The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

I inhaled and exhaled slowly, closing my eyes and listening to what she was telling me.

“Everybody knew that you were the worst idea Demir ever had!” Camellia screeched pulling her sheet higher and raising her chin as if she was a queen, no less. “You destroyed him! And by doing that, you destroy the whole empire! Chaos knows what the red Dragons will do to us! The hardships we all have to endure thanks to you!”

I opened my eyes, hoping that she was finally done, and I could move on. But she only narrowed her eyes and continued, “I hope that when your brother takes you it feels as disgusting as it is only possible! From the looks of it, he is no Angel either.” She smirked and pointed at my broken l*p.

A slap echoed through the dark corridors and she almost dropped her sheets in the process, covering her cheek and looking at me in shock.

“If it was my fault, how did it happen that your husband was at the table full of red dragons and you ended up in Xander Rust’s bed? The last time I saw him, he was kissing a completely different girl! And the last time I saw you, you had a completely different dress on. Did you change and then came here while you weren’t even invited? Is that the hardship you are talking about?!”

Camelia turned pale and I sneered as I knew that I was right. Her husband was one of the traitors working with the red Dragons. And she was throwing lustful gazes at Xander during the dinner that were hard not to notice.

“At least I was forced to fulfill this prophecy and wasn’t aware that I was playing right into the enemy’s hands. But what is your excuse to be here now? Do you have absolutely no respect and loyalty to your husband? Or maybe he’s the one sending you on missions like this? After all, he only married you to appease Demir and help him to get rid of the mistress he was tired of. And now he is in the race to appease the new ruler?”

Her lips trembled as if she was about to start crying. I watched her calmly, nothing inside of me even flinched. However, this newfound cruelty tasted good. And she had it coming a long time ago.

“Mind your own business, Camellia,” I said as I walked past her and entered Prim’s room without the permission of the two giant guards or even knocking.

I expected anything except for what I actually saw inside of the princess’s chambers. Almost every piece of furniture, every vase, every ornament was broken, shattered in pieces across the floor. The pillows and sheets were torn and even the curtains resembled rags now, hanging dully, shredded, and blown by the wind.

I found her on the floor next to her bed, hugging her knees. Fiery locks seemed unruly for the first time, scattered around her delicate frame. For a second there I thought that she was sleeping but as I stepped closer and the glass cracked under my feet, She flinched and look at me with red puffy eyes.

“What happened?” I asked her as I checked if she was chained to something again. Of course, she was. Shiny metal snaked around her ankle this time and all the way to the post of her bed.

“I’m about to marry my worst enemy,” she greeted through her teeth and stood up, looking at my face, “You?”

“My brother kissed me,” I grimaced at the memory.

“Eww,” your pretty face distorted in disgust, “I didn’t think I would say it, but you win.”

“It’s a tight race so far,” I chuckled darkly.

“What’s with the l*p? It looks bad,” she went to a sideboard that was missing a few drawers and opened one of the remaining ones, getting out a small bottle and handing it to me.

“I tried to beat off his tongue,” I confessed, shuddering slightly.

“Drink it,” Prim ordered, “It will speed up your regeneration processes.”

“It’s fine,” I played with the tiny vessel in my hands, “My maid Lisa gave me an ointment.”

“Drink it,” the princess repeated in the same tone, and I obeyed her this time, swallowing the bitter liquid. She smirked at me when I was done. “At least we’ve established that you trust me enough not to think that I may poison you.”

I rolled my eyes, putting the bottle away, “Why would you poison your only remaining ally?”

“What if I am a vengeful person and want to punish you for fulfilling that damn prophecy?” she sneered, and I clenched my fists. I really hoped that she would not go there.

“I can only hope that…”

“Relax, Lara!” she snorted, “I am just teasing you.”

“If you are angry with me that’s fine,” I let out an exasperated sigh, “It is all my fault after all…Everybody keeps saying that.”

“I am not everybody,” the princess came closer, her chains rattling as she walked, “You’ve been there. You saw that I wasn’t exactly useful myself. Demir could have gotten you out but not me… I’d be killed if he didn’t save me.”

“Was that an option though?” I shot my brow up, “Xander seems to be in love with you…”

“Xander doesn’t know what love is!” the girl scoffed, “He was screwing someone in the next room to mine all night long. If he had to kill me to get the throne – he would. I am alive because I am a good excuse to usurp the throne and because I am one of the two things he wanted for years but couldn’t get.”

“At least he is not touching you,” I said and bit my swollen l*p.

“Did you brother…” Prim clenched her lips tightly, not being able to continue.

“No!” I hurried to assure her, “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Anyway, that’s not what’s important now, is it?”

