The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

We separated with Demir and his siblings a few hours ago, when we got to the capital. Today we had different missions. Our plan was not perfect and a lot of things could go wrong. But this was war and luckily everybody was ready to take the risk.

“Are you worried?” Fabian asked me and I smiled at him.

“Surprisingly, no,” I replied and it was the absolute truth. The Darmerion Derwood family was strong and they made sure that at least four armies were on their way to the capital of the Gerdian Empire. Besides, they were fighting for what always belonged to them in the first place. Not to mention their own flesh and b***d.

And I was fighting to make things right. I did not want to remain the girl from the prophecy, the one who ruined everything, the sheltered little sister of Gideon Artes. No, this life was over. Now I had people of my own to lead, the whole White Archipelago was waiting for my return and the Citadel of Light needed me as well as their leader. I still didn’t know how it was going to work out with Demir being the emperor of the gerdians and me being needed at my homeland, but at the moment this was not important. I brought my warriors here, the ones who trusted my word and we’re ready to fight. This was a defining moment for our whole nation. If we won today, nothing would be the same again. But it was a good thing.

“That’s good,” Fabian chuckled. He turned out to be my most trusted asset at the moment. Somehow, we had a good understanding when it came to matters of politics and war. We really were on the same page most of the time, although I had to admit that it did help that I knew about his magical oath. I knew that if we survived today, I would really owe him one for all his help. On the other hand, he looked like he needed this even more than me.

“It’s time,” I put the hood of my cape on and so did all the other Warriors of Light who were in our group. It was time to infiltrate the coronation.

We came all the way to the gerdian palace through the streets that were roaming with thousands of people eager to see the new emperor and empress. Finally, we were close enough and it was time for us to say goodbye to each other and go our separate ways. Just as was required for what we had to do.

I was pushing through people, some of them were cheering, some were gossiping about how wrong everything was. Not everyone bought Xander’s pathetic story about a beautiful princess who fell in love with him just when her brother the emperor died of a terrible but unknown illness that apparently could take down the most powerful dragon in the world.

My hair was bright red today, something I always used on my missions. Although it was funny to think about it now, knowing that back then all my so-called missions were a joke to distract me and keep me happy.

All people from the White Archipelago changed their hair colour today. Otherwise, it would be too easy to spot them in the crowd.

I was coming closer and closer to the main wall, where Xander would soon lead Primrose out. And where last time I was fighting my stepbrother.

I stopped at a safe distance and prepared to wait, checking people around me and not seeing anyone else of my comrades. Nothing was happening for a while but there was definitely an increased amount of guards around.

A shadow covered me within seconds and I lifted up my chin to have a look right before I was plucked from the crowd and taken somewhere.

“I knew you would come!” Gideon couldn’t hide his excitement, grasping me tighter, “You have a soft heart and probably want to help your friend. But it’s too late, Lara. Primrose already got married. We moved the time of the ceremony to avoid any trouble! I was a witness at the wedding! It’s done!”

“How could you?!” I tried to kick him hard to free myself, but he seemed to be too strong, “Let me go!”

We were already flying over the territory of the inner palace gardens, when he started to lower us to the grass and then followed my request, dropping me to the ground.

“Lara, it’s honourable that you came to help your friend after everything that happened to you. I was hoping that you would do that, and we reunite sooner,” he smiled gently and for the first time ever absolutely nothing inside of me reacted to that motion of his. I did not care. He did too much, it was too late… I didn’t see him as my brother anymore. I didn’t even see him as a stepbrother I grew up with. Now he was a stranger to me.

I stood up and dusted my dark green pants, while he got closer and took the hood off my head brushing my hair with his fingers.

“It was silly to use this colour,” he chuckled as if we were in the middle of a friendly chat, “I saw you almost at once in the crowd. I was looking for you and that only helped me.”

“I know,” I smirked and locked a magic blocking bracelet on his wrist, “I was counting on that.”

