The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

Flames of dark magic take us to our own castle, where we lose no time. After a crazy kissing session, we find the strength to not continue. We both change as quickly as possible, ignoring the bed that calls for us after we haven’t seen each other for so long. But we have better things to do. Alright, not better but definitely more important. This is our best chance…

I pull on my new battle suit that I ordered from my gerdian seamstress – pants, tight-fitting jacket, and shirt, paired up with high boots and a cloak. I have prepared a travel bag in advance, not forgetting the most important things in my plan – Aaron Brookland’s journal and maps of the Gerdian Empire.

I sit in our bedroom, waiting for him and when the door opens and he walks in, wearing his battle armour, my heart skips a beat. What a gorgeous man I have after all!

“Mira”, he walks straight to me, brushing his palm over my cheek and bringing all kinds of sensations to me. Gods, I love this man! I look into his eyes the same thing that I feel – love and tremendous desire…

“We need to go,” I say, “They’ll be waiting.”

“I know,” he sighs sadly, “You did a good job, little mage.”

“Oh? We are back to that nickname?” I smirk.

“You impress me, Mira. I thought that I couldn’t love you more, but it seems to me that I was wrong! Because every time you do something crazy as today, I realize that my heart somehow gets bigger and has even more feelings for you than previously. And although I hate that Dargen was so close to you today, what you did… You came for me into the pit with snakes, Mira. I will never forget that. And more importantly, I will make sure you will never have to again! I am the one who supposed to save you and protect you, not the other way around, and…”

“Don’t be silly!” I stand up and wrap my hands around his neck, “You and I… we have something special here. We are partners! Wherever you go, I follow. And vice versa. You already saved me multiple times! Finally, I could do something for you.”

“When I remember how he touched you”, Rien growls and the dress from before, that I carelessly left on the floor before the fireplace, starts to burn.

“Never liked that dress anyway,” I snort and pull him in for a slow and torturous k**s, “No one will ever touch me except for you. We are going to make sure of that. Is the army ready?”

“Yes,” he nods, “They are all here and received their orders to protect our castle and lands from any kind of intruders. They will keep it safe until we return and figure everything out!”

We transport to the coordinates that I show him, to a border of the Gerdian Empire. This is a rocky area with many high cliffs. So high that even gerdians are not exploring this place and do not dare to transport to here. They also say that this place sucks out magic out of a person. But according to Aaron Brookland, that’s a lie. According to old legends, dragons used to leave here but even they decided to leave and went to another realm. But according to Aaron, this is exactly where their land is, hidden from the eyes of strangers.

So, my bold guess is, there is no other realm. Their land is hidden. They never invited guests, so when they stop appearing in our part of the world, gerdians and humans decided that they left.

But dragons want peace and quiet. And unfortunately, gerdian neighbours never gave them that. Too many wars occurred and too much aggression happened. Wise ancient creatures did not want to take part in any of that. Hence they closed their gates with the world of humans and gerdians. And that was it.

When I told that to Derrien, not a muscle flinched on his face. But his eyes… eyes were full of the magic of his dark dragon.

“He thinks you might be right,” he admitted, “Let’s check that.”

And here we are now. Ready to step into the unknown. And when I make my first step… a huge fireball flies right into my face. I block it quickly with a shield, realizing that there is one more shield around me – Derrien’s.

“Sorry,” Dereck walks out from behind a huge dry tree, chuckling, “Though you were intruders.”

“You know what?” I roll my eyes, “Keep your fireballs to yourself!”

We both burst out laughing and I want to come closer and give my friend a hug, but Derrien’s shield is blocking me from doing so.

“Rien!” I scold him, “Do you mind?”

“I do mind,” he smirks, “Keep both – your fireballs and your hands to yourself! Both of you!”

He says that yet lifts off this shield and Dereck and I just shake our hands awkwardly when I hear some noise in the bushes.

“Finally you are here!” Isidore walks out in a beautiful travel outfit with pants and a long coat sewn with gold thread, looking stunning as always. She marches to me furrowing her eyebrows and I notice how Rick and Nort emerge after her. “Mira! I can’t believe you haven’t told me that this jerk here is the one I am going to meet!”

She points at Dereck and I see how he rolls his eyes.

“Do you know each other?” I scratch my neck, feeling the tension between those two.

“Do I know the most insolent man in the whole Kingdom?” Isidore snorts, “This rude, blatant, shameless…”

“Honestly, we didn’t need anyone to meet us here,” Dereck interjects her speech, “Definitely not someone so noisy.”

“Noisy?” she hisses, “I am the one who has shown you where to come in the first place!”

“Instead of you, we could have just used a good map! Then we wouldn’t be lost. Twice! Besides, we told you that you can leave days ago!” my friend seems agitated. The calm and always reserved Dereck is agitated. I take a mental note of that moment.

