Chapter 188: Losing Control
"You really think there’s an heir?" Leroy asked, his voice steady but laced with doubt.
Lorraine looked at him thoughtfully. "You think the Dragon will return?" Her tone was measured, but the question sounded more far-fetched than the idea of an heir emerging from the ashes. In times of crisis, people acted to protect the heir. There was always the possibility the Dragon line had somehow survived.
If she had to guess, she would say Leroy was the heir. After all, he fit the role in many ways. But his own words cut deep. How could the heir to the Dragon’s throne possibly arise from the bloodline of the Dragon’s murderer?
Poetic irony, perhaps.
"There are rumors," Leroy continued, "that the Great Dragon still lives. That he will rise again, with his oracle by his side."
Lorraine understood then why he wanted her to distance herself from the oracle and asked her to stay away. She decided not to pursue the matter further. The truth, whatever it was, had a way of revealing itself in its own time.
Suddenly, the scene shifted in her mind, pulling her back to the silver lake. She saw the Oracle standing there, her presence unnaturally serene. A single drop of water fell into the mirror-still lake, sending ripples across the surface. The sound echoed softly through the mountains, haunting and distant.
"My husband does not like this..." Lorraine murmured.
She had promised Leroy she would never let the Oracle take control of her body.
"Your husband is wrong," the Oracle replied, her voice smooth as silk. Her silvery hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, and her entire being seemed to radiate calm stillness. Yet Lorraine saw something else, something darker. A flicker of corruption that danced briefly within the Oracle’s chest, as if concealing an agenda.
For the first time, Lorraine saw beyond the flawless facade of the Divina. The Oracle was always serene, always distant, always divine. But now... there was something different. Something unsettling.
With a delicate flick of her hand, the darkness in the Oracle’s chest seemed to vanish, swallowed by the light she so carefully projected.
Lorraine’s trust wavered. She had never shied away from those with dark hearts or hidden agendas. As long as they were honest with her, she did not judge. She accepted people for who they were.
But the Oracle... the Oracle had betrayed that unspoken pact.
What if Leroy was right? What if the Oracle’s true aim was to separate them? To twist Lorraine’s path away from Leroy’s, to claim her for her own purpose?
The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. She wanted to leave. But she knew better. This place was not hers to abandon, and the exit remained a mystery. She could only leave if the Oracle permitted it. That... terrified her, and angered her.
"Let me go. Right this instant," Lorraine demanded, her voice sharp but trembling. She knew the futility of shouting at the Oracle while trapped in this unnatural space. Yet, she had no other source of help. Helplessness weighed heavily on her chest, suffocating and absolute.
"I need you," the Oracle said, her voice a haunting melody, silky and commanding. Her silvery eyes gleamed like twin moons as she advanced toward Lorraine. Lorraine instinctively tried to recoil, but her body refused to obey.
And then... Lorraine lost control.
Back in the room, Leroy sensed the shift in atmosphere before he saw it. The air thickened, saturated with something otherworldly. He leaned back from her. He knew his little porcupine. This was not her presence. His heart sank as he feared the inevitable. Her aura changed. It pulsed, growing brighter, more potent. Her eyes, once soft and reflective, now shimmered like the full moon against a dark sky.
Her voice rose, fluent and unearthly, speaking in High-Veyrani with a lyrical precision that sent chills through the air.
"The ember shall endure, cloaked in mortal guise,
An orphan, a servant, a son of no ties.
From Lion and Bear, the bloodline kept veiled,
The heir of the Dragon, by fate now unveiled.
When stars do weep fire, and the river forsakes its pact,
The Mountain shall breathe once more, in judgment exact."
Each word carried the weight of prophetic, inevitable, and undeniable words. The cadence of her voice seemed to pull the very air into a sacred rhythm, as if the universe itself listened and acknowledged her declaration.
"What do you want?" Leroy’s voice was low, filled with steel. "Let go of my wife." The words trembled with unyielding possessiveness, a raw defiance he couldn’t suppress. The thought of losing Lorraine to another presence, another force, gnawed at him like a blade. It was unacceptable.
"Believe," the Oracle intoned, her voice smooth as moonlight, carrying an unsettling authority. "Take on your—"
"I don’t give a f*—" Leroy cut her off, his teeth clenched as he grabbed Lorraine firmly by the shoulders, refusing to let her drift further into that otherworldly hold.
Then... Boom! The eerie, suffocating glow vanished, dissipating into nothingness. The weight in the air lifted. Her eyes flickered, losing their unnatural luster, and returned to their familiar icy-blue shade.
Lorraine gasped, as if surfacing from a deep abyss. The echo of the Oracle’s voice still seemed to linger in her ears, faint but haunting, as though imprinted onto the fabric of the air itself.
She looked at Leroy, forcing a steady, composed expression to mask the tremor in her soul. Mostly for him, to assure him she was fine. She couldn’t and wouldn’t reveal the truth and add to his worries, that she had lost all control the moment the Oracle claimed her.
Leroy stared back at her, but it was no gentle look of concern. She might try her best acting skills, but he had learned to read her. He knew she was hiding something. His eyes burned with restrained anger and something far deeper: a mixture of fear, frustration, and helplessness. He had warned her this would happen. And now, seeing her like this... it confirmed his worst fears.
But then his gaze drifted downward, fixating on his own hands. The connection between him and Lorraine seemed disrupted, fragile. He couldn’t even sense her. But... For some reason, that woman had let go of Lorraine the instant his hands touched her.
Interesting... Looks like I can protect her, after all!
Lorraine watched as his tense expression slowly softened, though the glare in his eyes remained sharp. "I think she wants you to believe that you’re the heir," she said, her voice calm, steady, as if stating an inconvenient truth neither of them could deny.
Leroy pressed his lips together, his jaw tightening, the air around him thick with unspoken frustration. His eyes never left hers, brimming with restrained anger.
Lorraine tried to smile but her lips twitched. She still managed to let out an awkward chuckle.
"Here." Lorraine set the stack of papers firmly in his hands, her touch deliberate. "On your way, go to Celeste’s place. She’ll give you—"
Her words faltered, an instinctive hesitation pulling at her. She sensed his anger simmering, threatening to boil over.
Now what?