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CHAPTER 396
~Valerie's POV~
"From within."
Those words struck through me like ice dipped in fire.
Before I could speak, protest, or even inhale properly, King Draco reached into the inner folds of his black jacket and pulled out a small, glowing gem—a deep scarlet stone veined with molten gold, pulsing like it had its own heartbeat.
The air around us twirled.
"Hold on," he commanded, and before I could ask 'to what', he clasped my wrist firmly, lifted the gem, and slammed it against his palm.
WHOOM.
Heat, wind, and pressure folded in on each other. Before me was something like a vortex which swallowed us whole.
For a moment, everything seemed noisy like a large gush of wind and then… Silence.
The ground steadied. The air changed. My senses struggled to catch up as I staggered forward, but King Draco's hand remained firm on my arm, keeping me upright.
When I finally blinked the blur away, my breath caught in my throat.