“Alright, guys,” I bite my l*p holding down a laugh, “So, I take it you have met before?”

“At a ball back in the Kingdom,” Isidore says, crossing arms on her chest, “We danced together and he stepped on my foot. I guess he doesn’t know how to do anything other than fight.”

“Oh, my lady,” Dereck smirks, “That was intentional!”

“That only proves what a barbarian you are!” she hisses, “Who in their right mind would step on a girl’s foot! Definitely not a true knight!”

“That’s how annoying you are!” my teammate snorts, “You open your mouth and one is ready to do anything to close it!”

“Guys!” I try to stop them but they don’t even notice. I look at Derrien for support but he is clearly enjoying the show and doesn’t look like he wants to interrupt us.

“Don’t even try,” Rick comes closer, “We’ve been listening for it for days!”

“Thanks for coming!” I give my friend a hug and then do the same with Nort, “Was everything else fine? And how is my family?”

“They are back to your family home and are planning to stay there”, Nort says, “But there is a problem with your brother. If Tristan summons him, he will have to go. You know that, right?”

“I do,” I get tense. Colton is a captain of a knights’ squad. Of course, he would have to obey a direct command from a Crown prince. That’s why I originally wanted for him to also come here. But he said that his place is in the Akyrian Kingdom. There is nothing I could do.

“He’ll be fine,” Rick says, seeing my reaction, “He could take me down when we had a sparring match. And Dereck and he spent hours trying to win but couldn’t. This guy is going to take care of himself, Mira. Strength runs in your family.”

I smile weakly, just hoping that they are right.

Dark flames appear right next to us and I see Morgan in the hands of Brandon. She looks around and calms down at once when she sees Isidore and me.

“Thanks to the Gods!” she says out loud and finally Isidore and Dereck stop fighting.

“Derrien!” Brandon comes to his friend and they put hands on each other’s shoulders in silence. This gesture says more than any words can.

“Thanks, my brother,” Rien says after a while, “I know how you and your future wife have helped my Mira during the darkest times. I will never forget this!”

“I hope you didn’t think that we will abandon the two of you!” Brandon chuckles, “So, what is next?”

“Next, you will take your lovely bride and go back to your castle and wait there for our return,” Rien says firmly.

“That would be a no from me,” Sevill grins, “What’s next?”

“You heard me!” Rien growls, “I need you there. Not here.”

“So, you are taking a bunch of humans with you but not me?”, Brandon clearly doesn’t like what he hears.

“You now know very well the worth of humans, Bran”, Rien gestures at Morgan, and Sevill softens, “As I have already said, I need you back in the Empire. I need you to be my eyes there, Bran. I will need your support when I return. And at the moment I need you to stall the war for as long as possible!”

“That would be hard,” the gerdian exhales heavily, “The Emperor has already given the order. You have a week at best.”

“Then a week it is!” I say with confidence, even though I don’t feel it inside. But right now all these people have put their trust in what I told them all and are counting on us. Gods, I only hope that I am not wrong. I hope that Aaron Brookland knew what he was writing about and not just imagined things. I put too much trust into his journal…

“I hope you know what you are doing,” Morgan comes closer and sighs, Brandon wraps his hands around her at the same time.

Yeah, Morg, so do I…

We make a fire and sit around it, all of us together for the first time. Tomorrow, everything will change for all of us. But today Dargen is still unconscious in the dungeon cell and the Emperor is not aware of anything, Tristan tries to fix his losses back in the Kingdom and we have one last quiet evening. We drink wine, eat our food and tell each other stories, laughing together. I look at Rien, wanting to tell him that this is how I want it in the future – together, in peace, and surrounded by our close friends. And by the look in his eyes, I know that he is thinking exactly the same.

Gerdians and humans can live in peace. The war should be stopped. We will stop it. We will do anything to put an end to this. Our children will live without Selections and without the constant fight! We can do that!

In the morning, right after a night of very uncomfortable sleep, we wake up to say farewell to Brandon and Morgan.

“You seriously should take her with you!” Dereck nods at Isidore, “She is just going to be a burden for us!”

“No way!” Isidore flashes up, “I am not going back there!”

“She stays,” I say firmly. I know that Isidore tried…but after everything that happened. After what Dargen did to her… she can’t find love in her heart for gerdians anymore. It will be torture to make her come back there. She is ready to risk her life to just leave the Empire. And I know that feeling. It may not be the wisest of decisions, but I am not leaving her behind.

“Now that we figured that out”, Derrien sighs like a teacher left alone with noisy students, “What do we do next?”

Everybody looks at me and I point at the highest cliff that we can see from where we are. It’s very far away.

“We need to get there,” I say, “But this place may block magic..”

“Great,” Dereck snorts, “Then how do we get there… On foot, it will take us too long…”

“Oh, I have an idea about that,” I smirk and turn to my beloved dragon…