The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

DEMIR

In my life, I rarely didn’t know what was going on. But since I met Lara, there were more and more occurrences like that. And although it excited me at first, I was starting to like it less and less. Especially since it brought danger to her!

What happened? Why did dark flames transport us here and not to the castle as I originally planned? My dark fire never failed me before. So why did it happen now out of all the times?

Did it have something to do with how angry I was watching those red dragons look at her with their lustful eyes? Even that a***ole Sean Sarn seemed interested and he never cared about anyone in his entire life. Chaos, what was it about that woman that drove men crazy?

She was my soulmate and no one else was needed in that picture.

Or was it her Light that brought me off the course? There was so much of it and it was so blinding… It was an attack and I felt it too even though it was not intended for me. Yet somehow I felt that it drained me. As if it… dissolved my darkness…

I tried to summon my power but only my dragon flames were responding. And even those seemed weaker than usual. I couldn’t even be sure that day would be enough to transport us out of here. Chaos, I wasn’t sure that I would be able two shift into my dragon. Not that it would be a good idea to try that now since we were alone in the middle of nowhere and Reds could be lurking nearby. If they attacked us now then it may and badly for us.

“Why did you do it?” Lara looked into my eyes with condemnation.

“Me?” I was still holding her in my arms without even realizing it, “You are the one who threw me off the course!”

It was probably a bad move to release this information to her.

“How in heavens would I do that?” She didn’t give up.

“I think your Light affected me”, I confessed. I had to explain it to her somehow. Even though it was risky.

“So,” she looked at me impatiently, “What are you waiting for? Take us to a safe place!”

“If I could you’d be there already! In your bedroom, tied to a bed and unable to escape! I can’t believe you tried to run away when I was dealing with people who wanted to harm us.”

“Was that what you were doing?” she raised her brows at me, “I thought you went for a walk and forgot all about me. I’ve been alone at the shop for a long time, you know?”

“And you couldn’t wait for more?” I chuckled, “What were you thinking? That I wouldn’t find you if you walk a couple of streets in my city? Lara, I can smell you for miles!”

A slap on my cheek came hard and I saw my soul mate exhaling loudly through her nostrils with her cheeks flared.

“How dare you?!” her eyes were throwing daggers at me, “I don’t smell! Unless you mean one of those awful gerdian oils that your maid kept pouring over me!”

Seriously, how could anyone be so adorable and annoying at the same time? I’m now starting to see that prophecy in a whole different light! That woman could be the end of me simply by driving me crazy. In a good sense and in the bad.

I gave out a laugh, “I didn’t mean that you smell. I can feel your scent. The sea breeze and jasmine.”

“Oh,” she squeaked as I drove her closer and buried my face in her hair, right next to the crook of her neck that was so tempting to taste.

“And this scent is divine!”, I whispered into her ear and immediately felt her whole body trembling in my arms. She left her cape in the capital and it was pretty chilly here. Wherever this “here” was. Although I wasn’t sure that it was the only reason. And I like that thought very much. Sooner or later she would start feeling that bond too. According to my parents, my human mother was denying the connection for a while. But in the end, even she had to give up. You can’t stop love. Especially the one that was destined to happen.

“L-let me go!” she insisted, pushing on my chest and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she was rejecting my closeness. Letting go of her, I had to remind myself, that she simply needed more time than I did.

Meanwhile, I was ready to devour her. But I couldn’t.

“So,” she cleared her throat, looking around, “Where the chaos are we?!”

She pretended that she wasn’t cold and at one moment of time I was debating with myself to make her ask me for my cloak. But when I saw goosebumps all over her skin visible thanks to her backless dress, I started to feel heat where I really didn’t need it at the moment. So, without wasting any time, I came up to her and wrapped the warm fabric around her delicate shoulders. Lara flinched yet the shivering stopped.

She looked at me through her lashes and I didn’t take my hands away. I simply couldn’t. The desire to touch her was immense. So, I started rubbing her shoulders.

“Erm,” she mumbled, her cheeks blushing slightly, “Thanks, but I…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I chuckled, “You don’t need anything from me. I know. But you are turning blue and I can’t watch it and do nothing!”

“It’s,” the blush became more obvious and even reached the tips of her ears, “It’s very kind of you.”

“You are welcome,” I leaned down and breathed in her scent. I thought everyone was exaggerating when they said that inhaling the scent of a soulmate helped calm down any dragon’s nerves. But apparently, they weren’t!

I distanced myself and decided to pay attention to something else for a change. Anything to distract me from thinking about claiming her here and now. That woman was too tempting.

“I think we are in Akyria,” I informed her after examining nearby trees.

“Really?” she gasped, “How do you know that?”

“Those trees are called Bronze Oak,” I smiled, looking at her curious pretty face, “They only grow in Akyrian Kingdom.”

“I’ve never been here!” she started to look around with more interest than ever.

“Well, you are here now. Enjoy!” I snorted and she clenched her lips.

“Way to ruin everything,” Lara crossed her hands on her chest. But then this mischievous spark appeared in her eyes. And I knew that it wouldn’t bring us anything good.

She smiled at me and for a moment I thought that I was wrong. But then the damn girl turned on her heels and started walking away. Fast and firm.

“What do you think you are doing?” I shouted at her back.

“Well, we are not on your territory and you can’t transport us anywhere anymore. You said that I can influence your magic, so I am taking my chances and escape from you!” she responded proudly.

“And you think that’s a good idea because…?”

“Because I can find normal people now and ask them for help! And at the moment you can’t do anything about it!” she giggled. Oh, the little fox was enjoying it. “How does it feel, Demir, to not be in control for once?!”

