Severing The Fated Dragon Bond Forever

Aurora's POV:

I watched his pupils contract in shock.

Gideon's face darkened, the air around him seeming to crackle with the heat of his barely suppressed dragon's breath.

"The Rejection Ritual?" he repeated, his voice dripping with a scorn so profound it was almost a laugh. "Aurora, what new game is this?"

The word game struck me like a physical blow. I had promised myself I wouldn't care, that I was done crying over him. But looking at his face—the man I had loved so desperately, the man I had died for—and smelling Haylie's perfume clinging to his clothes, my fragile composure shattered.

My chest heaved, and a sudden, burning sting rushed to my eyes.

"A game?" My voice broke, trembling with a raw, agonizing pain I couldn't hide. I stood up, my hands gripping the edge of the vanity to keep from collapsing. "I just watched you hold her in the garden, Gideon. I watched you look at her with a tenderness you have never shown me. I gave you everything, and you treat my pain like a pathetic trick?"

He let out a short, humorless bark of laughter. "Are we back to this tiresome jealousy? When the House of Foley was begging to attach itself to the House of Carlisle, they didn't care about tenderness. You knew exactly what this marriage was. Don't play the victim now."

His words were a brutal, jagged blade. They slashed through the very last, pathetic remnants of my naive love. The sheer cruelty in his deep gray eyes was the final blow.

The agonizing heartbreak that had threatened to swallow me whole suddenly stopped. It didn't fade; it froze. The bleeding wound in my chest turned to solid ice.

I swallowed the lump of glass in my throat and slowly released my grip on the vanity. The tears that had pricked my eyes refused to fall.

"You're right," I said. The tremor in my voice was gone, replaced by a deadened, hollow calm. "Our union was a transaction. A mistake. And to correct that mistake, I am invoking my right under the Dragon Code to perform the Rejection Ritual and sever our Fated Bond."

My sudden shift—from a heartbroken, trembling wife to a woman made of ice—seemed to infuriate him more than any tears or accusations ever could. He stalked forward, bracing his hands on the vanity on either side of me, trapping me in his shadow. "Who do you think you are? You're a pawn your family discarded. Without my protection, you wouldn't survive a day in the capital."

The cloying scent of Haylie's perfume on his clothes washed over me, turning my stomach.

I held his gaze, refusing to shrink back. "It's better than staying here and constantly smelling the perfume on your clothes that isn't mine."

A muscle jumped in his jaw. He straightened up, his mask of cold indifference snapping back into place, though his voice was tight. "Haylie is unwell. I was comforting her. Do not be ridiculous."

Comforting her.

The excuse was so flimsy, so utterly laughable, that my logical mind wanted to applaud his audacity. Yet, beneath the cold armor of my rebirth, a dull ache throbbed in my chest. I hated it. I hated that after dying in a freezing dungeon, after knowing exactly what kind of hypocrite he was, his blatant favoritism still had the power to sting.

Pathetic, I mocked myself, my nails digging into my palms. You thought you were completely over him, but the ghost of your foolish love is still bleeding. I hadn't let go as quickly as I thought.

I forced the pain down, swallowing the bitter taste of self-deprecation. When I spoke, a brittle laugh escaped my lips. "Ridiculous? Gideon, that is your problem. You never see that the issue is with you."

I rose to my feet, meeting him eye to eye. "I've had dinner prepared. In the Dragon Crystal dining hall. If you wish to maintain this facade of a peaceful marriage for a little while longer, be there on time. We can discuss the details of the Rejection Ritual over the meal."

I turned and walked towards the dressing room, leaving him standing alone in the center of the room. For the first time, I had seized control. I could feel his complex, frustrated gaze on my back—a man accustomed to my submission now facing an unprecedented rebellion.

That evening, in the Dragon Crystal dining hall, the long table was laden with exquisite dishes, all of Gideon's past favorites. Recipes I had painstakingly learned in my past life. Looking at the feast now, a wave of self-mockery washed over me. I had spent hours burning my fingers in the kitchens just to earn a single nod of approval from him. How utterly stupid I had been.

I sat alone at the head of the table, the soft glow from the dragon crystal candelabras casting long, dancing shadows.

Gideon was late. By the time he arrived, I was nearly finished with my meal.

He saw the spread on the table and paused, a flicker of relief softening his features. He thought I had surrendered. That this was my apology.

He pulled out his chair, his tone gentler than it had been all day. "Aurora, I know you were upset. Let's not speak of the Rejection Ritual again. It would be damaging to both our families' reputations."

I dabbed my lips with a linen napkin and looked up at him. "You misunderstand. I prepared this meal simply because I wished for our last dinner as husband and wife to be a civilized one."

I set the napkin down. "As for the Rejection Ritual, I will be submitting the petition to the Elder Council tomorrow. All that is required is your signature."

The warmth on his face vanished, replaced by the thunderous gloom of an impending storm. He realized I was not joking.

"You're insane!" he snarled. The Dragon Crystal goblet in his hand creaked under the pressure of his grip. "I will not agree to it!"

The full force of his Dragon Lord's aura slammed into me. The Dragonless servants lining the walls trembled, some falling to their knees under the weight of his fury.

I straightened my spine against the crushing pressure. The display of dominance, meant to terrify me into submission, only felt pathetic now.

"Why won't you agree?" I asked, my voice steady against the tide of his rage. "Is it because you still need the Foley alliance to secure your position?"

I tilted my head, studying him like a stranger. "Or is it because you need a dutiful, pathetic wife to serve as a convenient shield? Think about it, Gideon. If you agree to the Rejection Ritual, you'll finally be free. You can openly and exclusively dote on your precious true love. You won't have to sneak around your own rose garden like a coward to hold her. You can give Haylie the title she so desperately craves. Isn't that exactly what you want?"

My words were a poisoned dagger, aimed with precision at his most hypocritical core.

Gideon's face turned a deathly shade of gray. He shot to his feet, the screech of his chair against the marble floor echoing in the vast, empty hall.

"Unreasonable," he bit out from between clenched teeth.