The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I couldn’t believe that I was actually doing it – horseback riding with Sean Sarn to the Dark Selection castle. And I’ve heard a lot about the horrible tradition of the Dark Selection, where girls with special abilities were chosen as bride candidates for the gerdians. Basically, the girls are sent to a special castle where gerdian bachelors chosen by the emperor arrive…

The emperor… Here I was thinking about him again… When I promised myself not to.

But yes, he would be the one choosing men to appear at the Dark Selection. The ones who didn’t find wives among gerdians girls and dragons of the Empire.

Nevertheless, Sean offered me something that I couldn’t actually refuse in my position. And it was safety and a job.

“You must be crazy if you think that I’ll take part in that nonsense!” I splashed my hands when he first mentioned the Dark Selection, “I just escaped the Gerdian Empire, I am not going to look for ways to return there! I plan to stay in Akyria! Or maybe go further…”

“I am not offering you to take part in the Dark Selection,” he chuckled, “It’s not as easy as you might think! Those girls are carefully selected among many and you would never qualify with all that light of yours…”

“What exactly are you offering then?” I crossed my hands on my chest.

“I offer you a safe place to stay and work to earn money for whatever you want to do next.”

“No, thank you!” I snorted and left, grabbing my things. And I thought that we were done but he caught up with me on the street.

“Look,” he carefully grabbed my arm, “If I wanted to hurt you in any way, I would already do it. I had two days to do whatever…”

He stopped talking but I got the idea and looked at him again, sighing.

“How noble of you to not do anything to me while I was unconscious for two days after you drugged me,” I smirked and he nodded, admitting defeat.

“There is nothing noble about me,” he scratched the back of his neck, “Not anymore. But I fight for what I believe in. That is all. Having said that, it is my duty to capture you know and deliver you to Xander Rust. And trust me, he would find many ways to use you and ruin you and Demir…”

A chill went down my spine when he mentioned that.

“But I am not going to do that,” he lifted his hands up, “I am not even going to mention that I saw you to him.”

“And why is that?” I raised my brow.

“Because I am not a monster like him,” Sean said and looked me in the eye, “He is what the red dragons need now. But we will win sooner or later. There is no need to hurt more people than needed in the process.”

I did not comment on that. I didn’t want them to win and did not believe in their cause whatever it may be. The Gerdian Empire seemed happy and peaceful. Nothing needed fixing there.

“I still cannot trust you,” I shook my shoulders, “I am sorry.”

“And what if I give you a magical oath that I mean you no harm?” the man offered, and I just kept walking.

“Will you give me an oath that you mean no harm for Demir?” I asked.

“Of course not,” he let out an honest laugh, “Such vow would never be accepted as it would be a lie. My relationship with Demir is long dead and all I want is my revenge. But I don’t want you in this…”

“Because you are such a nice and innocent person?” I scoffed.

“No, because you are,” Sean stood in front of me blocking my way, “Because your home is not your home anymore. Because you have nowhere else to go. And because… I know exactly what you feel.”

For the first time, I looked at him differently. After all, it was exactly how I felt.

“How so?” I asked simply.

“My mother was from Akyria,” Sarn started explaining, “Her sister was in the Dark Selection and a friend of Demir’s mother. Unfortunately, she was killed in the process by the traitors from her own kingdom. Poisoned by Sideria and convinced to kill herself. Fawn Ritton was her name. My mother, Rebecca Ritton, was just a child then. And then there was a war and unfortunately, her parents and older brothers were killed. Just like that she was left an orphan and was starving. But, luckily, Empress Miradora never forgot her dead friends and found her. Learning her story, she took her in. And by the time she turned 18 in two years, she met my father, one of the oldest red dragons. He recognized her as his soulmate and they got married. They stayed at the court though as mother was one of the empress’ ladies-in waiting. And when I was born, I became a friend of Demir’s. He was a bit older but we got along well. We grew up almost as brothers. Him, Ryker, and me. And I thought that this was where I belonged. Yet unfortunately, I was wrong. I wasn’t as noble and with age, it was clear that we weren’t equals. I wasn’t a gerdian and I wasn’t a dark dragon either. And only those do well in the Gerdian Empire. I wanted to fit in desperately but it never worked whatever I did. I tried to pretend that I was one of them for too long… and in the process, I almost lost myself, Lara…”

I said nothing. But it sounded familiar.