PRIMROSE

The gerdian priest was saying the final words of the wedding ceremony and I clenched my fists. Where were they? I was now officially Xander’s wife and couldn’t believe that my family let this happen. On the other hand, I would forgive them if they managed to make me a widow by the end of this evening. I wasn’t the kind of person to hold a grudge for long.

Although, I would end it this way anyway. No matter what it cost me. Even if no one came, I would kill my husband before the moon rose tonight.

Now the ceremony was continuing as a coronation one and soon I heard Xander saying the sacred words of the oath of gerdian emperors. The only one who I heard say them before today was my brother, Demir. And for a second, a chill went down my spine at the thought that the rumours about his death might be true. He just lost an empire…

My turn came way too fast but I said every word properly because I meant it. Whatever happened, regardless of whether my siblings would come for me or not, whether Demir was dead or alive, I was going to protect the empire and its people. It was my duty.

The priest placed the crown onto my head and it felt way too heavy. Yet I am managed to stay with my chin held high. Xander stretched his hand to me and I ignored it, pretending to not notice. He growled slightly behind my back but there wasn’t much that he could do in front of all these people. And there were quite a few.

It was done and what remained for us was to get up on the main wall and greet the people that gathered under it. From what I heard they were already thousands.

The chains on my dress were clanking as we walked and I noticed the smug smile on Xanders’ face. He was clearly happy with his creation. He was wearing golden armour with rubies and a wine red cape attached to it. There were thick gloves on his hands with golden spikes placed right on his knuckles.

He offered me his hand for the second time and for the second time I paid no attention to his gesture. Our procession was regal and… slow. I knew that the red dragon wanted everyone to see us together and the wall, where not so long ago Lara tried to protect Demir, seemed to be the best option to try and fulfil his dream.

“Smile, Prim,” he told me through clenched teeth, “Everybody is watching you.”

“Like I care,” I snorted sarcastically, “If you wanted an obedient wife then you really miscalculated all this.”

“As you know, I waited for a long time for you and risked everything to get you,” he growled menacingly, “I just hope that in the end, you are worth all the effort.”

“Oh, I am worth so much more than that,” I informed him, “But you… You will never be worthy of me.”

The look on his face brought joy to me and I was able to smile genuinely for the first time today.

We were on the wall and facing the citizens, the crowd cheering for us with joy. It made my heart clench. Did no one realise what was going on or did they just not care?

“Sean!” Xander turned to his trusted advisor, “Is it me or there are fewer guards than I requested? And where is Gideon?”

“Gideon is dealing with the birdie he was looking for,” Sarn said, not even trying to hide the information and sending me a strange glance along the way, “All other guards are in place.”

He stepped right back and Xander returned to waving regally to the people that he now considered his.

“Troubles?” I raised my brow at him and he clenched his lips so hard that they formed a thin white line.

“Don’t you even dream about…”, he said but got interrupted, when a huge cloud of dark smoke started forming on the top of a tower next to us. It was clearly the dark gerdian magic used for transportation and the one using it was trying to attract attention. The smoke was circling in big spans around the roof and when it dissipated, I saw two tall male figures standing there, wearing dark clothes. I recognized red curls on my brothers’ heads. Caiden and Cassian both have our family smirks on their faces and I couldn’t help but let out a laugh, seeing them.

Of course, my family wouldn’t leave me alone!

Xander next to me snapped his fingers and two red dragons appeared out of nowhere. He probably ordered his warriors to stay on the roofs, waiting for possible disruptions. They attacked the twins and Caiden jumped down, shifting in the air with ease, while Cass leapt on one of the dragon’s necks, lazily drawing his sword. People down at the square started screaming and running away, when he stabbed the red he was riding in the unprotected place between scales, right where an important artery was, killing the dragon almost instantly. And as it started to fall down, the rascal just transported himself and appeared right next to us.

“Hey, sis!” he winked at me, “Just so that you know, I don’t approve of this marriage!”

Several red warriors attacked him at once and I felt Xander grasping my hand and dragging me the opposite way.

“Time to go!” he growled.

