The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I woke up with a pounding headache and not quite realizing where I was. Just then memories of kneeling Demir and light pulsars flying straight into him made me jump on the bed. To my surprise, I was in my chambers in the gerdian palace. I quickly looked around, checking my surroundings carefully, and let out a sigh of relief.

It was either all a dream or Demir won. Of course, he did! There couldn’t be any other explanation. He must have destroyed them all after I fell unconscious. He was…well, Demir. And that said it all.

I fell back to the bed, closing my face with my hands and trying to calm down when I heard a clicking noise. I abruptly opened my eyes in disbelief and my heart sunk. There they were… two metal bracelets, one on each of my wrists. Exactly like the ones Prim had on her when she was held hostage.

I concentrated and tried to summon light. It did not respond. And then I tried Air, my strongest element. It wasn’t working either.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest that was making it hard for me to breathe. Demir wouldn’t do something like this to me. And that meant…

Dark smoke appeared right in front of me and I saw Lisa. She looked at me coldly and curtsied politely.

“May I help you with anything, my lady?” she asked dryly, avoiding even to look at me.

“Lisa!” I crawled off the bed, noticing for the first time that my dress was changed and my hand was properly bandaged, “What happened?! Demir! Whare is Demir?!”

“The former emperor is in the dungeons awaiting his execution,” the girl clenched her lips and I looked at her in horror.

Former emperor… execution… I felt my head dizzy again and was about to fall when she caught me. But as she did, she didn’t care for my recent wound, pressing on it hard and making me hiss from the sudden pain.

“Please, my lady, take care of yourself,” she said emotionlessly and I met her angry gaze. It was the first time the always smiling Lisa looked at me like that.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, finding my balance again and pressing my hurt hand to my chest to ease the pain.

“Don’t thank me. I just don’t want any more unnecessary deaths because of you!” she spat at me and I forgot how to breathe…

“Wh-who?” I looked at her in horror, it felt as if the ground left from under my feet.

“Sandra!” Lisa narrowed her eyes, “And many others! Half the palace guards died! Nobles! Servants! All because of you and your so-called Warriors of Light! And after something like this, you call us the dark ones?! What a joke!”

Tears were forming in my eyes and I swallowed a huge lump in my throat. The worst thing that could happen – happened!

“I guess the prophecy was true after all! You brought the end to the emperor!” the maid looked at me as if she would kill me this very moment only if she could.

“How dare you!” a familiar voice made me jump and we both turned in the direction of the balcony to witness Gideon landing there safely. His wings were shining brighter than ever, his injuries were gone and overall, he looked better than I ever remembered. He was wearing a white and silver tunic with grey pants and high boots with silver armour. The lighter version, not the battle one. This one was worn for official events and parades. Like a victory parade…

“Insolent dark wench!” he gritted through his teeth, “We only left you alive because the princess said that Lara liked you…”

Lisa’s lips twitched but she did not say anything. And she didn’t even flinch when his hand went to the hilt of his sword.

“Stop it!” I crossed his path and covered Lisa, “What do you think you are doing?!”

“I thought from the very beginning that keeping her here was a bad idea! And now I see that I was right!” Gideon stepped closer but seeing that I did not move, took his hand off his weapon.

“You are not touching her!” I said firmly but he looked behind my back.

“Apologize to the lady immediately!” he ordered.

“My apologies!” Lisa muttered half-heartedly, only making him angrier. But I quickly turned to her.

“Accepted!” I nodded and waved, “And now go, please. I need to speak to my… stepbrother.”

I didn’t need to say it twice as the cloud of dark smoke surrounded her and she left me with that monster without a shade of regret. It pained me that she hated me now. But unfortunately, this was the least of my problems.

“How is your hand?” Gideon came closer and tried to touch me but I recoiled from him, making his smile fade.

What did he think it was going to be? A sweet family reunion?!

“Stepbrother,” he tasted the word on his tongue and I looked at him not understanding where he was going with this. He looked at me understandingly and explained, “Just now… You called me your stepbrother. I guess I will have to take it as an improvement. At least you don’t consider us siblings anymore and…”

“And you think that’s an improvement?!” I snorted, “You truly are delusional!”

“Lara,” he sighed heavily as if he was really tired all of a sudden, “I understand. Don’t think that I don’t…”

“Really?!” I almost chuckled, “You betrayed my trust multiple times! You hurt the people that I love! You tricked me and used me! You cut me and drank my b***d! And to top it off, you even offered a sip to everyone else that I knew!”

He clenched his lips, looking away.

“If there was any other way…”

“Any other way to do what?!” I screamed, “To kill innocent people and to conquer an empire that you don’t even need?!”

“To get you back!” he snapped and looked at me, disappointment and fury fighting in his eyes.

“Well, too bad then,” I crossed my hands on my chest, “Because after what you did, you definitely don’t have me! Not even as a sister! I will never call you my brother ever again! And no, Gideon, that’s not a good thing! Trust me!”

“You only say that now,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Over time, you will get over it. We will fix everything and…”

“Where is Demir?!” I interjected. I simply had no patience to listen to him anymore.

“Forget about him,” the reply was as cold as ice. But inside of me, a storm was rising. “The sooner you forget…”

“I want to see him!” I demanded.

“Over my dead body,” Deon gritted through his teeth, “He is as good as dead anyway. His execution is in a few days. Xander wants to make it an event…”

“Your new best friend?” I rolled my eyes and his lips twitched, proving to me that he himself did not like that idea.

“It’s a partnership,” he announced, and for the first time during our conversation, a bitter laugh escaped me.

“Well, congratulations on your victory!” I turned away and he dared to come closer.

“Lara…”

“Just stop,” I suppressed a sob that desperately wanted to leave my chest, “What do you want from me? How are you planning to use me now?”

“Use you?” his hands landed on my shoulders and I tried to shake them off, but he only grasped me tighter, “Lara, you will be treated as a goddess back at home!”

“Will that be before or after you all drink my b***d without my consent?!” I managed to get out from him and noticed the disappointment on his perfect face.

“It was just one time because we didn’t have a choice,” he tried to explain, “Without it…”

“You wouldn’t be able to s*******r all those people!” I scoffed.

“It’s on the red dragons. My people were just protecting you and themselves.”

His wings dissipated, leaving only tiny specs of light behind. And for the first time, I felt disappointed as I realized that he was planning to stay with me. Because he was the last person I wanted to see right now.

“I told you already. The White Archipelago is dying. We need you there!” Gideon didn’t risk coming closer again and just sat on the nearby chair, throwing his head back.

“I would never let the Citadel of Light die! I am not a monster!” I snorted, “You could have explained everything to me and I would have tried to help you! We could arrange everything only if you…”

“Only if I didn’t love you the way I do,” he chuckled darkly, “Yes, Lara. I am greedy. It’s bad but it’s true! And I would never risk a dark dragon tainting what’s so precious to me! I needed that dragon and his family out of our lives and now it’s done! Blame me all you want but…”

“F-family?” I turned to face him again, cold sweat trickling down my spine, “Gideon, what happened to princess Primrose?!”