The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

His words helped me to sober up from all the excitement. I knew that it was time to let him go but I still hesitated.

And he was holding me so tightly that I wasn’t sure that it was even possible to distance myself from him anymore.

“Nothing changed, Demir,” I said somewhere in the area of his chest, all the sounds muffled. But he understood me because I felt his whole body stiffen at once.

“Indeed,” he agreed with me to my surprise, “I still love you more than anything in this world and you still feel the same towards me. And this will never change, Lara. Because you and I are soul mates created for each other.”

“There’s still this awful prophecy hanging above our heads, I still have golden hair and I still don’t want to lose you because of this,” I told him looking into his eyes and enjoying those last seconds of our closeness, “It is true that I love you. A part of me will always love you, Demir. Nothing is able to change that. Whatever happens, every time I close my eyes at night, I will be thinking about you. But this is exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing. I don’t want to take any chances, I don’t want to risk your life. If something happens to you because of me – that’s when I will not be able to live. So, please, move on from this. Let me be…”

“Move on?” he growled sarcastically, “How do you imagine that, my love?!”

“I don’t know!” I answered honestly, “Somehow. I am trying and…”

“You are trying to move on?” he snorted and looked at me with his piercing gaze and then he asked on verge of breaking, “Who is helping you, Lara?”

It was the moment to tell him the truth. But I just couldn’t bring myself to hurting him more.

“It doesn’t matter, Demir,” I sighed, “At this point in time you and I are strangers to each other…”

“Strangers…”, he repeated dryly after me and released his grasp.

And even though this was exactly what I wanted, I suddenly felt cold and empty inside. As if I lost a very important part of myself…

“As you wish,” he said and dark flames surrounded him, taking him away from me.

I fell onto my knees with tears rolling down my cheeks and only now realized that we were in my room this whole time. He figured everything out. It was naïve of me to think that I could hide from him… Although I wished that it was possible. Then we wouldn’t have to hurt each other more.

I cried myself to sleep that night and didn’t see any dreams. He probably did not want to see me anyway. And it was understandable. More than that – it was good.

The only thing was – it hurt like the chaos itself.

In the morning, I had breakfast with other maids and went to lady Gianna’s room with a heavy heart. Nothing good was waiting for me there.

Yet to my surprise, the lady of the South opened the door with the widest grin on her face.

“Come in!” she pulled me inside by my hand.

“About yesterday, my lady,” I wanted to get straight to the point and clear everything out.

“Oh, who cares!” she splashed her hands on me, “I would have punished you severely if I could but lady Fiona made it very clear that such things are prohibited and could lead to exclusion. And lucky for you, your negligence turned out great for me.”

“Negligence?” I wasn’t sure what she meant.

“You didn’t notice that candle or lamp that caused the fire,” she looked at me as if I was stupid, “What else would you call it?”

“You are right, my lady,” I quickly agreed with her. It was better than trying to explain to her my light. Especially considering that I couldn’t really explain it.

“I am really sorry for the trouble I caused,” I said.

“As I already told you, everything turned out great!” she waved her hand in the direction of her bedroom and I saw several black boxes on the bed, “Look! Those presents from the Duke!”

Oh, I knew that. I recognized the boxes from Lady Solveig’s shop at once.

And again I felt my heart aching. So, he probably was giving gowns by Solveig to every girl…

Not that it was important anymore.

“He sent a note that these are the replacements for the one that got destroyed yesterday,” Gianna pressed one of the dresses to her heart, “This is the latest gerdian fashion! And he also wrote that he fixed your hands for me. Isn’t he sweet?”

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“Yes, what?” Gianna suddenly stopped and threw an expectant gaze at me.

“Yes, my lade,” I curtsied before her and she smirked.

“You know,” she came closer, “I’d still find a way to punish you. But the Duke asked for your forgiveness. I can’t possibly refuse that. So, consider yourself lucky.”

