The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

I stay in my curtsy, too afraid to move or to even look up when cold fingers touch my chin and pull me up. The Emperor! Oh, Gods!

He waves to the rest so that they can raise as well and in no time he is back to me.

“Miradora Freyn,” Emperor Ghardin says without a thread of emotion on his face, “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, your Majesty,” I try to smile but he still doesn’t react in any way.

“I am glad Rien finally let you out of his castle!” he says and a few laughs emerge here and there. They are all thinking the same thing. And even though it is true, I somehow feel a little bit insulted. But, of course, I keep it to myself.

“I am happy to see more of the Empire as well, Your Majesty”, I smile again, “It’s so beautiful. And especially your palace – it’s simply magnificent. ”

“True,” he nods, “The Akyrian Kingdom has nothing of the sort. The only thing valuable there are a few women that can become mothers to future gerdians.”

Another insult… I look at Rien but his face also does not express any emotions.

Looking back at the Emperor I see the family resemblance. He is a very tall and broad-shouldered man, who reminds me of both – Rien and Dargen. He has black hair like both of them, but silver has already touched his temples and beard. He has strong perfect facial features – just like his nephews, bushy eyebrows permanently furrowed. Upon the whole, he is a handsome older man, but the aura around him is heavy and suffocating. I know at once that Dargen’s rudeness and cruelty, as well as Rien’s lack of emotions, come from this man. And his intense look at me gives me the impression that he is not my biggest fan.

“Lady Miradora, dance with me!” he orders and stretches his hand to me, which I have to accept with a forced smile.

“Gladly, Your Majesty,” I am being perfectly polite and follow the Emperor to the centre of the dancefloor.

The music starts and so do we. His moves are perfect, it’s obvious that he has done it millions of times.

“Honestly,” he says so that I can hear him, “I don’t see what all the fuss is about you!”

“Neither do I,” I swallow another insult, repeating to myself that this is for Rien. For us!

“At least you are not stupid,” he snorts, “Although I am not so sure that it’s a good thing!”

To that, I respond nothing and he continues, “You drove two of my nephews crazy! And I see that the Akyrian prince is smitten with you as well. He was taking a big risk getting you out of the Selection castle before he murdered all those people!”

I swallow at the mention of Tristan…

“And Derrien,” Ghardin sighs, “He was always such a loyal boy…”

“He is still very loyal to you, your Majesty,” I interject quickly.

“Not the way he used to be,” the Emperor looks at me with a furious gaze, “He never disobeyed my orders before! I always knew that whatever I say – he would fulfill! But then you appeared! And now he shifts to his dragon form in front of everyone, even though we’ve been keeping it a secret for years! And then hides you from me for days! Just what exactly did you do to him?”

“Uhm,” I am lost for words, but then look straight into his eyes, “We are in love, you Majesty and…”

“Love!” he chuckles, “He needs to f**k you more, and then you two will be over with that nonsense! It’s l**t, my dear! There is no such thing as love in this world…”

“But you seem to love and care for your two nephews,” I note to him and his hands squeeze my waist and hand roughly.

“You don’t know a thing about our family, little girl. Those boys are our Empire’s future. I was hoping for Rien to become the emperor but he refused. Then Ryden stepped up. I was disappointed at first but now I think it’s for the better. He is ruthless and follows my orders just fine. If he gets you, he will show you your place – which is in bed and nowhere else.”

My b***d boils at his words.

“But Rien and I are already engaged,” I say carefully.

“But not yet married,” he smirks, “Everything can still change for you. You are lucky that you are one of the special ones. You can give birth to gerdian children. Otherwise, I would have already killed you and forgot about all that nonsense.”

“Rien and I are ready to…”

“Do everything,” he chuckles darkly, “Yes, I know. And you will. You have a huge mess to fix! And you’d better start smiling as you mean it, my girl! Today’s event is being recorded by the crystals. Tomorrow akyrians will see how much fun their beloved symbol of war has here in the Gerdian Empire.”

“Of course, your Majesty,” I force a smile, “If needed I can give a speech about…”

“For now I am already fed up with your speeches,” he interrupts me, “Just do as I say and maybe you will get what you want. But know this, in the end, I will give you to whoever I want. No bracelet will help you if you anger me in any way. If Derrien disobeys me again – you will be the one paying the price. Dargen will be happy to accept you any time, I can tell that for sure. So, from now on you are my obedient little puppet, saying what I say and doing what I order. Got it?”

“Yes, your Majesty,” I curtsy as the dance has finished. The Emperor turns away without saying a word, telling something to Rien. Our eyes meet for just one second and everything is clear between the two of us. He knows exactly what I’ve been told and I know exactly why Ghardin calls him out to talk. They both leave and the music starts again.

From the corner of my eye I see how happy Dargen is, he stands up and moves in my direction, but before he can reach me, Brandon Sevill appears before him and I sigh with relief, trying to escape on my shaky legs.

“Here!” Morgan and Isidore appear at two sides of me and offer me a glass of wine.

“Gerdian wine? No thanks!” I mutter.

“It’s not the same aphrodisiac stuff they were giving us at the Selection,” Morgan smiles reassuringly and takes a sip from her own glass.

