All Chapters of The Rejected Son In-law Is A Dragon : Chapter 11
- Chapter 20
22 chapters
Chapter 11
AWAKENING OF SHADOWSThe sun had risen, though only faintly, a cold orange smudge across the horizon. Its light did little to warm the gardens, where the tension from the night lingered like smoke. The shadows of retreating hunters still clung to the edges of the estate, whispering promises of return.Aidan stood on the terrace, golden pulse faint but insistent beneath his ribs, each heartbeat a quiet drum summoning vigilance. His gaze swept the perimeter of the mansion. There was no room for error. Every moment counted. Every distraction could cost them everything.Beside him, Liana mirrored his posture, shoulders tense but resolute. She had spent the night close to him, watching, learning, absorbing. Yet this morning brought a new awareness: the scale of the threat was larger than she had imagined. The Seeker’s words, the hunters’ retreat, the invisible threads of power Aidan commanded—it all hinted at a world she hadn’t known existed.“Tomorrow,” Aidan murmured, voice low, almost l
Chapter 12
SHADOWS OF CONSPIRACYThe night descended like a velvet curtain, heavy and unyielding, swallowing the mansion in deep shadows. The golden pulse beneath Aidan’s ribs throbbed with a rhythm that mirrored the tension in the air, steady, insistent, and alive. Every corner of the estate seemed to hum with the aftermath of the day’s training—the threads of energy he had woven now coiled invisibly through walls, floors, and ceilings, silent guardians waiting for intrusion.Liana followed close, her senses heightened, every heartbeat in sync with his. Her latent power pulsed faintly, echoing his own, a subtle resonance that no one else could perceive. She had spent the day learning to focus, to bend the threads to her will in small ways—tiny pulses that stirred the air, brushed against objects, and bent shadows at her command. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and terrifying all at once.“They are coming,” Aidan murmured, voice low, carrying the weight of certainty. “The first faction wave is
Chapter 13
WHISPERS AND SECRETSThe first light of dawn barely crept over the horizon, painting the mansion in pale gold and silver. The golden threads beneath Aidan’s skin pulsed faintly, still alive with the echoes of the previous night. Though the first wave of faction leaders had departed for now, their presence lingered like a shadow across the estate, and the threads themselves hummed with residual tension.Liana trailed behind him as they walked through the gardens, her senses still alert, every pulse of his energy sending a ripple through her own. She felt the weight of unspoken truths pressing against the edges of her mind, tiny fragments of secrets that seemed to hover just beyond her grasp.“You feel it too, don’t you?” Aidan asked, voice low, calm, but edged with intensity.“I… I do,” she admitted. “There’s something here… some hidden tension, like pieces of a puzzle I can’t see yet.”He glanced at her, golden eyes narrowing slightly. “Good. Awareness is the first step. Secrets… smal
Chapter 14
THREADS OF DECEPTIONThe night had grown colder.Aidan felt it first—an imperceptible shift in the golden threads humming through the estate. It wasn’t danger, not yet. It was anticipation. Movement. A subtle tightening of forces gathering in the distance, waiting for their moment to strike or negotiate… only the threads could tell the difference.Liana stood beside him beneath the moonlit archway, her gaze following the ripples of energy that only she and Aidan could perceive. The air shivered faintly as the threads pulsed again, coiling and uncoiling like silent serpents.“They’re changing positions,” she whispered, sensing the faint disturbances near the forest line.“Yes,” Aidan murmured. “They think we aren’t watching. But the threads map everything.”The golden glow beneath his skin brightened for a heartbeat, then faded back into subtle luminescence.“What do you think they want tonight?” she asked.“Information,” he said. “Not war yet. Not negotiation. Tonight… they seek to te
Chapter 15
BLOOD THAT SHOULD NOT EXISTFor a long moment, no one moved.Liana stood frozen in the middle of the room, the golden threads swirling around her like quiet flames. They didn’t burn, didn’t harm—but they embraced her. Chose her. Responded to her.Her.Not Aidan.Not the stranger.Her.“Aidan…” her voice trembled, barely a whisper. “I don’t understand. I’m not… I’ve never been…”His breathing had changed. Controlled. Careful. The same way he breathed when he was managing power too intense for the room to hold.“Liana,” he said softly, “the threads don’t lie.”“But that’s impossible!” She stepped back, shaking her head hard. “I’m not from your world. I’m not a dragon heir. I’m not even someone special in my own family.”Aidan swallowed slowly. “Yet the threads react only to you.”The stranger stepped forward, eyes sharpened in shock, disbelief—maybe fear.“No human can command threads,” he said. “Not without lineage. Not without flame in the blood.”Liana wrapped her arms around hersel