“Not great,” I admitted and started walking after her as she was taking up her pace, “Are you seriously going to leave me alone in the woods after you took my cloak?”

“You gave it to me!” she kept walking as if nothing happened, “I didn’t even ask for it! But thank you so very much!”

“You are welcome,” I smirked but of course she did not see it, so I added calmly, “Just so that you know it’s the Bronze Forest. For obvious reasons. It goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on…for miles. It may be days before you meet any people.”

“Doesn’t matter!” she blurted out but slowed down a bit.

“Good,” I fake-sighed, “But beware of the beasts. I heard they have wild basilisks here. And griffons. Probably even chimeras.”

“I can take care of myself,” she waved me goodbye but her voice didn’t sound so sure anymore, “I already proved it!”

“Sure!” I couldn’t help but laugh, “And since you are going to travel a few days in those shoes, I am sure you’ll also have no trouble protecting yourself while you sleep. I am also sure you are great at hunting and can feed yourself.”

“I see berries!” she pointed her index finger at some bush with triumph.

“Those are poisoned,” I tried to say as calmly as I could even though all I wanted was to burst out laughing, “As well as most of the mushrooms in these lands. But I am sure you are an expert on that too.”

She stopped and I knew I already won. But I also knew that she couldn’t admit defeat.

“Like it or not, we have better chances together,” I said walking closer to her, “Besides, I’ll restore fast and find you anyway. You promised me that month and I am going to get it.”

She g*****d desperately, clenching her fists, and it was the best sound in the world for me.

“I hate you! Do you know it?!” she finally turned to face me. And although her words hurt, I didn’t see the hate in her eyes.

“We both know you don’t mean that, Angel,” I smirked and took her hand, “And now let’s go. We need to find a place for the night.”

“Wh-what?” she stared at me with her clear blue eyes, “You don’t mean that…”

“I mean exactly what I mean,” I chuckled, “We need to either find a safe place or make one. By the morning I should restore and I’ll take us back home.”

“Back to your home,” she corrected me and I decided not to push it.

“Yes, back to the castle,” I nodded, “Where you promised to stay for a month.”

“And you promised not to touch me.”

“Unless you ask me.”

We stared at each other for a good minute until I just continued walking. There was no need to dwell on that.

After a while, I spotted a nice place by a huge rock, where we would be able to hide from the wind.

“This looks good,” I told Lara and she had to agree, “Stay here and I’ll find some dry moss and twigs to make fire.”

“I’ll help,” she disobeyed me of course and I just rolled my eyes. I actually didn’t mind her staying so close to me.

She was picking twigs while I was gathering big pieces of thick dead moss that would make this night much more comfortable.

“How do you know so much about Akyria?” Lara asked me and I noticed her interested gaze on me.

“My mother was Akyrian,” I explained, without giving too many details, “I used to spend a lot of time here during my childhood. She taught me everything about local nature. And the culture.”

“I heard akyrians are a very peaceful and intelligent nation,” she bent down to get another fallen branch, unknowingly showing me more of her cleavage. I swallowed without even realizing it.

“They are,” I stood up as I got everything that we needed, “And so are the gerdians.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t say anything to that. And I decided to call that progress.

It was getting dark fast and we made a fire to warm up. She stayed to keep it and I found us some food. Mostly mushrooms and berries, thankfully there was enough of those. Not a feast but a filling meal. And the juice from the berries could replace water for now.

I felt that I could summon the Water element already. Maybe even transport us. I could definitely shift. But Lara didn’t need to know about that. This was nice and I didn’t want to ruin it.

“What do you do at the palace?” she asked suddenly after the silence was hanging between us for too long, “I mean, what is your actual job?”

“I do a lot of things,” I decided to go for the truth without naming it, “I deal with the problems in the Empire, I create laws and revise them, I meet with people and find out their needs, I go to wars and fight when needed.”

“Wars,” she sighed, picked a twig, and started to moved coals in the fire, “How many wars did you take part in?”

“Enough to know that it’s best to avoid them,” I admitted and for the first time, she looked at me directly. Her eyes were sad. The desire to calm her grew in my soul.

“I read a book about war once,” she told to no one in particular, “It was rather…sorrowful.”

“I bet it was. What’s the name of it?”

“The path of a warrior,” she named one of the greatest manuscripts ever written by the ancient people.

“You really finished it?” I chuckled, “It’s long. And… not what girls usually prefer to read.”

“It was amazing though,” Lara looked at me again and a vague smile appeared on her lips.

“I agree. It’s one of my favourites.”

We didn’t notice how it was the middle of the night already. The discussion about books turned into a full-blown conversation. We were arguing a lot but we were also finding some common grounds. And it felt amazing.

“You should go to sleep”, I advised her as she yawned for the fifth time, “Lie at the moss. It should be comfortable.”

“And what about you?” she asked as she was trying to settle on the improvised bed.

“I am fine. I’ll keep guard,” I smiled. It was nice that she thought of me.

“You’ll get cold,” Lara stated plainly. She was still wrapped in my cloak and I loved knowing she was wearing my clothes. Kind of.

“I’ll be all right,” I was about to tell her that I never get cold when she untied the cloak and opened it for me.

“It’s enough for the two of us,” she said, trying not to meet my gaze…

I sat there for a few good minutes simply looking at her and couldn’t believe that she was saying it for real.

“I’ll change my mind in five, four, three…”, she started the countdown and within a moment I wrapped her in my arms, with the cloak over the two of us.

So, this is how heaven feels…