“Look, Demir wasn’t cruel to me or anything,” the man continued, “At least at first, but he let me know my place. Several times. And I saw injustice for other red dragons as well. We were not respected, we had no place of our own. But we knew that we deserved it. So, when Xander started The Red Rebellion, we were all ready. And I chose the side of my people. I chose my future. And I will never apologize for that. And neither should you.”

For the first time, I noticed that his eyes were amber in colour when he almost pierced me with his gaze.

“You chose you and it was the right decision,” he continued, “I gave you that advice myself.”

Little did he know that I didn’t choose myself. I chose Demir. And his safety.

“I found out a lot about you after we first met, I still have eyes in the palace,” Sean confessed, “And your story… You deserve a second chance. And I want to give it to you, Lara.”

I bit my l*p nervously and his eyes lingered on it for a few seconds, making me stop doing it.

“Still,” I wanted to retort.

“Listen,” he interrupted, “You have golden hair and we all know what it means, right? It would be better for me to leave you with Demir and just wait until his end comes. I am a dragon and I have all the time in the world. But I don’t need to use a girl for my victory… What’s between the two of us is just between us. What I am offering you is a safe place to stay. My distant cousin is working at the Dark Selection and, trust me, this is the best place to hide in the whole wide world. It’s protected and no one will look for you there. Who would care for a little maid in the castle premises?”

I had to admit, it did not sound too bad. No one paid attention to maids…

“And the best part,” he smirked, “The Dark Selection only takes a couple of months per year. But the rest of it the personnel gets to live in the castle and slowly prepare for next year. All while being safe under the barrier and paid decent money. It’s up to you, Lara. But think of this offer. I doubt you will get a better one in the nearest future.”

That was probably true. I couldn’t do too many jobs. My best opportunity would be to become a traveling mage and do little tasks for money. But it was dangerous since I was a female, and I was alone. To live in a castle and work there honestly although incognito was definitely my best option.

“And what do you get out of all this?” I asked.

“I get to do something nice for a change,” he smiled but that smile turned into a grin, “All while making sure that Demir doesn’t get what he wants the most for once.”

“I need to think about it,” I said, “Stay in the tavern. I’ll find you before midnight if I decide to go through with it.”

He nodded and I left. But when I did not find my wings, I knew that I had no choice anymore. Even though it was probably Sean who took them in the first place.

I checked where the Selection castle was on my map to make sure that we were moving in the right direction. And I also asked some locals about when the next one starts and it was confirmed that Sean did not lie to me about that.

So, here we were…

His cousin turned out to be an older lady. That shocked me. But she was a gerdian and he was a dragon. And even though gerdians lived very long, longer than regular people, dragons aged much slower.

I didn’t know how much he told her but it looked like not much. And she took me for one of his girlfriends that he suddenly decided to take care of.

“Remember that visitors are not allowed here often, Sean,” lady Fiona raised her brow at the red dragon, “And you can’t be here when gerdians arrive. It’s Akyria, of course, but you will hardly be welcome.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Fiona,” he smirked, “Just keep an eye on Kara if that’s all right with you.”

Yes, he introduced me as Kara.

“Of course,” she rolled her eyes, not too impressed.

Sean left after we said our awkward goodbyes and I was taken on a small tour over the castle. It was too much information to remember at once, but Fiona didn’t seem to care.

In the end, she brought me to a small room and opened the door, handing me the key.

“And this is your new home, Kara,” she pushed me inside.