Kael looked at him like he’d grown a second head. And frankly, he deserved that.

In fact, Riley also felt like he’d gone ahead and gotten a third head for that matter.

Because who in their right mind would even drop that kind of bomb? Moreover, who would say such shit AFTER they’d already gone ahead and finished the entirety of the mating bond?

At this point, even if the golden dragon wanted out of Riley’s shit show, he’d only be able to do so via a huge ass coffin.

One that had to be for two.

But at the same time, it was only because of their bond that he could be this honest. If not for the fact that they were literally the personification of "till death do us part," Riley wouldn’t have been able to share the secret that had long been protected by his ancestors.

Not because he didn’t want to or didn’t trust him, but because his ancestors would likely throw a fit, and even he would understand why they would do so.

"Umm... so the known story about the Primordial Dragon?"

Riley paused for a bit.

"...it’s painfully incomplete."

"Actually, no. Scratch that. It’s more like extremely paraphrased."

The black dragon shifted uneasily.

Even to his own ears, it sounded ridiculous. Here he was, sitting in front of the dragon lord himself, a being who should logically know far more than he did, and yet Riley was about to tell him that the story passed down by the dragon clans was missing some very important pieces.

It made him feel like he was talking nonsense.

For a moment, he hesitated.

But Kael seemed to sense that hesitation immediately.

Without a word, the golden dragon adjusted his position slightly, sitting more upright while still looking completely languid. His long hair slid across his shoulder as he lifted one hand and gestured toward Riley.

A simple motion.

Come here.

"Tell me everything."

The easy confidence in his voice made Riley feel strangely reassured.

So he scrambled forward, a little awkwardly, before settling himself onto Kael’s lap so they were facing each other. His hands briefly grabbed onto Kael’s shoulders to steady himself before he cleared his throat.

"This probably won’t make a lot of sense at first," Riley admitted. "But please bear with me."

Kael only watched him with calm, patient eyes.

"The part about the Primordial Dragon’s origins was pretty spot on," Riley continued. "But when they spoke about him giving up his immortality, not so much."

For the beings of today, the war between heaven and hell doesn’t exactly feel like a threat. Ask anyone in the streets, and they would treat demons as part of bedtime stories parents usually use to make children obedient.

However, to the gods who had always treated everyone’s forever as a mere period in their timeline, no one else could be more aware of the fact that at any point in time, the embers of their war could spark again.

Now, ideally, the gods wouldn’t have been as worried, considering the effectiveness of the primordial dragon they had painstakingly created.

With him around, they practically pushed back their enemies with enough cushion to mark a pretty long period of ceasefire.

However, that confidence didn’t last long.

Because the very same dragon they had relied upon eventually made a decision that none of them expected.

He wanted to give up his immortality.

That much was communicated throughout the years. Because of that, the current members of the dragon clan understood that the gods had been greatly stirred by the decision. In response, they came up with something like the concept of a fated mate.

At least that was the story passed down through the ages.

But in truth, it wasn’t like they simply called it quits and allowed the primordial dragon a peaceful exit.

Because the gods who had invested far too much into their representative could not allow their ace to simply walk away.

Especially when they themselves were beings prohibited from directly interfering with the world as dictated by natural law.

What were they supposed to do if the temporary peace was broken again?

From their point of view, the answer had been rather simple.

Just remake the primordial dragon.

It sounded simple enough in theory. Like appointing a successor to replace the first dragon who had decided to retire.

But the logistics were something else entirely.

Because in order to recreate the same exact being, they would need to gather every single gift they had given him.

Everything.

Including the power that the Primordial Dragon had derived from himself when he created the other dragons in his likeness.

A purge.

To remake the gods’ creation, there would inevitably have to be a purge to take back everything he had partitioned during the war.

Now, if that didn’t sound like a massive disaster, Riley just wouldn’t know anymore.

But as one could probably tell, after all those years, dragons like them still existed today. So what gives?

Well, a lot apparently.

__

At this point, Kael was no longer simply listening.

He was watching.

More specifically, he was watching Riley.

His mate was still seated on his lap, facing him, but the earlier unease in Riley’s posture had slowly faded. Instead, his twig looked oddly resigned now as he continued explaining what he had learned.

And the more Riley spoke, the more Kael felt a faint but growing sense of distaste.

He didn’t like where this was going.

As the current dragon lord, he was realizing that even for someone in his position, there were still things they didn’t end up knowing. But while he didn’t feel the need to know everything and couldn’t care less about information relating to amassing even more power, he still found himself clenching his jaw.

Because by the looks of things, it was his very own mate who didn’t get to escape this demented web.

And how could he even be certain?

Well, who wouldn’t be when the last heir of the Iltherans just said, "So the Primordial Dragon, despite being fed up with everything, at the very least cared about the beings he created in his likeness."

"Therefore, to prevent the gods from simply taking everything back and disregarding all those beings that were already living their lives after fighting for the same gods, he decided to divide his gifts..."

Honestly, Riley, who looked at his mate squarely in the face, wanted to say, "And the rest was history," and be done with it.

But unfortunately for him, history was quite literally stuck on and in him.

Yeah.

Talk about being fucked, right?