worked…

Dozens. Maybe over a hundred.

And they spanned years-some of them clearly painted when I was much younger.

I walked in slowly, fingers trembling as I touched one of the frames.

It was me at sixteen, on the first day at Starfall Magic Academy. I remembered it had been drizzling that morning. I’d stood under a cherry blossom tree, holding an umbrella…

‘What are you doing here?”

Draven’s voice came from behind me, with an edge of panic I’d never heard from him before.

I spun around. He stood in the doorway, paintbrush still in hand, fingertips stained with color.

“These paintings… My voice came out unsteady. “YOU painted all of these?”

Draven was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded.

He walked in and stood beside me, eyes moving over the walls, something complicated shifting in his expression. “I’ve been watching you since the day you walked into Starfall. Since you were sixteen.

I couldn’t speak.

“The academy threw a welcome banquet that year,” Draven said slowly. “I attended as the royal representative. Everyone was fawning over me, trying to get close.” He turned to look at me, and his eyes held a softness I’d never seen before. “Everyone except you.”

“You were standing in the corner, completely absorbed in studying some magic herb. You didn’t even notice I was there.”

A quiet laugh escaped him. “Every other girl was falling over herself to get near me. You looked straight through me. That was the first time anyone had ever ignored me–and the first time I’d ever been interested in a girl.”

My heartbeat quickened.

“So I started watching you,” Draven continued. “Watched you shine at every magic trial. Watched you stay up all night in the library researching alchemy. Watched you nearly fall off a cliff trying to harvest rare herbs…”

“Every time you were in danger, I wanted to step in. But I knew you-you were too proud to accept help from a stranger.

He paused. “So I just… watched over you from a distance.”

Something flashed through my mind-that night at Twilight Market. The man in the black mask who’d pulled me out of danger. That familiar scent of dragonwood…

“It was YOU!” My eyes went wide. “YOU were the one who saved me that night!”

Draven didn’t deny it. ‘I never stopped watching over you. I just… didn’t expect you to fall for Kelvin.”

His expression darkened at the name.

“Watching you pour everything into him. Watching him hurt you over and over. Draven’s hand curled into a fist. I wanted to kill him. But 1. knew-back then, you wouldn’t have wanted me.”

“Then came the beast hunting competition. His gaze found mine. “You killed the Shadow Wraith. You got the core. And I knew-that was my

moment.”

The weight of it hit me all at once.

None of it had been a coincidence.

“So when you declared you’d marry whoever brought you the core… I murmured. ‘You planned that?”

Draven nodded. “I knew Seraphine would steal it and take the credit. I knew Kelvin would do what he did to protect her. I was waiting-waiting

for the moment you were finally done with both of them.”

“Because only then,” he said softly, “would you actually see me.”

My eyes stung.

This man had been scheming all of this-for me-for years.

“Why didn’t you just TELL me?” My voice cracked. “Do you have any idea how insane these past three months have been? I thought you were hiding someone in here-

Draven burst out laughing before I could finish.

“Hiding someone?” He pulled me into his arms. “You idiot. You’re the only person I’ve ever loved.”

His voice dropped low. “These paintings were the only thing that got me through it. Every time the headaches hit, I’d come in here and look at your face. It made it easier to bear.”

I buried my face against his chest, and the tears finally came.

“Draven…

“Yeah?”

‘I love you.” The first time I’d ever said those words to him.

Draven went completely still. Then his arms tightened around me. “I love you too, Aurora. I have for a long, long time.”

We stayed like that, wrapped up in each other, surrounded by a hundred painted versions of me. It felt like being held inside something warm.

Then my stomach lurched.

I shoved Draven away, clapped a hand over my mouth, and bolted for the corner-

-UGH-

Draven was right behind me, rubbing my back. “Aurora. What’s wrong? Has this been happening a lot?”

‘I’m fine, I managed weakly. “Just my stomach. I’ve been throwing up for a few days now-

I looked up and stopped.

Draven was staring at me like I’d just said something world-ending.

“Say that again.” He grabbed my shoulders. “You’ve been throwing up? What else? Exhausted? Mood swings?”

I blinked. “Yeah, all of that. And I’ve been sleeping way more than usual. And I keep craving sour things-

Draven suddenly burst into laughter. He picked me up and spun me around.

“You’re PREGNANT!” He was practically glowing. “Aurora-you’re PREGNANT!”

I stared at him for half a second. Then it clicked-and my face went crimson. “Wait. So when you said ‘give me an heir-*

“Already handled. That insufferable grin spread across his face. “Consider my wife’s ‘repayment-fully accepted.

“DRAVEN IRONCREST-

His laughter rang through the studio, tangled up with my furious shriek.

The paintings watched us in silence. A hundred versions of me, witnessing the moment a Dragon Prince who’d loved in secret for years finally got everything he’d waited for.