(-.-)
** Kaelan end up running away from his room .**
The silence of the university library was supposed to be Kaelan's sanctuary, a place where the air didn't vibrate with the manic obsession of a Dragon King. He had left Ignis in the apartment, ordering him to stay put with a voice full of deadly authority, and fled toward the deepest, dustiest stacks of the occult research wing.
His body still felt heavy, a lingering soreness in his hips and lower back serving as a constant reminder of the "overtime" in the Dragon Realm. His black panther ears were twitched forward, scanning for the sound of silk robes, but for once, he was alone.
"Weakness," Kaelan muttered, his fingers trailing over leather-bound spines. "Every monster has a heart scale, a hidden name, a soft spot under the chin... something."
He pulled a tome from the very back of a restricted shelf. It was bound in what looked like silver-pressed dragon skin, cold to the touch. The title was etched in an ancient, flowing script: On the Fragmentation of the Draconic Essence: Soul Vulnerabilities and the Tether of the Mate.
Kaelan's heart hammered. This was it. He opened the book, his slit pupils scanning the text with a feral intensity. The text spoke of a "soul vulnerability" a moment during the bonding process where the Dragon's internal fire is exposed, making them susceptible to a killing blow if their chosen partner strikes with true hatred.
"I have plenty of that," Kaelan whispered, a dark, deadly smile touching his lips.
He turned to the title page to check the source, and his blood turned to ice.
Author: Ignis Aethelgard, High King of the Solar Peaks.
Kaelan slammed the book shut so hard the sound echoed like a gunshot through the silent library. He felt a surge of livid, suffocating rage.
"He wrote it!" Kaelan hissed, his knuckles white. "That bastard, self absorbed gargoyle wrote a book about his own weaknesses just to bait people! It's a trap! Everything is a goddamn trap!"
He wanted to shred the pages. He wanted to burn the library down. He felt mocked, toyed with, as if his very rebellion was just a chapter in a book Ignis had already finished writing centuries ago.
One week later, the humiliation reached its absolute zenith.
The university was hosting the "Partner's Gala," a glittering, black tie event intended to celebrate the "bonds of the campus community." In reality, it was a showcase for the wealthy and the powerful, and tonight, it was the stage for Kaelan's social execution.
Ignis was dressed in a suit that looked like it was woven from starlight and midnight, his celebrity aura so bright it practically blinded the other guests. He kept Kaelan pinned to his side, his hand resting firmly on the small of Kaelan's back, right over the spot that was still swollen and sensitive.
Kaelan was dressed in matching obsidian silk, the dragon earring on his ear pulsing with a smug, rhythmic warmth.
"Since when," Kaelan bit out, his voice a low, vicious rasp as they stood near the punch bowl, "did we become 'partners'? And since when was I a 'fiancée'? I don't recall a ring, a proposal, or a moment where I didn't want to shove you into a woodchipper or a volcano."
Ignis looked down at him, his golden eyes reflecting the ballroom lights with a manic, beautiful joy. He leaned in, his breath warm against Kaelan's panther ear.
"We have always been, Kaelan," Ignis murmured, his obedient tone returning. "From the moment your spirit roared at me, the contract was written in the stars. The 'engagement' is merely a courtesy for the mortals so they know why I am going to be inseparable from you for the next thousand years."
"Ah fuck right,does it really have to be thousand-"
Kaelan felt a sudden, violent surge of nausea. His stomach twisted into a knot, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. He stumbled slightly, his hand flying to his abdomen.
The bump, he thought, his heart freezing in a new kind of terror. The overgrown... the pregnancy scare...
His mind immediately went back to the night of the "roughy sex," to Ignis's words about the Dragon Panther hybrid. He felt hot, his skin beginning to burn with a sudden, intense heat.
"You... you actually did it," Kaelan gasped, his eyes widening into terrified slits. He turned a gaze of pure, deadly fury on Ignis. "You put a scaly parasite in me. I feel sick. I'm going to vomit, and then I'm going to kill you in front of all these people."
Ignis's expression shifted from smugness to genuine concern. He reached out to touch Kaelan's forehead, but Kaelan slapped his hand away with a feral snarl.
"Don't touch me! I can feel it! I feel like I'm burning from the inside out!" Kaelan shrieked, attracting the attention of several nearby professors.
"Kaelan, listen to me-" Ignis started, his voice firm.
"No! I hate you! I hate your kingdom, I hate your 'dick!,' and I hate this reptilian fetus!" Kaelan's internal monologue was a frantic, screaming mess of deadly vows: I'll find a way to end it. I'll drink poison. I'll jump off the library roof. I will not be a mother to a dragon!
Kaelan's vision began to blur. The heat was becoming unbearable, a high fever that he mistook for the onset of a magical pregnancy. He felt a cold sweat breaking out on his neck, and his legs finally gave way.
Ignis caught him before he hit the marble floor, sweeping him up into his arms in a move that was purely possessive.
"He's not pregnant, you foolish cat," Ignis whispered urgently into Kaelan's ear as he began to stride toward the exit, ignoring the shocked gasps of the gala guests. "You have a fever. Your body is reacting to the massive influx of my magic from the week in the Realm. It's a 'Dragon Flu,' nothing more."
Kaelan, slipping into a semi conscious delirium, reached up and grabbed Ignis's tie, pulling the King's face down.
"I... still... hate you," Kaelan croaked, his eyes lidded and bloodshot. "I'm going to... burn your... book... and then... I'm going to... find your... real... weakness..."
Ignis only laughed softly, his obsession glowing bright as he carried his feverish fiancée out of the hall. "I know, Kaelan. And I'll be right there to help you look for it."