Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182: The Iron Wyvern

The Royal Workshop smelled of oil, ozone, and impending bad decisions.

Jax stood in the center of the room, wiping his hands on a rag. He looked incredibly proud of himself. Beside him, covered by a tarp, was a large, lumpy shape.

"So," Primrose said, crossing her arms. "Grandma wants to go fast. And you said you have a... motorcycle?"

"Technically," Jax corrected, grinning, "it’s a Mana-Combustion Two-Wheeled Transport. But ’Motorcycle’ is shorter."

Ophelia was vibrating with excitement. She was wearing her new black leather trousers and the crimson wyvern jacket. She looked less like an ancient ancestor and more like a bandit queen.

"Show me," Ophelia commanded. "Does it bite?"

"Only if you touch the exhaust pipe," Jax warned.

He pulled the tarp off.

Primrose gasped.

It didn’t look like a modern motorcycle. It looked like a piece of art made of brass, steel, and crystal. The body was curved like a diving hawk. The wheels were thick, rimmed with shock-absorbing runes. The engine block glowed with a soft, dangerous blue light.

"I call her The Iron Wyvern," Jax introduced. "I built her from the scrap parts of the Abyssal Hunter. She runs on condensed wind-mana. Top speed: Fast enough to outrun a Griffin."

Ophelia walked around the machine. She ran a gloved hand over the leather seat. She tapped the handlebars.

"It has no legs," Ophelia observed. "How does it balance?"

"Physics," Jax said. "And a little bit of gyroscope magic. You just lean."

Ophelia straddled the bike. She gripped the handles. She looked natural, as if she had been born to ride a magically powered death-trap.

"How do I make it scream?" Ophelia asked.

"Twist the right handle," Jax instructed. "But be gentle, the torque is—"

Ophelia twisted the handle all the way back.

VROOOM.

The engine didn’t purr; it roared. A blast of blue wind shot out of the exhaust pipes, blowing a stack of blueprints off Jax’s desk. The bike surged forward, straining against the brake Jax had wisely engaged.

"I love it," Ophelia declared over the noise. "It’s loud. It’s obnoxious. It smells like danger."

She looked at Primrose.

"Get on, Little Fox. We’re going for a ride."

" absolutely not," Primrose backed away. "That thing is a deathtrap. It has two wheels! It’s powered by an explosion spell!"

"You fought a god," Ophelia rolled her eyes. "But you’re afraid of a little machinery?"

"I fought a god with a sword," Primrose argued. "I understand swords. I don’t understand... torque."

"I installed a passenger seat," Jax offered helpfully. "It has extra padding. And a ’Oh-No’ handle."

"Get on," Ophelia ordered. "Or I’m going alone, and I don’t know where the brakes are."

Defeated, Primrose climbed onto the back of the bike behind Ophelia. She wrapped her arms tightly around her grandmother’s waist.

"If we die," Primrose muttered into Ophelia’s leather jacket, "I’m going to be so mad."

"If we die, we die going fast," Ophelia laughed. "Jax! Open the doors!"

Luna cranked the lever. The massive workshop doors groaned open, revealing the long, paved road that led out of the Solaris Palace and toward the coastal cliffs.

"Hold on!" Ophelia yelled.

She released the brake.

WHOOSH.

They didn’t accelerate. They launched.

The world turned into a blur.

Primrose squeezed her eyes shut as the wind whipped her hair. The engine beneath them hummed with a deep, vibrating power.

"Open your eyes!" Ophelia screamed joyfully.

Primrose peeled one eye open.

They were tearing down the King’s Highway. The trees were green smears. A carriage full of nobles shrieked and swerved into a ditch as the Iron Wyvern blasted past them.

"Sorry!" Primrose yelled, though they were already a mile away.

Ophelia was laughing. It was a wild, free sound. She leaned into the curves, the bike tilting terrifyingly close to the ground, sparks flying from the footpegs.

"This is amazing!" Ophelia shouted. "In my day, if you wanted to go this fast, you had to jump off a cliff!"

"Please don’t jump off a cliff!" Primrose begged.

"No promises!"

They raced out of the city limits. The landscape opened up. The green fields of the Tiger Sector rolled by.

Ophelia pushed the bike harder. The blue mana-exhaust turned white hot.

For a moment, Primrose forgot the fear. She felt the vibration of the engine in her bones. She felt the wind stripping away the stress of the palace, the wedding planning, the politics.

It was just speed. Pure, unadulterated momentum.

She loosened her grip slightly. She looked at the back of Ophelia’s head. Her white hair was whipping in the wind, tangling with the silver hairpin Primrose had bought her.

Ophelia wasn’t fading now. She looked solid. She looked alive.

They stopped at Beacon Point, a high cliff overlooking the endless blue ocean.

Ophelia skidded the bike to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dust. She killed the engine.

The silence that followed was deafening.

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