“Drink it, dear,” Isidore looks at me with a troubled face, “Gods know you need it now. You look very pale. Was it bad?”

“Horrible,” I admit, “He doesn’t like me and…”

“I don’t think he like anyone,” Morgan whispers, “But, ladies, here even walls have eyes. This is not the place to talk of anything. Besides, Brandon wouldn’t be able to hold the Crown prince for long. Mira, you’d better hide somewhere before Derrien comes back.”

“I know,” I sigh, “But where?”

“I know a place,” lady Cecilia appears out of nowhere, “Follow me, Mira.”

I throw a quick glance at Dargen and he notices it immediately, smirking at me. Oh, gods! I am in trouble.

“I’ll create a little diversion,” Isidore says, following my gaze, “Just go quickly!”

I follow lady Cecilia into another room, which leads to a staircase. We go up and enter on some kind of balcony behind the heavy golden curtains. From there I can see the whole throne room. Isidore is in Dargen’s hands, it looks like she just fainted. But in a few seconds, she jumps back to her feet and walks away with a completely different gerdian. It doesn’t escape my gaze that she shrugs when she looks back at the Crown Prince. I guess she hates him no less than I do after all the tortures he made her go through.

“Stay here until the archduke returns,” Cecilia says dryly and prepares to leave.

“Wait!” I stop her, “Why are you helping me?”

The old lady sighs and walks to a nearby chair, sitting with a heavy sigh on it.

“Because it is my job!” she says.

“Is it?” I snort, “One more, one less… Your words, not mine.”

“I was wrong,” she says, not looking at me, “When I lost more of you girls… Only then I realized how I failed you. When my own king ordered to kill you off if needed… When the naughty girl I hated turned out to be right the whole time… I saw that there was no one to protect you…. First, gerdians started saving girls and I was so happy I was right about them. But then I came to live here too. And saw how everything really is here… All my life…”

She breathes heavily and I see tears forming in her eyes. I notice a small table with beverages nearby and walk to it, pouring a glass of water and offering it to the woman. She accepts gladly and takes a few sips.

“You know,” she starts talking again, looking at me with a sad smile, “I was also a part of the Selection once… I was young and beautiful and strived for perfection. So much that I attracted the attention of the then Crown prince.”

All right, this is getting interesting!

“Ghardin?” I gasp and land on a seat next to her.

“Yes”, she smiles, “We both were much younger then. He was smitten with me. Or at least I thought so. Everything was so perfect and I was preparing to become a crown princess! I followed all the rules, I perfected my every move… But then another girl caught his eye. Unruly and rebellious. She was challenging him and he was enjoying that. One night we were supposed to have a date. But instead, he came to me and handed me…”

“An empty jewellery box,” I bite my l*p.

“Yes,” she sighs, “He said that he has made his choice and that this other girl would be his princess, not me. The next day was the ball of Portals. And I spend what seemув like forever in it, alone, crying my eyes out. Luckily, you don’t have to return for as long as you want to. And I used my chance well. I came to my senses, I made myself strong again. When I walked out of the portal, Ghardin was putting an engagement bracelet on that other girl’s wrist.

Later, when he was alone, I came to congratulate him. And I ask him to let me exit the Selection… He laughed at that and said that no one leaves the Selection. It is one of the rules that I loved so much. That’s when I fell to my knees and begged him to at least let me not be chosen by anyone else. I said that I will stay at the Selection forever if he wants me to, training new generations, making them perfect…

And for the first time, I saw an ounce of pity in him. He agreed to that. The next day the two of them left and I received my position as the girls’ new mentor. Year after year I was training new girls and sending them to the Empire. I imagined what a happy life they would have here. I was thinking of Ghardin every day… and imagined that I am doing all this for him. I imagined that he will be grateful to me for that. And it was enough for me to feel happy. But then all this happened.

One of the gerdians saved me and brought me here. The emperor and I met again. And very quickly I realized that he doesn’t even remember who I am. But what shocked me the most – his queen, the girl I once envied so much, is already dead… by his hand. He is married to someone else now. He took someone else’s wife as his when he pleased. There are no rules… The girls here are never safe… All this…is the greatest disappointment of my life. I spent my life on a fraud. You, Miradora, were right the whole time…”

“Not really,” I smile at her and put my hand on hers, giving her a light squeeze, “I believed in our Kingdom the way you believed in the Gerdian Empire. And then I got drugged, brainwashed and my parents were held hostage! I guess you and me have more in common than we originally thought.”

For a few moments, we both stay silent, holding our hands as we sit.

“But what are you doing here now? Officially, I mean?” I ask her.

“I was supported by the few gerdians, your fiancé included and appointed an official mentor for the girls. I will also be a teacher for the newcomers they expect after the war,” she replies, looking into my eyes, “They have plans for all those girls as they need to increase their population… It’s… it’s not a good plan, Mira. They are going to choose a few to become wives and the rest… the rest would be used for breeding.”

“Oh, mighty gods!” I whisper, feeling how my heart starts to race.

“I know,” a tear rolls down the woman’s face, “I am going to stay here and help as many as I can… But this is all I can do…”

Suddenly, the door to the balcony opens.

“I thought that you will be hiding somewhere…”