"Wait, fairy. What do you mean frozen for a year and a half?" Aeltharion asked, his heart stopping as he locked eyes with Nytherael.

He pulled Nytherael to the side again. His burning eyes stared daggers at Nytherael as though he could tear the fox in pieces at any moment.

Thinking about that year and a half when Nytherael was gone from his life, he was always incomplete. He always hoped that Nythereal couldn’t sleep at night thinking about him and all he gave away because him yearning for Nytherael had left him barely breathing.

To learn that Nytherael hadn’t left Lioris and had I’m turn been attacked and stripped of free will and time, he got murderous thoughts towards Ilyrien.

"EXPLAIN!" He let out through gritted teeth.

Nytherael never intended for the truth to come out this way, but he was glad that he could finally tell his side of the story.

He narrated the meeting with Ilyrien after the trial and the sneak attack that left him trapped under the frozen lake for a year and a half. Before the reality instability of the third void day broke the ice and freed him.

Aeltharion listened. With every word, his blood boiled, and the dragon flame inside him threatened to melt the ice fox to liquid form.

’No wonder Ilyrien was so confident when he told Sseraphis and I that you wouldn’t return. It isn’t because you kept away but because he sealed you in a lake,’ he put the pieces together.

At that moment, he felt that all the tortures that Sseraphis put that ice fox through hadn’t been enough. But he was a little revealed by it because there wasn’t a day that Nytherael suffered in the frozen lake that Ilyrien wasn’t miserable in Sseraphis’ dungeon.

Without knowing it, Sseraphis had avenged Nytherael daily. The thought put a smile on Aeltharion’s lips.

"You’ve suffered," he closed the distance between them and pulled him into his arms.

Nytherael didn’t resist. He rested his head on Aeltharion’s chest and breathed in the familiar scent of gold that gave him immense peace.

After their talk ended, Nytherael could barely stay on his feet. His body was tired, and his heart felt even heavier. The fear, stress, and pain he had held back finally caught up to him.

The dragon wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. Nytherael further buried his face against his chest, clutching Aeltharion’s clothes as if afraid to let go. His shoulders trembled, and they let out a shaky breath.

"It’s over," the dragon whispered softly, stroking their hair. "You’re safe now. I’ve got you."

Hearing those words, the little spoon’s strength seemed to leave them completely. They melted into the hug, holding on tightly while their partner wrapped both arms around them. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Nytherael simply stood there, exhausted and emotionally drained, finding comfort in the steady warmth of the person he loved. The hug felt like a safe place after all the chaos, and for the first time since his battle began, he allowed himself to rest.

Aeltharion poured the warmth in his frail into Nytherael’s body. He felt guilty for letting his guilt cloud his judgement to the point that he hadn’t realized that Nytherael had been suffering.

If he had allowed himself to tap into their bond just once to see how the fox was doing. The nightmare Nytherael endured under the frozen lake would have been avoided.

"I am sorry. I failed to protect you," he admitted.

Nytherael felt even worse. The situation with Ilyrien was one he brought on himself or had been charmed by a third party to trigger. Regardless, Aeltharion and Sseraphis were victims, and if anything, he should be the one to apologize to them.

"I should be the one apologiz..." Aeltharion placed his index finger on Nytherael’s lips.

"You’ve apologised enough," he said. "Now, we should find the beast who charmed you and have them apologize," his tone darkened.

Aeltharion wasn’t sure what he was going to do to the beast that played such a wicked game on Nytherael and made a mess of his marriage, but he knew he wouldn’t want to be that beast.

"I agree," Nytherael went along. He, too, wanted to discover the beast responsible for the mess that went down. And heavens save their soul because he sure won’t.

Coming to an understanding, they ended their moment and returned to their seats.

Fairy Zarathia glanced at them and asked, "Leaving your guest unattended to sidebar, is that a normal routine?" She didn’t approve.

With her hearing, she heard everything that they spoke about, them walking to the side to talk made no sense. The privacy wards she had put up keep outside from listening in, but it doesn’t stop her from hearing the two beasts or the rest of the town.

"I deeply apologize for that. I simply feel like it’d be rude to discuss private matters in your presence," Aeltharion quickly apologized.

Fairy Zarathia thought, ’Then maybe you should’ve held your talk in another dimension.’

"I am sorry too. That was rather rude of us. Please forgive us," Nytherael followed Aeltharion’s lead and humbled himself before the fairy.

"Mmh," she waved it off.

"Fairy, can you enlighten us about the charm on Nytherael?" He got back on track.

Aeltharion crossed his fingers and hoped nothing else came up because his frail heart couldn’t handle another shock. He had overused his cards for the day and was feeling exhausted.

"Oh, yes," Zarathia remembered. The two beasts had wasted so much time being emotional and lovey dovey that she nearly forgot. "The charm was laid on the dove," she let out.

Nytherael recalled the dove landing on him, him picking it up and pressing it close to his chest before he started reminiscing on the feeling of first love and got the urge to race to the meeting place Ilyrien was at.

"You mean that they planted the charm on the dove, and I got affected when I touched it?"

"It’s not that simple," Zarathia let out. "The charm is a little bit more complicated than that. It’s a spell that required his powerful illusion technique and emotion manipulation," she added.

"So it was fox behind this," Aeltharion concluded. Those techniques mentioned were specialities of foxes.

"Not necessarily. That ice fox isn’t powerful enough to have cooked up this particular charm," Zarathia dismissed Ilyrien as the mastermind. "He was used as the delivery beast... just like the dove."

"But I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary when u touched the dove."

"The dove was a messenger of the charm. When his voice communicated Ilyrien’s message, beneath it, was the spell. And when you touched it while thinking of Ilyrien, you activated the emotional part of the technique," she informed.

"..." Nytherael and Aeltharion were speechless. They had never heard of such a trick before.

"The mastermind hid the spell in the dove’s words and in its body, and once your memories of Ilyrien triggered it, you became ensnared by him. Everything he said became a command that you had to fulfil," she added.

Nytherael blinked. A tear flowed down. It lifted a heavy weight on hus shoulders to know that he didn’t willingly betray his mates.

"From that ice fox, I managed to pick up a scent," she brought to light. Nytherael and Aeltharion focused. "I believe your adversary is a dragon!" She summed.