The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I already spent too long in the wardrobe room. The only thing I truly wanted was to stay here and sleep on the floor. But I knew that he would never let me. The time was running out and I still hadn’t come up with anything.

I put on a simple dress. Not a nightgown. Everything that the gerdian empire had to offer was too revealing to put on into a bed with the enemy. I chuckled to myself as I was brushing my hair, stalling for time.

The enemy… This was what he became to me now. He didn’t even realize that. And this was the saddest part in all of that.

When did it happen to him? When did he become like this? Or maybe he was always that person and I just never saw it? I indeed used to beg him just stay with me when I had nightmares in the past. It always felt safer by his side. However, now everything changed. And now being by his side felt like the most dangerous thing…

A knock on the door broke my train of thought.

“Lara,” Gideon called me softly, “It’s too late already. You need to rest. You are still too weak after … everything.”

He meant after them drinking my b***d, of course. But I knew that I couldn’t hide anymore and signing heavily I stood up. I didn’t want him to hurt Lisa. That gerdian girl was still angry at me but I couldn’t blame her. The Gerdian Empire welcomed me even though they all knew that I was the danger for their entire existence. Not to mention that Xander and my stepbrother were probably announcing on every corner that I was the one who betrayed everyone and help them to seize the country. I hated how believable that story was. But there was nothing I could do about it.

I opened the door and met Gideon’s hungry gaze. He frowned when he saw my attire but didn’t say anything. In the meantime, I walked right past him and went straight into the bed, covering myself with sheets.

“It’s not even that cold!” he scoffed as I felt the mattress dipping on the other side.

“What are you talking about? “ I said, pulling my covers higher, “I am freezing! ”

“Oh, really?” He moved much closer and his hands wrapped around me possessively. “No worries,” his nose grazed over my ear and I could swear I felt a gentle peck somewhere in my short locks, “I will always take care of you ”.

“There is no need,” I protested but his grasp only became tighter as he pulled me into his firm body.

“I insist,” he growled softly, his breathing burning me even through my clothes.

“Gideon, please!” I pleaded.

“Do not make me angry, Lara,” he said coldly and that coldness did not match what he was doing, “I already told you how it’s going to be from now on. Stop fighting it. Sleep.”

But of course, that wasn’t an option. I lay there, stiff in his arms, and felt extremely uncomfortable. Soon his breathing became slower and his arms relaxed around me, yet he didn’t let go. He clenched me so tight as if his life depended on it. Tears came naturally. But I refused to sob loudly. Goddess forbid, he would wake up and decide to console me. The thought alone made me shudder in disgust.

I tried to throw his hands off me but it was next to impossible. Every time I moved, he was only grasping me tighter. I fell asleep more from exhaustion than from anything else. Gideon already woke up and was in the best mood.

He was putting on his clothes and I couldn’t help but notice that it was a completely new set. Meaning that someone took care of it for him. Thinking about that, there were no things of his here. And I started to believe that he had a separate room from mine after all.

As if he had felt me watching, he turned to face me and I froze, realizing that his shirt was still unbuttoned.

“You can sleep longer if you want to,” he said smiling as if everything was perfectly normal and came closer, sitting on the edge of the bed. I flinched and tried to distance myself from him and this resulted in the cold change in his gaze as he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer.

“I am fine,” I muttered, “Need to get up and go to check on Prim if that’s possible.”

“That’s my Lara,” he smiled again, caressing my cheek, “Always taking care of everyone around her. Be careful in that palace, all right?”

“I lived here for months,” I told him and he traced my lips with his thumb as if he was thinking about something completely different, “I will be fine.”

“I hope so,” he said thoughtfully, “but don’t forget that everything changed. Xander is a very hot-tempered man. Try to avoid him at all costs and do not provoke him if you end up meeting him. But if anything happens, either way, mention that you are my bride and that the redhead Princess adores you. Also, say that you don’t care about the former emperor anymore.”

“I will never say that,” I snapped without even thinking and his grip on me became tighter, to the point of almost hurting my chin.

“Just think of this maid of yours when you make that decision,” he smirked and my lips parted in shock.

He was thinking about something just for a second, his golden eyes sparkling dangerously when he bent down and forcefully covered my mouth. His full body was towering over me and I tried to push him away, realizing that I was touching his bare chest and only making him g***n in response to my actions. His tongue entered my mouth, ravishing everything inside of it and I felt the mattress dip deeper as he got onto the bed on top of me.

He took both my wrists into one of his hands and pinned them above my head.

“Gideon, please!” I didn’t even get to finish as he muffled me with yet another forceful k**s.

