The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

DERRIEN

“There is something I wanted to show you here,” she says not even realizing that I am in hell here not being able to do things to her that I really want to do. Her scent is intoxicating, as I pull her upper body on my chest. I need her close, as close as possible. My dragon is agitated and only with her next to us, he calms down.

I am so tempted to play with her, even with all those people around us, hearing us. I don’t mind. Let them all hear that she is mine. Especially Dereck. She doesn’t get it, but I see how he looks at her. The only reason I didn’t throw out this other girl from the quest is that she took his attention off Mira.

“Real soulmates, Rien!” she says excitedly and I feel guilty that I didn’t listen before. It seems important to her.

“Elaborate on that,” I say, kissing the top of her head and itching to do something else. It’s been too long!

“Look, here!” she opens a page and starts reading, “What amazes me the most about these beasts is that they are beasts only on the outside of one of their forms. But on the inside I find them to be the most caring creatures. Each dragon finds only one person in their whole life whom he or she will truly love. They call them soulmates. Once the dragon’s heart makes its choice, if it can even be called a choice, then he or she will be loyal to this person forever. They will not need anyone else, moreover, they wouldn’t be able to be with someone else even if they try.”

Shit. That sounds utterly familiar. So familiar that I start to listen carefully to her every word.

“Only this person can make the dragon happy and only with this person can the dragon have offspring. Until they do, the desire to claim the soulmates can drive the dragon crazy. They are very possessive creatures.”

“Mira,” I stop her, not knowing what to say.

“I know,” she smiles the way only she can and continues, “What’s interesting is that if the other person is not a dragon, they gradually start to feel the same, fully reciprocating their feelings. And I know it first hand, as I myself became a soulmate of a dragoness. A thing of beauty, I noticed her at first sight. But with time my feelings developed into true madness. You cannot compare the bond we share with anything else.”

“Your ancestor was a soulmate of a dragon!” I exclaim, still not quite believing what I have just heard, “And so ae you!”

“You think… this is what we are?” she looks at me with a question in her beautiful green eyes. And I feel a little bit offended by the question. Doesn’t she know still? After everything?

“I know we are,” I cup her chin and turn her to slam my lips into hers and to taste her divine scent yet again. Big mistake. Now I want her even more than before.

“Rien,” she stops me, breathing somewhere into my neck, “If we are soulmates… then this is bad!”

What? Why would she say that? What’s so bad about being mine in body and soul?

“You don’t want to be my soulmate?” words slip off my tongue and I already regret it. I don’t want her to answer. What if she doesn’t? It will break me beyond repair.

“Silly dragon,” she brushes her hand over my cheek and smiles softly, “Don’t you already know how much I love you? It’s not what I mean. Aaron Brookland… he writes that if the dragon loses his or her soulmate, he or she would go crazy with grieve. Only a small percentage survives…”

“So? “I look at her questioningly, I don’t see a problem here. I found out quite some time ago that without her life wouldn’t be possible.

“So?” she looks offended, “Dragons live longer than people, Rien! Much longer! If I die, I don’t want you to…”

I cover her lips with mine. I don’t even want her to finish this sentence. She may want many things, but this is something I just cannot give to her! I know that we come as a pair, her and I. And without her, I would seize to exist.

“It doesn’t matter, little mage,” I whisper to her, “It’s still better than to live the longest life possible without knowing you, without feeling what I feel for you. This is what made my life worth living. Before you, it was just an existence.”

“Rien,” her eyes fill with tears and I k**s every single one falling down away. My girl wouldn’t cry because of me.

“Silly,” I chuckle, “You forget that I am just half a dragon. I probably wouldn’t live that long anyway. And also, gerdians live for a long time too. And most importantly, when I share my dark magic with you, I also share my life energy. Chances are that you will live just as long as I do.”

This time this little minx jumps at me herself, her warm soft lips biting me lightly. She doesn’t even know what she has just started as I roll her so that now she is under me and unbutton her shirt a bit to have more access to her neck and chest, and to my beautiful mark just above her delicate breast. I live a trail of wet k****s all over her and prepare to undress her further when I hear Dereck’s voice.