Chapter 16
The first wave of enemies never reached the stairs.Aidan moved.Not fast.Not slow.Just inevitable.Golden fire exploded outward from his body, not as flames but as pressure—pure, crushing authority. The air bent. The marble floor cracked in spiderweb patterns beneath his feet.The shadows rushing forward screamed as they were slammed backward, bodies hurled into pillars, walls, each other. Some hit the ground and didn’t rise.Liana gasped.She had seen Aidan fight before—but never like this.Never unleashed.“Stay behind me,” he said without looking back.His voice didn’t rise. Didn’t shake.It commanded.The stranger stepped forward beside him, golden threads slicing through the air like living blades. Each movement precise. Controlled. Deadly.The mansion trembled as another surge of enemies poured in—clan enforcers, mercenaries, flame-bearers marked with sigils from different factions.Too many.Liana’s pulse hammered in her ears.They’re here for me.Aidan felt her fear before
Chapter 17
The silence didn’t last.It never did after power like that was unleashed.Liana was still pressed against Aidan’s chest when the first tremor hit—not from outside, but from within her.She stiffened.“Aidan…” Her fingers curled into his coat. “Something’s wrong.”He felt it too.Not danger.Change.His arm tightened around her instinctively. “Talk to me.”Her breath came shallow. “It feels like… heat. Not burning. Just—moving. Like it’s looking for somewhere to go.”The stranger’s gaze sharpened. “The awakening didn’t end with the restraint.”Aidan’s jaw clenched. “You said this was only the first stage.”“It was,” the stranger replied grimly. “But sovereign flames don’t wake quietly. They claim.”Liana pulled back just enough to look at her hands.Golden lines—faint, vein-thin—were spreading beneath her skin, winding up her wrists like living calligraphy.Her heart stuttered.“Aidan… my hands—”He took them gently, thumbs brushing over the glowing lines.“They’re stabilizing,” he sa
Chapter 18
WHEN FLAMES BINDThe light didn’t fade.It tightened.The cocoon of gold surrounding Aidan and Liana pulsed like a living heart, each beat stronger than the last. The mansion groaned under the pressure, ancient walls protesting a power they were never meant to witness.Inside the cocoon, the world narrowed.Liana screamed—but the sound dissolved into warmth.Heat wrapped around her, not burning, not cruel. It felt like being pulled into deep water and discovering she could breathe there.“Aidan—” her voice broke. “I can’t hold it—”“I’ve got you,” he said fiercely.His arms locked around her as golden fire surged from his chest, meeting the sovereign flame pouring out of hers. The moment they touched—The air shattered.Not outward.Inward.Liana’s vision exploded into color.Gold.Crimson.White-hot light braided together, threading through her veins, her bones, her breath. She gasped as memories that weren’t hers brushed past her consciousness—vast skies, ancient wings, firestorms t
Chapter 19
THE WEIGHT OF WHAT SHE ISThe silence pressed down harder than the battle ever had.Liana could still feel it—that something beneath the earth, slow and vast, like a giant turning in its sleep.Awake.Hungry.Waiting for her.She shivered.Aidan felt it immediately.His arms tightened around her. “You felt that too.”She nodded against his chest. “It’s not coming yet. But it knows I exist.”The stranger exhaled slowly, as if the air itself had become heavier to breathe. “Then the bond has reached beyond the surface.”Aidan’s eyes sharpened. “Explain.”The stranger hesitated. That alone was enough to set Aidan on edge.“Now,” Aidan said.“When sovereign flame binds fully,” the stranger said carefully, “it doesn’t just change the bearer. It announces them.”Liana pulled back slightly. “To who?”The stranger looked down at the cracked marble floor, as if the answer was written there.“To things older than the clans,” he said. “Older than dragons.”A cold chill slid down her spine. “You
Chapter 20
THE TRIAL THAT REMEMBERS YOUThe gate did not open like a door.It unfolded.Light peeled back in layers, silver turning to ash-gray, ash-gray deepening into something that looked less like space and more like memory given shape. The air beyond it shimmered with heat that wasn’t heat, pressure that wasn’t weight.Aidan tightened his grip on Liana’s hand.“Stay with me,” he said quietly.She nodded. “I’m not letting go.”The Watcher stepped aside, gesturing once. “The Trial will not wait. It never does.”Liana took one last look at the ruined mansion—the life that had already been slipping away from her long before tonight—then stepped forward.The world folded.There was no falling, no sense of motion. Just a sudden, absolute elsewhere.They stood on black stone veined with dull red light, as if magma flowed beneath a sealed surface. Above them stretched a sky without stars—only slow-moving fractures of glowing gold, like cracks in glass holding back something immense.The air tasted