Chained to old wounds

CH51

Morgan

Tsuneo looked surprised.

“What is it?”

“I was under the impression that your family of humans—”

I snickered. He wrinkled his nose.

“Is that odd phrasing?”

“A little,” I smiled at him. “But a little endearing…”

His smile turned warm, and his eyes brightened. I looked away.

“You were saying?”

“Your family… is from an area that bathes communally, isn’t it?”

“My father’s family, yes.” I nodded. “But I never got the to never had the time, and I was always excluded from going.”

go to the communal baths. I

My lips twitched at the thought.

“The Jaki Baths in my hometown are the best on this side of the continent, but I never went.”

“Why?”

“Well…” I shrugged. “It was a luxury, for one.”

“Your family didn’t seem to be poor.”

“We aren’t really. It’s just…”

I trailed off, meeting his gaze. He looked at me as if he already knew I was lying and it pained him. I–bit–my lip and dropped my gaze to my knees. After everything, should I really be cagey about this? It wasn’t like it was my fault that my family were jerk

No one ever want to go with me when I had time, I said. “Then… I was too busy to go. Even though the estate has communal bathing arrangements, I never bothered to use them. It was pretty obvious that most of my family hated me.”

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He frowned at that. He looked genuinely confused, or maybe troubled. Then he sat back.

“That’s terrible.”

I shrugged. “‘ve always wanted to try it, so this is a pretty good close second.”

I sighed, leaning my head back against the stone and closing my eyes.

He nudged me and I cracked an eye open. His eyes were bright with excitement. He grinned at me

in a way that made it hard to reconcile the fact that he’d killed his brother over me.

“We haven’t had a proper honeymoon,” he began, then hesitated.

My eyes bulged at the thought. He smirked.

“Not like that, but… I wouldn’t be opposed.”

I looked away. “You were saying?”

“When things settle down,” he continued.

“I have a place in mind, I think you will like a great deal. There are these… fairy springs, hidden. deep within the mountains to the south. The water is said to have magical properties, and the setting is… breathtaking.”

A thrill shot through me. The idea of bathing in a magical pool, surrounded by nature, sounded worlds better than bathing with half of my hometown.

“And perhaps… the next time we are in your realm, we will go to these Jaki Baths so you have something to compare it to.”

My lips twitched and I sunk down a little more into the bath with a smile.

“That sounds incredible,” I whispered, a genuine smile playing on my lips. “Thanks, Tsuneo.

“You need not thank

me, wife.”

For a while, we sat in comfortable silence, the only sound the gentle lapping of the water. The tension of the evening had melted away, replaced by a sense of intimacy and relaxation we both needed. The world outside seemed to fade away.

Ari

The blood roared in my ears, a maddening drumbeat that drowned out everything else as I

CH51

82

stormed down the hall away from the dining hall toward my room. Servants jumped out of my way, but I could hear them snickering, laughing, gossiping about me. About what that human woman had said. How the king was treating me now.

How everything between me and Tsuneo had changed.

Fury, hot and consuming, pulsed through my veins, threatening to boil over. I stormed into my chambers, slamming the heavy oak door with a resounding thud that echoed through the room.

Tears, traitorous and hot, streamed down my face, blurring my vision. How could it be? How could everything have gone so wrong? Tsuneo… my Tsuneo… he was supposed to be mine. I knew since we were children that we were destined to rule side–by–side.

I was destined to be queen.

Empress.

His wife!

That human’s face flashed through my mind. I whirled around with a shriek of fury, knocking over a delicate porcelain vase in the process. The sound of shattering echoed through the room was almost cathartic. I screamed and threw chairs. I clawed through a tapestry I’d had since I was child. I couldn’t stop until every surface was bare and overturned. My pillows on the floor. Sheets ripped and shredded, yet it did nothing for the tempest raging within me. This wasn’t fair! It wasn’t right!

“That little bitch!”

For years, I had been as good as Tsuneo’s wife. I’d taken care of him while he was in his coma. I was at his side. I spoke with the concubines and managed them and their petty gossip. I made the lazy servants do exactly what they should be doing. The king loved me. The entire palace bent to my will. I was crown princess and queen in every way that mattered.

I had proven myself to be the woman worthy of becoming his queen. The queen’s–colors looked better on me for my paler skin. My scales glistened just as brightly as Tsuneo’s.

I spoke the Elders and endured the stifling protocols, the endless lessons in etiquette, all for him! And now, some… some human girl who had stumbled into our world was taking the place that was always meant to be mine?

My fists clenched, nails digging into my palms. She was nothing special! So what she passed through the Trial? It was just an old superstition anyway! We didn’t need to be connected to the human realm.

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CH51

The people on the other side had survived all this time, they’d be fine until they died!

“A mere human…” I snarled.

She was weak and fragile, with nothing to offer Tsuneo. She had weird skin. She was practically bald, and her hair looked more like a bird’s nest than hair! I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

I was the picture of beauty in our realms. Suitors would bow at my feet if they thought they had a chance.

Yet, he thought that human girl was better than me? Thought that he loved her? Thought that his dragon had chosen her?

The very thought made me scoff. Love was a fairy tale for children, a foolish notion that had no place in the cold, calculating world of court politics. Our dragons were baser instincts. They weren’t meant to guide our lives!

A strangled sob escaped my lips. Then, a knock sounded on my door.

“What?” I screamed.

The door opened and my maid entered. She bowed

“You asked me to–”

“Out with it!”

*… Lady Morgan and the crown prince returned to his chambers as rumored. She hasn’t been to her chambers for a full night since she arrives.”

The thought of them together, Tsuneo and that human girl, sleeping peacefully in his bed, flashed through my mind. The possessiveness in his voice when he’d called her “wife” echoed in my ears.

No! This would not stand. I was the rightful heir to the throne! It was mine. He was mine. The kingdom was mine. A steely glint hardened my eyes, replacing the tears with a cold determination. Morgan would pay for this. One way or another, I would see her gone. I imagined her dead on the palace steps, her blood painting the ivory of the courtyard and smiled.

The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride