The Dragon King's Heart

Kol hesitated, unsure of how to explain himself, "I won't be able to protect you effectively if we're in separate rooms, Laina."

This was one of the few times Kol called her by her name. She had not gotten used to it just yet. But she understood where he was coming from. But if there was only one bed in the room. 

Laina shook her head, they definitely could not share a bed. She could not bring herself to let Kol sleep on the cold hard ground either. The innkeeper, seeing the struggle his guests were having, roughly guessed what the issue was. 

"Do not worry, Miss. We have two separate beds in the room, there's nothing to worry about," the innkeeper reassured Laina. 

"Oh," Laina heaved a sigh of relief, "That's great to know. We'll just get one room then."

The next morning, both of them woke up bright and early. After having breakfast, Laina asked the innkeeper for instructions on how to get to Blu Lunara. The kind innkeeper even gave them a map with the route to take highlighted. 

"If you're going up there, you should probably stock up on some food too," he suggested as he began bringing them provisions. 

After confirming the details, they bid farewell to the innkeeper and followed the instructions. Lucky for them, they did not need to climb all the way up Blu Lunara to get to the Temple of the Moon. 

There was a train that would cover half of their journey, the rest of the way up would be a hike. While Laina might have visited other Kingdoms in her lifetime, this was Kol's first long-distance trip. 

He was used to Kinshearth's Capital City and Everfree Nation's city, but he had not seen anything like the town they were in. A loud blaring horn in the distance caught Laina's attention as she noticed the steam dissipating into the sky. 

"That must be the train about to depart! Let's go Kol!" Laina exclaimed as she grabbed hold of his hand and made a run for it. 

Lucky for the two of them, they made it just in time to board the train as it was about to leave the station. Once onboard, they entered the train carriage and sat down. Looking out the open window, Laina was mesmerized by the beautiful scenery. 

The sky was endless, with tuffs of free-flowing clouds. Green pastures as far as the eye could see formed the foreground, while the mountains lined in the background. Laina had lived and grown up in the Capital City all her life. 

She had rarely ever seen such vast open spaces. Kol, on the other hand, was distracted by what had happened earlier. The moment Laina grabbed hold of his hand, his mind went blank. 

The fact that they were still holding hands, immobilized him. He glanced over to Laina. When he saw the wide smile upon her face, he was mesmerized by her beauty. 

He could not help but stare at her. It did not take long for Laina to notice him looking at her. She returned his gaze.

Seeing him unmoving, speechless, Laina grew worried, "Kol, is everything alright?" 

Kol did not respond. He was still in a trance. Laina waved her free hand in front of his face and called out to him again, "Kol… Kol… are you alright?"

This time, he heard her. He blinked a couple of times and regained his senses. He looked down at their hands. Laina still held onto him tightly. Laina followed his line of sight. 

She immediately pulled her hand away in embarrassment, unaware that they were holding hands. 

"Oh sorry about that! I didn't realize we were still holding hands," Laina quickly apologized as she laughed it off awkwardly. 

"It's alright, Laina," Kol replied with a soft smile. 

Apart from the picturesque scenery outside their window, the train ride winding up the mountain was relatively mundane. There were not many travelers either, likely because of how early they were. 

The higher the train climbed along the tracks, the air grew cool. By the time they reached the end of the ride, the temperature had dropped quite a bit. Lucky for them, they were prepared for the change in weather. 

Both Laina and Kol put on a jacket to keep themselves warm as they continued their way. The signboards at the train station directed them towards the path they needed to take. 

They followed the path as it twisted and turned. Along the way, Laina noticed the flora and fauna of the area were vastly different from what she was used to in Kinshearth. They struck up conversations with other travelers who were making their way to the temple as well. 

"So what brought you out here to make this trip?" One of them asked Laina and Kol.

"Oh, nothing specific. We heard about how beautiful the scenery is from the temple, so we decided to see for ourselves," Laina replied with a smile. 

"Oh? You're not here for the Heart's Desire Ceremony?" The traveler asked Laina with a quizzed expression. 

At first, Laina wondered why the traveler had asked that question. But as she thought back to the various passengers she had seen onboard the train, Laina came to realize most of them were couples. 

She quickly shook her head, "No we're not," she turned to look at Kol for a moment, then back at the traveler and her companion, "We're just friends."

"What's this Heart's Desire Ceremony you mentioned?" Laina asked out of curiosity.

The traveler explained that the Heart's Desire Ceremony was a ritual performed by the Moon Maidens. It is performed on couples to see if they were truly meant for one another. 

For the werewolves of Wolfenheim, this was usually unnecessary. They were able to recognize and find their soulmate through smell and instinct after they reached the age of 21. But there have been known cases of fraud in the past. 

The Heart's Desire Ceremony will reveal the truth. If two people were not meant to be together, the ceremony would fail. Travelers from other Kingdoms and Nations heard about this mysterious ritual. 

Hence every year, countless couples would come to Blu Lunara1 Temple of the Moon and go through the ceremony. 

After listening to the explanation, Laina's mind only had one person in it. She wondered if that person would be the one for her. If he was, would he be willing to take part in the ceremony with her?

Laina shook her head and slapped her cheeks. 

She chided herself, "Come on Laina! Now's not the time to think of that!"

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