Chapter 248: In the Arms of Truth

Everything they had talked about ran through Riley’s mind.

Roughly twenty-five years ago.

Honestly, he would not have thought so much about it before, because how insane was that?

But considering everything unfolding in front of him, every strange coincidence, every unbelievable revelation, he could not help but feel like none of it was accidental after all.

He had baby pictures. Actual baby pictures. He had all the right documents, the right family name, the right everything. But there was no denying that he had turned into an actual dragon earlier.

Sure, he looked like a stuffed animal… but in the end, he was still a dragon, right?

Then what about his birth? Did his parents accidentally come across a random baby, feel compelled to adopt him, and simply never mention it?

Riley’s mind jumped everywhere as they walked out. Technically, they could have teleported, but the newly minted dragonling wanted to walk. Somehow, walking made him feel like his thoughts were less likely to explode.

Of course, he was walking while towing a golden dragon whose eyes never left him, but that was beside the point. Because the entire time, all he could think about was how to even begin this conversation.

He never thought he would have to question something like this with his family.

Yes, he held resentment about being thrown into working for Kael. Yes, there were unanswered questions and frustrations. But he knew he could never claim that he had a bad childhood.

He had—

Wait.

Working for Kael?

The life debt.

Was he even subject to that life debt?

Had he really been required to work for Kael this entire time?

His brows furrowed so hard he almost tripped. He quickened his steps toward his parents’ room, only for the door to open before he could even knock.

And then he froze.

But maybe what truly stunned him was how his parents were seated at the table as if they had been expecting him. Both of them looked up at him with a gentle, practically apologetic smile.

One that made his heart tremble.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but for some reason, he had that initial sinking feeling that they were saying goodbye without saying it.

Then again, it could’ve been how he was inwardly scared of everything changing once again.

What should he do?

Riley felt his throat close.

“Mom… Dad?” he managed.

It took everything in him to say those words. He had been using them in his head since earlier, but all of a sudden, he had a momentary thought of wondering if it was still appropriate. Like he was suddenly unsure what kind of eggshells he was walking on.

He did not move.

Normally, he would have gone straight to them. Sat beside them. Complained. Hugged them. Something. Anything.

But now?

His feet stayed glued to the floor.

Was it fear?

Probably. Because he didn’t realize how he was trembling until Kael’s hand tightened around his, warm and steady, reassuring him.

But then, unexpectedly, his mother stood up. She opened her arms and smiled the same way she always had. “My son, you’ve come.”

Riley blinked, taken aback, unsure of what to do. But before he could decide whether to move or hide, Kael, who had been clinging since earlier, gently released his hand and murmured, “Go.”

Oh.

It was as if his heart were waiting for permission and jolted upon receiving it.

The young man whose feet had felt nailed to the floor ran straight for his mother.

“Mom…!”

Maturity, age, anger. All of that suddenly gave way to an even bigger concern for Riley, whose emotions were all over the place.

Belongingness.

For the young man whose entire worldview just shifted, he felt he really needed a big hug.

“Yes, son?” It was a simple answer to his call. And yet the confirmation managed to anchor his shaking resolve.

Tears started falling, and just like that, he was reminded of those times when he was much younger.

Back when his parents were his world, and they were more than enough.

He clung to her as if he had been waiting his whole life to do it again, while his mother held him like she always had.

Her hand moved to ruffle his hair in that familiar, reassuring way. She let him cry; better yet, she cried with him.

Who knows how long they had been at it, but only after what felt like forever did his mother breathe deeply before asking softly:

“Son, Lord Dravaryn, do you think you’d both be up for a little talk?”

Riley lifted his head from his mother’s shoulders. His eyes were puffy, his face blotchy, but he looked at her and then at his father, who watched him with quiet yearning. Riley nodded.

Renee looked at Kael and said, “Lord Dravaryn, you may want to take a seat. This may take a while.”

Riley took a breath.

They had so much to talk about.

It was just that the poor, shellshocked son did not expect he would need to rearrange his entire head after this.

__

Well, who wouldn’t have a crisis when the next thing he saw was an extremely traumatizing scroll?

Riley stared as his mother placed it on the table. The parchment looked older than all of them combined. The yellowed surface. The curling edges. The foreign ink. There was something about it that made Riley feel like he had seen that type of scroll before.

He swallowed. “Mom, what is that supposed to be?”

