The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I knew I was dreaming when I heard him in the room. After today I didn’t even want to look at him and yet I took one little peek. He had a smug face and that annoyed me even more!

He clearly had a nice evening watching all the ladies who could replace me with ease and what did he want now?! Why was he even here?!

Was I his entertainment while he didn’t choose someone new?! He clearly moved on!

“Nice room!” he said, and I flinched. It didn’t even occur to me that I could give myself away. I nervously looked around, thanking the goddess of Light for the darkness of the nighttime. It would be hard to notice anything particular now. And, luckily, my maid’s uniform was hidden in the wardrobe.

“Thanks,” I replied to him, avoiding his gaze. The sooner he’d leave me alone, the better. “I love this place,” I added just out of spite.

“I am sure,” he chuckled, “It cannot be compared to the chambers I provided for you back at the Gerdian Palace. It also makes your room at the White Archipelago pale in comparison.”

“Sometimes less is more, Demir,” I snapped and jumped to my feet, “Do you want something?”

“I want a few things,” he smirked, and I felt my cheeks flushed, realizing that I wasn’t wearing anything except a flimsy nightgown. Then again, it was a dream. And he already saw me wearing nothing, so it was too late for modesty. But I crossed my hands on my chest just in case, which only widened his obnoxious grin.

“What are you doing here?”

“Checking in on you,” he stepped closer and I stayed where I was, “How was your day, Lara?”

“Terrible!” I did not lie about that. But I decided not to mention that it was actually his fault.

“What happened?” I could swear I saw a vague smile on his lips that he tried to hide, “Maybe I can help?”

“You are the last person that can help me!” I lied again and narrowed my eyes at him, “And how was your day? Anything particularly interesting happened to you today?”

“Let me think,” he walked past me to the window and sat on it, rubbing his chin, “Interesting… Interesting… Well, I had a very interesting Council meeting today. Then I had an audience with Prim… She says hi by the way.”

“I doubt it,” I rolled my eyes. The princess was probably extremely happy that I was far away now and it was unlikely that Demir was sharing our secret dates with her. “Anything else?” I furrowed my brows.

“Oh, I joined the Dark Selection,” he muttered, “But do not concern yourself with that. It’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing?!” the words escaped me before I could take them under control and, “Really, Demir?!”

He leaned over the window wall and looked me up and down.

“You don’t seem too calm, Lara,” he stated plainly, “For a person who wished me happiness even if it’s not with you that is.”

He looked out of the window and I was happy that in that dream there were just dark clouds outside and nothing else. Otherwise, he’d get where I was.

“And for a person who promised to love me forever you moved on extremely fast,” I couldn’t help myself saying. It hurt.

“I never said that I did,” he smiled sadly, looking at me, “But I am an emperor, Lara. I need to build a family, I need to have an heir…”

His words stabbed me like a sharp dagger through my heart. An heir… He was going to have an heir with one of those girls… He wanted to create a family with one of them. A family without me…

“And if you refuse to be with me, I need to at least look at other options,” he finished, and I bit my l*p to hold back a sob. I wasn’t going to humiliate myself by crying in front of him.

So, that was what I was for him – a better option! Well, it was extremely good to know that!

“You look sad, Lara,” he noticed and that only made me more furious inside. It was almost as if he was mocking me. “Are you sure you are all right? You know, I could come for you any time and pick you up…”

“No, thank you!” I shook my head, “I wouldn’t want to tear you away from all your… options. You should do what’s best for you. And I can take care of myself!”

He clenched his lips, and I could tell that this was not what he expected from me. For a second there I was gloating inside that I managed to hurt him too. At least a little bit. But the next moment, he moved fast, and I was pinned against a wall, with him breathing straight into my face.

“Are you sure that you are even doing this by yourself, Lara?” The guardian emperor looked me straight into the eyes and I noticed sparks of dark magic dancing there wildly.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” I asked him but it only made him angrier. Did he really think that I wouldn’t last a few days are there in the world without him? How lowly did you think of me? Was I just a helpless child in his eyes? The memory of Sean sarn surfaced and I bit my l*p again. This time making him furious.

“Are you taking me for an i***t Lara?” he gritted through his teeth.

“No,” I said simply, “but what about you? How helpless do you think I am?”

He clearly wanted to say something but instead, he just let me go and went to the door. As if there was something behind it in our shared dream.

“So if I get it correctly,” he looked at me again, “absolutely no one was helping you and you’re fine with me finding a new bride?”

“And you bright?” I gave out a chuckle, “if my memory doesn’t fail me, you never had one before. I, for sure, was not your bride. I was simply a guest in your palace. And even with that, I had no choice.”

“Well,” he said coldly, “You have a choice now, don’t you? Is all this really what you want?”

I looked at him and wanted to honestly deny it. This wasn’t at all what my heart desired.

But the thing that I wanted more than anything in this world, was for him to stay alive and safe… In the long run, nothing changed. My hair was still golden and the prophecy was hanging above our heads. I did not want to be the end of him. I did not want for him to have an end. He could live for many more centuries and it was not my place to take this from him.

“Yes, Demir,” I raised my chin high to lie into his face again, “That’s what I want.”

“Fine, my beautiful soulmate,” he came close and grabbed the back of my head, pulling me in for a possessive and painful k**s which lasted for so long that for a minute there I thought that we could stay like this forever.

A little illusion that gave me hope…

But it was torn to pieces just moments later as he broke the k**s and whispered into my lips, “Than this is exactly what you are going to get!”

I woke up from sobbing on the same windowsill and needed some time to come to my senses.

I washed my face and brush my short hair, put on my uniform, and skipping breakfast went straight to lady Gianna’s room. All I needed was to be distracted in some way. And I was sure that the lady of the north would definitely come up with something. I wasn’t wrong.

“ there you are!” she looked angry with me even though I was one hour early, “I was looking everywhere for you! We have a lot of work to do today. I received an invitation for a date with the duke!”

My heart skipped a bit. He was already sending out invitations to the ladies that he liked.

“Congratulations my lady,” I said politely, “it is very well deserved.”

“Even though I think so too,” Gianna rolled her eyes, “sadly I have to admit that the same kind of invitation was sent to every lady participating this year… I think he wants to get to know us better before he makes his decision.”

That piece of a gerdian!