Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 529: Vacant Seat ()

A cold wind drafted in through the window, stirring Neveah awake and her eyes fluttered open slowly.

Neveah blinked away the blurriness in her eyes, the pile of files in her line of sight told Neveah all she needed to know, she had gone to sleep in her office...again.

A quiet groan escaped Neveah as she lifted her head off the desk, passing a look to the window in hopes to determine the time of the day, Neveah found the drapes had been drawn and not even a streak of light seeped in.

"I... I do not remember closing those..." Neveah murmured to herself.

Neveah always left the drapes open on purpose, so the lighting would wake her if she ever overslept while at work.

Getting up to her feet, Neveah paused slightly when an outer robe fell off of her shoulders and slid down to the ground.

Neveah raised a brow, leaning down to pick it up, she did not need much to tell who it belonged to.

From the moment she had woken up, his scent was hard to ignore, though there were only traces of it left, it was more than enough to send Neveah’s heart beating in that strange, rapid manner.

"I definitely did not close them." Neveah realized.

Neveah had originally brushed the presence of that scent aside as being a result of her mind playing another one of its games, but she knew now that it was surely more than that.

"Now, that is not creepy...at all." Neveah murmured to herself, though there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

Neveah walked over to the window and pulled the drapes open to let the light in.

The first streaks of daylight had Neveah squinting slightly and it took her a moment before her eyes adjusted to the lighting and she fully opened the drapes.

"I did oversleep." Neveah murmured to herself, noting that it was already a few hours past dawn and she had not slept to such an hour in a while.

And Neveah could not blame herself, she could guess it was someone else’s fault... someone who had taken the time to make her office more cozy than it was meant to be. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Neveah took a moment, peering out of her window, she let the chilling wind wake her up fully before she receded back into her office.

A knock sounded on Neveah’s door just as she got to her desk .

"Morning greetings, Lieutenant." The deputy commander of city guard greeted.

"And to you, Deputy. I was going to send for you already... I have sorted through the reports and you can see to them at your level now." Neveah passed on to the deputy commander.

"Of course. Dune Lord sent word, you are summoned to the Castle." The deputy commander relayed.

Neveah nodded, she had already expected that. After what happened at the barrier, the Dune dragons would have many questions.

Neveah picked up her coat and the extra before heading out of the office.

Neveah rode back to the dune castle. On arrival, she headed to her quarters first.

Neveah paused briefly at the door, before she pushed it open, not at all surprised to find Tara standing on the other end, her hands folded across her chest.

"I can explain." Neveah immediately said, wincing visibly when Tara stormed over to her bed without a word, taking a seat.

"We live in the very same castle and I hear everything about you from everyone else but you." Tara excused.

"To be fair, there are a lot of things about myself I also hear from others." Neveah rationalised.

Neveah sighed, knowing Tara was not at all impressed with her response. If anyone had a slight inclination to Demevirld’s existence before the barrier, it was only the three...

Estelle and Dante Neveah who had been in frequent contact all year, and Tara.

They all knew it was something Neveah wanted to keep hidden and so Tara never asked about it but always gave Neveah a heads up when there were those rare physical changes indicating Demevirld’s presence.

"I just...I do not have all the answers yet, Tara. And those I have, I am not at liberty to share. I can only assure you that I am fine and no harm will come to me." Neveah reassured Tara.

Tara did not respond for a moment before she nodded slightly.

"Then I will not ask. But there is something else I must ask. The Dragon King...is he truly...you know..." Tara asked hesitantly.

Neveah nodded slowly in response, she watched Tara’s eyes growing wide and she rushed into her washroom before Tara could completely process it.

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Neveah pushed open the doors to the meeting hall and strode in, stopping for a moment by the door.

The moment she stepped in, all eyes moved to her, acknowledging her arrival, but there were two gazes in particular that lingered and were much more than just acknowledging looks.

The dune enforcers were all present, sitted at their positions round the table and other than that, there were two more seats added at the head of the table where King Jian and Xenon sat.

There was only one vacant seat left and Neveah noticed it was suspiciously placed right by Xenon’s side and not at her usual spot.

Neveah knew this arrangement was no coincidence and the resolve she had accumulated to face both men after the previous day, deflated slightly.

"Pardon my delayed arrival." Neveah apologized with a small bow.

"Veah, take a sit." Kaideon said to Neveah.

Neveah glanced warily over at the only vacant seat.

"You can sit here." Kaideon began to offer his sit, but was cut off.

"Dune Lord... your place at the table in your castle is your place. So sit... right where you are." Xenon interrupted Kaideon.

"Unless of course, Neveah has a problem sitting here?" Xenon asked, gesturing to the vacant seat by his side.

Neveah cringed visibly at Xenon’s words and his tone that left no room for arguments.

"Not at all, My Lord." Neveah murmured, walking over to the place.

Neveah sat slowly and just as she was sitted, her heart jumped to her throat when Xenon’s hand casually moved to rest on her thigh.