Abandon You Choose Dragon Chapter 12
By the time Ash came sprinting back, all he saw was a black SUV turning out of the tribal gate.
His feet stuttered to a halt. He squinted, trying to make out the plates.
But the sun was blinding. The car kicked up a cloud of dust, rounded the bend, and disappeared without a trace.
He didn’t waste another second. He charged toward the sanctuary.
He staggered up to the Moon God’s statue, breathless and wild.
“Where is she?” He spun around and shouted. “Where is she?!”
The clan leader frowned. “The ceremony is complete. The brides are waiting outside the sanctuary for their grooms.”
Ash wheeled around and burst back outside.
Every head in the yard turned to watch him. Someone called out with a laugh, “Here he comes! Coming to get his bride!”
“Look how eager the groom is!”
Chloe stood on the steps in Iris’s ceremonial dress, her cheeks flushed, surrounded by well-wishers. Fresh flowers were tied to her rabbit ears, swaying gently in the breeze.
She looked up when she heard the commotion. Her eyes were bright and shining.
But Ash’s gaze swept right past her shoulder. He scanned the yard once. Then again.
Nothing.
The other bride was gone.
He seized Liam’s arm. “The other one—where’s the other bride?”
Liam blinked. “What other bride? Your bride is Chloe. Why do you care about—”
Ash released him before he could finish and grabbed a tribeswoman nearby.
“The other bride who was in the ceremony—where did she go?”
The woman flinched. “She left as soon as it was over. Someone picked her up in a car…”
“Picked her up?” His voice cracked. “Who? Who the hell picked her up?”
No one had an answer.
James’s hand froze mid-reach into his bag of sunflower seeds. “What’s going on, Ash?”
But Ash couldn’t hear a thing. All he felt was cold—bone-deep, paralyzing cold.
“Take me to Rex’s place. Where does the lone dragon live?”
James hadn’t even processed the words when my father stepped forward and blocked his path, face dark as stone.
“The ceremony isn’t over. Your bride is standing right there on those steps waiting for you. Where exactly do you think you’re going? Whatever it is, it can wait.”
Ash stared at my father’s face.
From the moment the Festival began, this man had fussed over Chloe, doted on Chloe’s mother, obsessed over how grand the ceremony should be. Not once—not a single time—had he asked about his own daughter.
“Your daughter—” The words scraped out of Ash’s throat. “Your daughter was in there today. Kneeling before the Moon God, receiving the blessing. She didn’t refuse the contract. The one who refused was someone else.”
My father’s hand went rigid.
The noise in the yard dropped like someone had cut the sound in half.
James turned to stone. The color drained from Liam’s face inch by inch.
“Who?” James finally managed. “What are you saying?”