“A life contract. My life contract,” she said.

Riley stilled.

He had not expected that answer. Not even in the wildest corners of his imagination.

“What?”

“A contract of allegiance between the Caldens and the Iltherans of the Black Dragon Clan.”

Riley felt like his ears had shut down.

A ringing started. High and sharp. Like tinnitus. Like someone had turned the world into meaningless noise, he stared at his mother as if the entire universe had tilted sideways.

That woman.

The same woman who ran around chasing him when he was younger.

The same woman who fussed over his meals and his hair.

The same woman who read him stories about dubious princesses before tucking him to bed at night.

His mother, who had raised him, actually had a contract of allegiance with the long-extinct black dragon clan?

Excuse you?

His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Evidently, even Kael was stunned. The golden dragon almost lurched forward in disbelief. He had assumed everything tied back to Riley’s father and the old life debt. While obviously it couldn’t particularly be his father, who was much younger than Kael, he thought it was one of the Hales who had gotten Riley out of there.

In his mind, it made sense. And while he did internally rage at the fact that he hadn’t been returned until today, Kael was also painfully aware that he was lacking in power for most of those years.

More importantly, if Riley hadn’t been pulled out of this place centuries ago, then would there have even been anything more to talk about?

None.

If that were the case, then he would’ve been alone for eternity.

It was just that how could he have missed the possibility that the key to everything had been Riley’s mother all along?

And the Iltherans?

Was Riley a descendant of the main black dragon clan?

Sure.

But if they were being precise, Riley was actually the last heir.

The precious heir who had been left in the care of the Caldens, a family of drakes who had long served the black dragon clan.

“!!!”

Riley was so shocked that his mother even had to pick up his jaw from who-knows-what floor.

Precious heir?

Left in the care?

But most importantly, did he, with his two very sensitive baby dragon ears, hear her say a “family of drakes”?

Apparently, he did.

Because, as if wanting to prove the most shocking thing yet, the usually gentle woman—who was sometimes rabid—actually walked back to an empty space to fucking transform.

Right in front of him.

Riley’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

His mother’s body shimmered, the air around her stirring as mana rippled outward. Her silhouette blurred before it expanded, bones shifting with a low crack, muscles rearranging, scales erupting across her skin like blooming flowers made of polished metal.

Cloth tore. Fabric split at the seams. Buttons flew somewhere into the void of the room.

In less than a breath, standing in her place was a drake.

A massive creature with elegant lines and a sleek, powerful frame. Her scales were a deep, shimmering dark blue that caught the light like moonlit steel. Two ridges of short, sharp hornlets curved along her head like a crown. Her eyes glowed a bright, fierce blue that still somehow carried the warmth Riley had always known.

Long limbs. Strong talons. A tail that whipped lightly as if stretching for the first time in years. There weren’t the familiar wings of a dragon, but small ones attached to the forelimbs. And yet whenever she moved, they would spread out in a fearsome display, feathery yet looking quite sharp at the edges.

She was beautiful.

She was terrifying.

She was Riley’s mother.

Riley choked on his own breath.

He himself ended up a dragon, and while that initially felt difficult to swallow, for some reason, the poor son was actually more scandalized by this.

He could only stare, unable to process the sight because his own mother was standing there in full drake form like that wasn’t some family emergency.

Then she spoke, her voice slightly deeper but unmistakably her.

“Ah, sorry about that. It has been so long since this was possible, so I am a little rusty. I even forgot about it affecting my clothes.”

The drake dipped her head apologetically, as if she had not just casually revealed she had a second form that had definitely never been reported to the MBE.

Riley stuttered.

That was all he could do. Stutter like a broken teapot.

His mother, however, did not let it stay like that.

Renee positioned herself so the light hit her face—no more restrictions. No more hesitation. And far less fear.

For the first time in over seven generations, she did what no one else could have done: she spoke the truth.

“We are sorry for letting you suffer all those years, and for all the times you probably ended up confused. But son, just like the guardians of the Archives, I, and in turn, your father as my mate, were under the contract of allegiance and the seal’s restrictions. So we could only speak about this now that the seal is broken.”

Riley stared at his mother, then at his father, both people who had been his family for so long before taking a shaky breath.

Then, with an inexplicable tear of frustration and relief suddenly streaming down one eye, he thought,

Oh, those ancients better have a reason for all of this!

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