The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I summoned the light to the tips of my fingers but froze, paralyzed with the sudden realization. He knew! Sean Sarn knew everything the whole time! I didn’t fool anyone! He brought me here knowing my plan! What did it mean? Would soldiers appear to take me down as soon as I attack? Was that a plot to humiliate me and torture Demir more at the same time?

He turned slowly with a painful expression on his face. As if he did not like what was happening.

“What are you planning?” I asked him bluntly, still ready to hit him any moment. Even if there were dozens of warriors in the next room, I wouldn’t go without at least trying to save Demir. I would prefer to die fighting to live in submission.

“The question is what are you planning, Lara,” he sighed heavily, as if he was extremely tired, “Do you think it’s going to be this easy to get out of the palace with a man who can’t even walk?”

I was afraid to look back at Demir, I thought before that one of his legs looked strange but now I was afraid that it was actually broken and not yet healed. If I had to drag him on my shoulders it would indeed be too slow.

“I would still take that chance, considering it’s the last one!” I snapped at the red dragon, “If he dies, I will die with him! So I don’t care what happens if they get us! Even if they execute me, it would still be worth it. At least we will spend our last moments together!”

“Oh, Lara,” Sean run his hand over his face, “You would be the end of me, not him!”

I was prepared to hit him with my magic when he carefully got something out of his pocket and stretch his hand towards me. To my surprise, there was a crystal on his palm, similar to the one that unlocked my and Prim’s bracelets.

“Go,” he exhaled painfully, “Do it fast. I can give you five minutes. Ten top. You need to at least hide by then.”

I took the crystal, still looking at him and expecting a trap. But nothing happened and I run to Demir, who hadn’t said a word the whole time. The artifact worked just fine and he fell right into my arms.

“I can’t transport us, Lara,” was the first thing he said, “It would be best if you run alone.”

“Are you kidding me?” I chuckled through tears, “Haven’t you heard me? I am either going with you or dying with you.”

He wanted to say something else but then just nodded quietly, leaning over me. He tried to walk himself as much as he could, but I felt his body shuddering every time he had to step on the broken leg. It was probably already healing and I hoped that me being so close would help to speed this process up. They all praised this mate connection so much! It was time for it to prove its worth! Because my and Prim’s plan would only work if there would be no big obstacles and this was very unlikely.

Demir stopped when we were passing Sean and looked at him while I was helping him to keep his posture.

“Why?” was all he asked his former friend.

“Because recently someone helped me to see everything that I was doing in a different light,” the red dragon looked at me with a strained face, “and when I listed the reason for what I was doing out loud, I didn’t like how it came out at all. Also, I owe you this much after everything.”

Demir wanted to say something else but the time was pressing, we had to go. But at the last moment, I remembered something and turned to Sean.

“Where is Ryker?” I asked and his face became darker as he avoided my gaze.

“I don’t know. No one knows,” he admitted, “For some reason, Xander has a personal vendetta against him. Even more personal than the one against the former emperor here. No one knows if he is even alive…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else or even thanking him for doing the decent thing. I thought of Prim and of what I would have to tell her when we meet later…

It was extremely hard to practically drag Demir up the dark staircase. He tried to stifle his g****s but I knew that he was in pain. However, there was no choice and we kept going. I knew that we couldn’t go through the cells because that’s where all the guards were, so I paused for a second thinking where to turn next.

“To the left”, Demir panted, “This is an emergency exit for the guards in case they need one. No one uses it usually.”

“I guess we’re going to be the first,” I snorted, trying to keep our spirits up.

“I love you, do you know that?” He said all of a sudden as we leaned over a wall for me to have a look if the exit was clear.

“Of course I do,” I smiled and raised my brow at him, “but this sounds as if you were trying to say goodbye to me. And I will not have any of that. We’re getting out of here. I really need you to believe in this now. Can you do that?”

“If anyone can do the impossible, it would be you,” he chuckled softly and we kept going.

We were really close to the garden entrance when I heard guards talking, “it’s high alert, they say that one of the dark Dragons escaped. And it’s one of the main ones. The order is to kill any dark dragon, gerdian, or anyone who is with them. The only one we should leave alive is Princess Primrose.”

I carefully looked from behind the corner and saw 10 guards very close to us, with other groups approaching from different corners, blocking all possible exits.

“What is happening?” Demir asked me quietly and I noticed that he did not look well at all. Crystals of sweat formed on his forehead and his breathing became ragged. I was worried that all this may be too much for him in his state.

“Everything is blocked this way,” I confessed, thinking of how many guards I would be able to take. If he at least could walk on his own then I could distract them enough for him to run away. Not that he would of course… but at that moment I couldn’t think of anything.

“Let’s go,” he took a spear from a wall, using it as a walking stick, and grabbed my hand, “Our last chance would be at the servants’ tower. I doubt that they managed to change them. And there is a way out through a water drain in the laundry department.”

This was good enough for me so I didn’t ask any questions whatsoever. We tried to walk as fast as we could, going up a different set of stairs.

“We are close,” Demir muttered when we heard shouts coming from another side of the open passage.

“s**t!” Demir swore under his breath and pulled me back to the stairs from which we just came, going all the way up. We walked out a few flights of stairs later at the wall of the palace, used by the guards to watch over the grounds.

Warriors were following us and catching up fast. So, when found ourselves outside of the wall, I turned and summoned light, sending a wave at them and knocking the first few off their feet. There were not too many of them and I was sure that I could take them. But the problem was that the rest were alerted.

That was when we heard a mighty roar in the distance and a huge golden dragon lifted up in the sky…