But I was not going with this and struggled against his firm hold. I was not a match to him physically, but I did not have to be. He never looked at me seriously. I wasn’t an accomplished warrior as the rest of my family. He always looked at me as if I was “the pretty one”.

That’s why when I grabbed a dagger from the scabbard of one of the guards next to me and plunged it into his side, he turned to look at me in shock. I bet he did not expect that at all and that family smirked of ours now curled on my lips.

His eyes shone red and the next second he slapped me with the back of his hand before I could dodge. The four metal spikes that were decorating the knuckles on his glove slashed my face and I felt a sharp pain at the contact, warm liquid gushing out on my left. I couldn’t open my eye anymore but still managed to stare at him with my uninjured one with all the hate that I had for that man.

“Not so pretty anymore, are you?” he chuckled darkly, not a hint of pity or regret in his voice, “What are you without that pretty face of yours? Lucky that we can heal it anytime.”

“Shame it cannot be said about your soul and heart!” I spat at him, “Because you have none! And just so that you know, I am a lot of things! It’s just that you are shallow and all you always saw was my face!”

With that, I threw the longest and thickest chain of my dress to the front and then masterfully spun and twisted it around his neck in a death tie before he understood what I was doing. His eyes grew wide, but I knew that this was not enough. That was why I jumped over the edge of the wall, dragging him with me in hope that I would manage to break his neck with the help of my body weight or at least close his air ways and suffocate him. But he was too strong for it to be this easy.

His face turned red from the struggle but his neck did not snap as I hoped. He tried to free himself, but I was pulling harder, not caring that I would probably fall down as a result since I couldn’t shift without magic. Unfortunately, he had his magic and I saw him, summoning fire to either kill me or break the chains. No, he couldn’t get out of this unscathed! I placed my feet on the wall and started to pull with all that I had, screaming and groaning from all the pressure.

“Prim!” I heard a scream and saw my sister Brigit trying to get to me while fighting off several soldiers. More dark and red dragons appeared in the sky, fighting each other but I still did not see Demir anywhere. Was it the truth about him being dead? Or was he still so unwell that he couldn’t come?!

This only added oil to the fire of my hatred and I pulled on the chains again, making Xander gurgle and the fire in his hand died down.

But it was too early to relax as something else started. I noticed red scales appearing on his face and knew at once that he tried to shift into his dragon. If he managed to do that – then I would be doomed! He was getting bigger and changing before my eyes, lifting me up.

“Primrose!” Sean ran up to us and stretched his hand to me. I didn’t get it at once but soon noticed something shining in his palm.

My brain was clouded but I recognized the crystal that was supposed to open the magic-blocking bracelets.

Sean bent over the edge, trying to get to my wrists. But we were too far from each other. Yet in a few seconds, he managed to touch one and hand me the lifesaving artefact.

In the meantime, Xander was already transforming properly, breaking the tie of the chains on his neck.

I started falling, knowing far too well that there was a stone pavement below me. But at the last moment, I touched the second bracelet, releasing my magic and shifted, spreading my golden wings…

I was not at my strongest since I was wounded, but the healing process was working fast in dragon form.

Meanwhile, I saw a huge red dragon attacking Cassian. I was turning to fly in his direction when I saw something. Right in the centre of the square which was all in flames now, there walked a man in dark clothes. He was amazingly calm, his dark Cape blown by the wind, a black hood on his head, and his face covered, only letting me see his eyes with sparks of dark magic in them.

I knew Demir was alive! he only raised his hand, but a huge black storm surrounded Xander’s dragon, making him land on the pavement forcefully. He opened his big ugly mouth and started to breathe fire at my brother. But again, he only raised his arm and the fire was dissipated before reaching him.

I wondered why he chose to use his gerdian power and not his dark dragon one. If he sent his dark flames at Xander then he would already be dead and our common problem would be solved. Everywhere around I saw red dragons fighting dark dragons And although the numbers were not on our side, we were clearly winning. I noticed Layla and Ryar’s dragons working in a team against a group of Reds. Darius was dealing with a few alone and the twins join Bridgit at the wall in their human forms. Sean Sarn was now fighting on our side as well. He clearly switched sides again.