“I guess you are right,” she nodded, “We need to find a way and free Demir. But I am locked here or… on a leash near Xander.”

“That’s good,” I smiled.

“Excuse me?” she c*cked her brow at me.

“That means that you will be able to distract Xander,” I smirked, “While I get Demir out.”

“Do you know something that I don’t?” Primrose looked amused now.

“Not really, but I will be allowed to see him tomorrow,” I said, “But it will be in Sean’s presence, and I’ll still have these damn cuffs on.”

“Lara, but this is great news!” she started pacing around the room excitedly, “This is already better than what I had in mind before you came!”

“I don’t know about that,” I say, “With my magic, I would be able to get him out. But without it…”

“Then you need to get it back,” she went to the same sideboard, “Luckily, I have something that might help you.”

“What would that be?” I snorted, “A magic wand?”

“Something better!” she let out a happy laugh for the first time and produced a piece of paper and an ink pen.

“Erm, I am not sure I follow,” I admitted to her.

“Give me a second, she smiled and went to her broken desk, tearing a board from it and using it as a stand for the paper. She quickly drew something and handed it to me. I looked at what she sketched in a hurry and saw a picture of a leaf with 5 sharp ends. “It’s very pale green,” the princess started to explain, “And it has a pattern here that reminds a bit of a spiderweb.”

“Prim, what am I looking here at exactly?” I found that I managed to ask her.

“Our freedom,” she sneered, “did Jimmy ever tell you the story about our mother and father? You know, they almost lost to their enemies once too. And back then my mother saved my father from a very similar situation.”

“And how did she do it?” I wondered.

“With the help of this plant,” the princess drew more attention back to her drawing, “Memorise very well how it looks, Lara. because everything will depend on you. This plant is called sideria. It was banned many years ago because of its properties. My father was personally burning the fields full of it is the only place where it grew. But my mother… she managed to save a few plants and she brought them to the palace.”

“What are the properties?” Now I was really interested.

“If you make a potion out of it and make a person consume it then it is said that you will be able to influence that person’s mind.”

“Impossible!” I gave you the picture back, “I never heard about anything like it.”

“I know,” Prim grinned, “Dad wasn’t a big fan of it since his arrival used it on our mother when he tried to get her to marry him. It was mostly used by people with bad intentions. However, sometimes the situation just calls for it.”

“You want to try and influence Xander?” I asked her and she snorted.

“Chaos, no!” she splashed your hands, “He will never eat or drink anything from my hand. He knows far too well that all I want is for him to die. And also, he knows my mother’s story so it would be too risky to try that same thing on him.”

“But what did she do?” I watched the Princess come to a candle that was still dying down slowly on one of her windows and burn the paper without any kind of hesitation.

“She poisoned the man who help my father captive and made him believe things that weren’t true. As a result, he let my father and her goal without even realizing it.”

“I’m not sure that Sean will also eat or drink anything from me,” I told her honestly.

“But it’s not Sean who has the k**s from your magical blocking bracelets,” primrose blinked at me innocently and if understood what she was talking about.

“You want me to give us to Gideon?”

“Yes,” she went to cheer that was lying on the floor and pick that up, sitting on top of it, “if my observations are correct, he believes that you love him. If you make a step towards him, he will do anything for you. And all you need is just to give him a cup of tea. You have that innocent glow around you, Lara, he will never suspect you.”

She might have been right.

“There are tricks on how one should use it and I’ll explain everything to you,” Prim insisted, “But at the moment, you need to go to the royal garden, turn to the old stone garden house, and right in front of the nearby fountain, you will see a flower bed. A big one. There, between exotic flowers, you will find that herb. Make sure you hide it as you bring it here; this is our only chance, Lara.”

~ * ~

In the garden, I found the flowerbed quickly. I had two bulky guards with me and they were watching my every move. So, when I got out my greenery scissors, they both put their hands on the hilts of their swords.

“Don’t worry, noble sirs,” I smiled playfully, shocked with how easy and naturally that came to me, “I only need to cut a few flowers of each kind for the princess to pick what she would want to use at your wedding. After all, it’s going to be the event of the century!”

They looked at each other with puzzled expressions but put their hands down. I started with cutting some roses and lilies and went on for a while. My basket was getting heavier and heavier when I finally found what I was looking for. For someone who had no idea about what that was, sideria would look like some sort of weed. Absolutely useless and not pretty. Luckily men understood nothing in things like these and none of my overlookers paid any attention to what I was putting inside my wicker basket.

I shoved the last few branches inside and covered them with other flowers when I hear a familiar voice behind my back.

“I didn’t know you were into gardening,” Sean Sarn appeared out of nowhere, his eyes locking with mine at the same moment…