“So sweet,” he muttered, the free hand on my neck sliding lower and lower, sending goosebumps all over me. But not the good type. “So long… waited…”, he couldn’t even form a proper sentence.

Tears formed in my eyes because for the first time ever I was afraid and powerless like that. Any other time before I at least had my magic to summon and protect myself. But not anymore. The magic-blocking bracelets clanked as he pushed them together, squeezing my wrists painfully. I could already feel the bruises forming.

I sobbed into his mouth but he ignored even that and I felt pathetic and useless. I would have probably given up if it wasn’t for Demir. Whatever was happening to me, he had it worse and I knew it. He didn’t have any other chance except for me to come and get him out. At least, I wasn’t aware of anything or anyone else capable of helping him. I was all he got and I had to fight. I couldn’t let him down! I couldn’t be weak anymore!

Gideon was already lifting up my skirt while continuing kissing me and the position was too uncomfortable to try and kick him. Not to mention that he was much bigger and heavier. So, I did the only thing I could come up with in a moment like this.

I bit him by his tongue that he kept sticking into me. I bit hard and felt his warm b***d gushing into my mouth, making me want to vomit even more.

He hissed and pushed me away quickly, jumping off the bed and finally giving me my freedom.

“What the chaos?!” he looked at me with a mix of shock and fury as I wiped my face, feeling disgusted.

“Try that again and I will do the same!” I warned him, climbing off the other end of the bed to make sure there were obstacles between us.

B***d was trickling down his chin as he spread out his wings and appeared before me in less than a second, huge and intimidating.

Without saying a word, he grabbed the back of my head so that I couldn’t pull away and slammed his lips into mine. I thought that he was going to repeat everything he just did but instead, he bit into my lower l*p, piercing it with his teeth and moaning as he sucked the few drops of my b***d. And only when he was done, he released me out of his grasp, chuckling and hiding his wings.

“You will have to get used to being intimate with me, Lara,” he said nonchalantly taking off his white shirt that had a few crimson red stains now, “It’s unavoidable, and the sooner you accept me, the better. Also, please, don’t try to hurt me again. You will leave me no choice but to reciprocate!”

He came closer again, shirtless, and started wiping away the tears I didn’t know were rolling down my cheeks.

“There,” he smiled gently, just like he always did. Only now it felt b***d-curdling, “I am sorry I scared you, my love. We will take it slow but it’s not going to take forever. I am in urgent need of an heir, after all. And it will be easier for you when you are not the only seraph out there…”

“You know what,” I looked at him sullenly, “I never thought that I could hate you. But I think I do.”

His expression changed and his lips twitched, yet he brushed his palm over my cheek again.

“You’ll get over it,” he said and went for the balcony, spreading his wings again and flying off in just the pants he had on. “We will have our whole life ahead of us for you to figure out what you truly feel towards me,” were his last words.

As soon as he was gone, Lisa appeared in the room. She looked me over and saw my broken l*p and the b***d on my dress. I was sure that she would tell me something nasty to hurt me more, yet she only let out an exasperated sigh.

“Seriously, what kind of people of Light are you? This is so not how I imagined the famous angel nation,” she mumbled and a little hysterical laugh escaped me. It hurt, of course, and my fingers went to my little painful wound on my l*p.

“Come,” the maid said, “You need a good bath and some ointments. Hopefully, he will not be back for a long time. I heard Sean Sarn has a long meeting with the leader of the White Archipelago today.”

It made me feel a bit better and I followed her obediently. I knew I at least needed to look presentable for today.

After her work was done, Lisa disappeared into the cloud of dark smoke. It was naïve to think that she forgave me, but at least she wasn’t too cruel to me this time. Maybe there was still hope for improvements in our relationship. Somehow, I needed her trust back. I really needed it.

I knew what I had to do and while no one was watching me, I left my room, walking firmly in the direction of where princess Primrose lived. However, right before my nose, a door to Demir’s usual chambers opened up and I saw Camelia backing out of there, bowing as she did.

“Be gone already!” I heard Xander’s voice and froze, realizing what was going on. She closed the heavy door and turned to face me, shocked to have met witnesses at this early hour. Demir’s ex-lover clearly found a replacement in the face of the new emperor as she only had a sheet wrapped around her and her dress and shoes were in her hands. Her hair was a mess and her skin was covered in small bruisers that probably were left by the teeth of the red dragon.

Her facial expression changed from shock to that of pride and arrogance as she straightened her back.

“What are you looking at, traitor?!” she spat at me and now it was my time to gasp, “What, do you think that any gerdian will ever forget what kind of role you played in Dermir’s demise?! If not for you, none of this would have happened to any of us!”

Her words were filled with venom, but deep inside I knew that she was right…