“Thank you, my lady,” I curtsied again and her tone changed quickly. The whole time that I was busy with her hair and makeup she was chatting about Demir. Or Rien, as she called him. The duke this, the duke that… She went on and on about how gorgeous he was and how generous, and how he only had his eyes on her… And I clenched the hairbrush tighter and tighter. It was unbearable to listen to that after what happened yesterday.

Finally, she was ready for a stroll in the garden before lunch. And I sighed that I would be able to have a little break from her when she announced that she wanted me to accompany her.

Declining her wasn’t an option, of course, so off we went to the main garden. It was spacious and beautiful, with green arcs and fountains and ponds… Some of the other girls were there too but Gianna didn’t even bother to greet them. In her head, she was already the duchess and all of them were below her.

“Oh, Kara, you are so funny!” the lady of the South said all of a sudden and I opened my mouth in shock when she even slid her hand under my elbow as if we were good old friends.

But in a second everything became clear when I saw a dark figure right in front of us.

“Morning, lady Gianna,” Demir bowed to her lightly and I tried to remove my hand out of her grasp.

“Duke Freywood!” the southerner curtsied way too deeply, clearly demonstrating her generous cleavage. I followed her example. After all, I was just a maid now. And just as any other maid, I was ignored by both of them.

“What a pleasure it is to see you, Duke!” the girl giggled, fluttering her long eyelashes at him. She was playing with the lacy fan in her hands and smiling at the gerdian. She was flirting. And he was smiling politely, accepting her advances.

And it irked me.

Gianna was thanking him for all the wonderful gifts and then she stumbled just for a second and her fan fell to the ground. Right to Demir’s feet.

Seriously?! This is the lowest of the low trick that nobody even uses anymore!

Something inside of me clicked and I threw myself to that fan, picking it up before Demir even had a chance. No way I was watching him kneel before Gianna and be her knight in shining armour!

But one thing I did not take into consideration, as I tripped and almost fell myself… at the same time the pendant on my neck popping up from under my uniform.

“Here’s your fan, my lady,” I handed Gianna her accessory and got another furious stare. But she quickly took herself under control.

“It’s so sweet of you, my dear. You can go now and have some rest,” the lady of the South gave me her fakest smile.

I was about to thank her when Demir grabbed the pendant, making me turn to him.

“How interesting,” he looked stern, “Lady Vensal, you are very generous with your servants.”

“Oh, this?” Gianna giggled and threw me a death stare, “I am afraid that’s not me. Kara here has already found a lover who gives her gifts this expensive. You know those maids!”

My cheeks flushed and I looked at Demir, noticing sparks of dark magic in his irises. The dragon king was pissed.

“It’s… not like that,” I tried to explain myself but to no avail. He was only looking at the ruby.

“Kara,” Gianna interrupted, “Didn’t I tell you to go? You are dismissed!”

Demir unclenched his fingers and I decided that running away was probably the best option for me. I curtsied awkwardly and run faster to the castle. Enough adventures for one day.

But of course, life had other plans for me.

I opened the door to my room and gasped seeing Sean Sarn inside, sitting on my bed with a book in his hand.

“What is going on? What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Waiting for you,” he smiled friendly, “I brought you some books from the library. I bet you die of boredom here.”

“Oh, I wish!” I rolled my eyes and sat on the windowsill to avoid being too close.

“Lara,” Sean looked at me with a concerned face, “Did something happen?”

“Demir happened,” I leaned over the cold stone wall next to me, finding at least some kind of support in it.

“He…saw you?” the red dragon looked worried.

“Of course he saw me,” I closed my eyes, “He found me on the first day.”

“But he didn’t take you back…”

“Maybe he is not interested anymore,” I sighed and closed my eyes. I really did not want to discuss this. Not with him. Not with anyone.

I felt something warm touching my cheek and flinched, looking at Sean in shock.

And at this exact moment, flames of dark magic appeared right in the middle of the room and the emperor of The Gerdian Empire walked out of it, looking furious…