The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

All eyes were on us when we walked in but I had trouble keeping my face straight. At a large throne that wasn’t there before, sat a huge man with broad shoulders in a black and red outfit. He had red short hair and way too many rings on his beefy fingers. I knew who it was without any introductions. Xander Rust, the rebellious red dragon who hated Demir and started that war in the first place.

But what really made my heart sink was not him on Demir’s throne. It was Primrose, who stood right beside him. I was shocked to see her here even though I was already aware that he was mad about her. But to think that she would just stand obediently like that… It was not like her! Something was wrong here but I just didn’t know what yet.

However, when Gideon attempted to take my hand and I flinched away from him, I saw the princess snort and cross her hands on her chest. The clanking noise made a chill run down my spine. And it was then that I noticed a golden chain going from her delicate wrist to the throne.

He put Primrose on a chain! That man who claimed that he loved her and wanted to marry her, put a chain on her as if she was his pet!

I had a storm raising inside of me and my stepbrother probably noticed that as he hissed at me quietly, “Not now, Lara! Not here! He can kill any one of us if he likes.”

It was probably true and it helped me to sober up. I knew one thing for sure – I was not going to die. Not until I freed Prim and saved Demir. Not until I fixed everything! I didn’t have the luxury to die and that meant that I had to be careful.

“Ah, my feathery friends!” Xander chuckled loudly and a crowd of his supporters repeated after him. Now that I looked at them, I saw the biggest amount of redheads in my entire life. My eyes were traveling through all of them until they locked with the face that I knew very well.

Sean Sarn tried to smile at me but that was when I could afford to turn away and ignore him. He didn’t think that we were friends after everything he did, did he?

“Future Emperor,” Gideon bowed respectfully, and I made the lightest and quickest curtsy in my life. I also did not wait for him to dismiss us and stood up straight.

“So, is that the girl Demir was so crazy about?” I felt like Xander was undressing me with his gaze and Deon wrapped his arms around me quickly.

“Meet my fiancée, Lady Lara Artes,” he said, ignoring the question.

“You are very lucky, Lady Lara Artes,” the usurper snorted loudly, “The ex-emperor wanted you as a wife, the new leader of the Citadel of Light wants you as his wife now and even if he didn’t, you would find a place in my court. Maybe as a concubine…”

“Don’t mind me!” Prim rolled her eyes and her chains made a loud sound again.

“My love,” Xander turned to look at her and I noticed fire dancing in his eyes, “Don’t be jealous. I already proved to you that my flames for you will never die. I’ve been waiting for you for centuries. I will never trade you for another.”

It would probably sound sweeter if she wasn’t chained. Or forced.

“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes, “You can trade me for another any day. I really don’t mind.”

“Prim!” he growled and pulled her chains so that she almost fell into his arms. Yet she stood strong, hissing from pain since he obviously applied too much pressure. He noticed that and let it go, turning back to his audience. “Excuse my bride! She is… overwhelmed with all the bridal preparations that fell on her!”

A wave of ugly laughter went through the room. They all were mocking the princess. And to my surprise, I saw some familiar people here as well. There were not only the red dragons, who were newcomers in the palace. But also gerdian nobles. There stood Camelia and her husband, and not far from them were a marquis and a count who were new members of Demir’s council. I remembered how he complained that they acted on the same side all the time.

Traitors! All of them were traitors! A lady came to talk to Sean Sarn and she was definitely one of those gossip girls who surrounded Camelia all the time. She clearly tried to flirt with him but he brushed her off and looked at me again.

“I will help!” I heard myself saying and all the murmurs stopped at once.

“Lara!” Gideon threw an angry gaze at me.

“Excuse me?” Xander Rust spared me an amused gaze.

“The wedding,” I stepped forward and lifted my chin up high, “Princess Primrose is a dear friend of mine. I’d be happy to help her with the wedding preparations.”

“Is that so?” Xander smirked and looked at his bride, who was shaking her head in horror, mouthing “no” to me.

“Pardon my fiancée,” Deon interjected, “Unfortunately, she has her own wedding to plan and for that, we need to return to the White Archipelago. It just slipped off her mind!”

The usurper was contemplating for a few moments, his head resting lazily on his fist.

“You’ll stay,” he announced, and I tried to hold back my smile, “I wanted to invite you as guests anyway! It will be good for our nations to become… close friends! Don’t you think?”

Gideon definitely did not think so. But he bowed again respectfully, “As you wish. We’d be honoured.”

“Then it’s done! You are staying until the wedding!” Xander stood up, “And now it’s time for the feast and the celebrations! We worked hard for it and we deserve to have some fun!”

He started descending the stairs and only now I noticed that he actually chained Prim to himself as she had to follow behind him. She was in no hurry though and he had to practically drag her.

“What did you do, Lara?!” Gideon gritted through his teeth as he grabbed my elbow.

“What’s the problem?” I gave him an innocent smile, “You are friends with the red dragons, aren’t you? It’s good for the nations, remember?”

“We need to get back home as soon as possible! And staying here is the worst idea!” he stated the obvious as if I cared.

“Well, we can’t now!” I yanked my hand out of his and followed the crowd so that he couldn’t catch up with me.

“Trouble in paradise?” someone whispered to my ear and I recognized Sean. I chose to ignore him, though. There was nothing that I wanted to tell him anyway.

But as we were walking out from one huge hall and almost entered another, he grabbed me and pulled me away. I didn’t even understand how, but we found ourselves in a tiny dark room.

“Secret passage,” the dragon explained even though I didn’t ask him anything. He created a fireball on his palm to illuminate the space around it and gave me a light smile. “I thought we need to talk, Lara…”