I flew higher to check on the capital and saw at least four armies approaching from different sides.

A huge dark dragon flew right next to me with a redhead warrior on its back. Mother waved at me and I smiled internally. I knew my parents would never leave me!

DEMIR

I hit him again and again, using dark magic only. After all, however much I hated him, he was not mine to kill.

I wanted to slay him really badly and end all this but Primrose needed it more. When Ryker died and she screamed for him, I couldn’t do anything for any of them but I knew that one would only cry like that for his or her mate. I failed my little sister and now this was all I could do for her. Step after step, I was getting closer. He already couldn’t fly up because of the injuries that I caused to him. He tried to breathe fire at me, but again, I summoned the black smoke and transported his attack somewhere in the mountains. We could do it all night long, but I already saw the golden dragon flying rapidly from the sky, ready to finish her worst enemy off in one fatal blow. And I motioned for her to do it.

She looked like golden lightning – one second and a common man would question if anything even happened… yet the huge red dragon dropped dead to the ground. Not a drop of life left in him. And a roar left my golden sister, telling us all of her victory and of the pain that was still in her heart.

I already noticed that Sean was fighting on our side before and now he was walking in my direction.

“Demir,” he raised his hands to show me that he was not going to attack, “I can stop the red dragons. There is no need to kill them all.”

“Then do it,” I snorted through my mask, “and then report to your new Empress.”

His mouth opened in surprise and I went past him to look for my beloved and the man that I really came to kill here. I sensed her very close to me and transported there. Warriors of Light were fighting each other everywhere around the gardens, but closer to the centre I saw my Lara.

She was battling against her brother as an equal and I bet he was surprised! I watched every graceful move of hers. She didn’t manage to put on both bracelets onto him, but we knew that it was a fair shot. Having at least one on was significantly limiting him and his abilities. She kept charging at him and although he was able to dodge almost every attack of hers, he was getting tired. This was not what he expected. Other Warriors of Light were fighting not far from the Artes siblings.

I wanted to put an end to this as soon as possible and stepped in their direction when two men with wings landed raising clouds of dust in front of me and pointed their swords at me. I waved my hand, knocking them off their feet. Lara asked me not to kill her people when it was possible, so it was lucky. For them. However, they didn’t get it and charged at me again from the ground, summoning Light this time. Light attacks used to hurt me a lot thanks to my gerdian b***d and dark magic in my veins, but ever since our connection with Lara became stable, it did not affect me this much. Unless it was her who was attacking me. She was crazy strong.

I created dark smoke and sent it around the warriors to transport them to the other side of the wall. It was at least supposed to keep them busy for a few minutes.

And then I watched Lara, who was fighting her stepbrother elegantly at a distance, ready to help if she needed me…

LARA

My eyes locked with Demir’s just for a second when Gideon tried to attack me again with his sword. He was not playing anymore, nor was he planning on sparing me. Red Dragons were falling from the sky as rain and we heard sounds of battle approaching closer and closer every moment, telling us that the armies that came for help were already entering the capital. Everything had to be over soon and Deon was getting nervous. Our swords connected and for a few moments, we were so close to each other that I could feel his breath on my face.

“Come on Laura,” he said, panting, “we can still go back and fix everything!”

“This is exactly what I’m going to do,” I told him honestly, “The question is if you are going to be there or not! Give up, Gideon! Repent and change your ways! And I will let you live!”

“There is nothing to regret in what I did, Lara,” he gritted through his teeth, “you know that everything that I did was for you! Right?!”

“No, Deon,” I sighed, “that was for you! To get power, to control people and to…”

I stopped, blocking his attack. Just as he taught me. Who knew that I would be using that knowledge this way.

“To have you by my side,” he finished for me, “that was the only thing that I wanted! Ever! Is that so bad?!”