“Just stop it already! You are not alone here!”

My lovely fiancée turns red in seconds and pushes me off her. Gods, I hate this guy!

His turn is next together with Rick. I hear them change the previous pair exchanging a few jokes with Isidore about how terrible they both look. Mira is sleeping snuggly in my arms and the rhythm of her heartbeat makes me calm and happy. Content even.

But something needs to be done first. I carefully put her down and leave our little nest that she created, covering her with my cloak.

The two guys are sitting at the little fire, Dereck tense and Rick half asleep.

“Leave,” I address the latter and he looks at me with hostility, “I am going to change you.”

“I don’t need to…”, he starts his bravado, but his friend puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Go, Rick,” Dereck says, “Use the extra sleep time you get now well. And we have…a lot to talk about.”

After the other guy leaves, I take his place at the fire and we just sit like this for a while.

“You know it’s never going to happen for you and her, right?” I look at him, waiting for a reaction. But he gives me none.

“I have known it for a while,” he chuckles bitterly, “While Tristan was blowing his chances with Mira, giving her time to grow up, I have not been wasting mine. I tried. And failed and tried again. She never even got it.”

He stops talking, it is obviously hard for him to confess. And to me of all the people.

“Every time I tried something romantic for her, she laughed hard. Like it was a funny joke…,” he says, looking at the fire, “You know when she hurt me the most? Long before you came into the picture. I was going to confess one day… and she hugged me and said that she was so happy to have found me. That with me she felt exactly the same as with her brother Colton. That night I knew that she doesn’t have those kinds of feelings for me. And probably never will. When she received the Dark Mark, I wanted to help her to get to her fiancé. I thought that they were in love. But she told me that they never were and I thought that I might hide her in my castle, that maybe… maybe she will see me differently if I rescue her… And when that didn’t happen, when you took her away… I was beating myself every day. Until once I saw the two of you in the capital. You were wearing illusions and I wouldn’t have recognized you in a million years. But her… I would recognize her even within millions of illusions. Even when she denied it, I knew it was her… I followed you and that’s when I saw your little date. I made myself believe that you are forcing her, I managed to give her my communication ring. And she didn’t call… I was going crazy, waiting every day… And then finally that happened! She connected to me and she cried that day, asking to get her out. I should have been terrified but in reality, I was so happy inside to hear that. I was back to my plan, I had my chance again. Not long before that shithead Tristan also contacted me and offered his help to get her out. I met with him and we made a plan. I had no idea that not a word of truth gets out of his f*****g mouth! When he brought her out unconscious, he explained that the gerdians blurred her mind, compelled her into believing she loves one of you… And I bought it simply because I wanted to… But then, on the road, she woke up. She wanted to get back to you. She wanted this so much that she even fought with the three of us! That only made me believe in Tristan’s lies more. But then you came in the shape of a dragon and I hid us under a shield of illusion. I managed to trick you. But then… then I saw how she looks at you in the sky. And then I knew…I knew that it’s all over. I will never have her. No one else except for you will…”

“And that’s why you helped me when we met in the Akyrian Palace?”, I ask him, remembering how he recognized me but only helped me to get to the ball, instead of giving me up.

“Yes,” he nods, smiling sadly, “For her… Everything is for her…”

“If anyone in the whole world can understand you, it would be me,” I sigh and he looks at me in shock, “I lost her way too many times to know exactly what it means and how it feels. But she is mine now, Dereck. And she always will be.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he almost growls.

“I think you are stuck,” I say, “And you need to move on. There is no future for you and Mira but as friends. But there is a future for you and someone else. You just risk missing it while looking in the wrong direction.”

The boy looks at the sleeping Isidore and I smirk at that. He is almost there.

“Go sleep now,” I say to him, “I’ll watch alone over all of you.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, eager to follow my advice.

“I’ve been imprisoned for weeks! I already had enough sleep for a lifetime,” I snort and the boy leaves me alone.

I really want to get back with Mira and have her close to me, but her safety is more important. And I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else.

This trip is important.

But in two days, when we run out of food completely, I change my mind…