“It is if you don’t ask my opinion and ready to sacrifice my happiness for this,” I retorted, “if you are ready to step on the corpses for it and kill our own people. Yes, Gideon, it’s very bad. It’s terrible!”

“Everything is fair in love,” He chuckled darkly, “It’s all that matters!”

He kicked my leg, making me fall down and I whimpered from the sudden pain. His shadow blocked the sun for me as he opened his wings and pointed his sword at me.

“How don’t you get it?” he asked, “Why?! After everything I did for you! After everything! So you even have any idea how much I did?!”

His voice was changing and getting strange. And I could feel his aura getting darker by the second. Something was wrong with him and I tried to adjust to the light and take a better look when I saw two black as coals eyes on me.

“D-Deon?” I called his name and he knocked out my sword in one blow.

“Lara!” I heard Demir screaming and turned to look at him, seeing him fighting with three warriors of light at a distance, who also were throwing frustrated glances at us.

“Don’t look at him!” Gideon shouted and wielded his sword, cutting one of my arms lightly. Then he yanked me back to my feet and I saw something that I didn’t expect. Small black veins were all over his face now, he was paler than usual and something was very wrong with his bone structure. And then I noticed something else. His wings started to turn black as well. The light in him was dying…

He was not a creature of Light anymore, if anything… now he resembled a demon. And when he leaned down and started sucking the b***d from my wound, I realized what his new plan was and tried to push him away.

“Mine!” he growled in an unnatural voice and his fingers pierced into my flesh, hurting me. He probably grew some kind of claws as well because I could swear that I was bleeding where he touched me.

“Lara!” Demir threw away the men he was fighting and ran in our direction. All the Warriors of Light stopped fighting gradually, watching the scene unravelling before their eyes in owe.

“No!” I screamed, trying to stop my soulmate from approaching.

In the meantime, Gideon had enough and threw me to the ground, turning to face the gerdian. He became bigger and stronger, more furious than ever, and looked so different. It wasn’t my brother anymore. It wasn’t even the man I hated as it wasn’t a man at all! Demir summoned his dark flames and hit that thing with everything he had. However, it was as if Gideon was now absorbing the darkness. And after he was done, he punched the gerdian, making him fall and plough the ground.

Demir created dark fire on his palms and prepared to attack again.

“Stop!” I shouted, “it will not help!”

If I was right then the Light inside of Gideon was dead and what he received from me only gave him power but somehow turned into Darkness. It did not look like a good idea to give him even more of that. Now he seemed to be darkness itself. Even more than the gerdians who just knew how to use the natural gift given to them but in fact, were not dark to the core.

The creature before me was different. And I knew only one thing that could destroy darkness…

I spread all the six of my wings and flew up into the sky, landing right before him with a thump, covering Demir and creating a cloud of dust around me.

He seemed angry, but before he managed to say anything, I got out the crystal that I had in my inner pocket, summoning Light through the prism of the amplifying artefact. A huge pillar of light created by it illuminated everything around us and I felt how it was draining all the powers that I had. It was immensely hard to hold it and I wanted nothing more than drop it and hide behind Demir’s back. But I also knew that I was the only one who could do it now.

I saw a dark silhouette in front of me that was clearly struggling and felt how my fingers were about to let go of the crystal. Yet I knew very well that no matter what happened, I couldn’t let it end like this. So I kept holding it and screaming from the pain it was causing me. Just then two strong hands wrapped around my waist and I felt Demir’s lips at my ear, telling me, “You can do it, Lara. You were born to do it. I am here…”

I could see how the creature stretched its claws towards us, trying to come closer… Last desperate attempt to kill any of us… But there was just too much light. It was overwhelming and all-consuming, raw and pure… He couldn’t fight it anymore.

I sensed that the darkness in him was disappearing slowly… until it was gone completely and that’s when I stopped pouring my light into the crystal and relaxed in Demir’s hands, panting. He caught me and helped me stay on my feet. And I was finally able to take a look at where Gideon was lying on the ground…