The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

I am seriously suspecting that there was something in the ointment he gave me. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to sleep after everything, but in reality, I dozed of probably even before Derrien left my room…

Which is awkward. Since when do I trust him so much? I really don’t! Of course, I am not! Probably it’s just the stress!

Anyway, I would never forget what he has called me yesterday… Unless, of course, he wanted to save me… Which is unlikely. Gerdians are gerdians. And those two definitely have some rivalry going on between them. So, it’s probably just that. He doesn’t want to lose to his cousin…

Which brings me to another problem! If Ryden is the nephew of the Emperor then so is Derrien. Or worse – he might be the emperor’s son! I don’t think their emperor has sons, but who knows… what if he does. And that would be bad! Bad, bad, bad! Bad to get their attention, bad to be hated by any of them, bad to try and escape and fail – because those two and their huge egos would never forgive me for something like that.

But the good news is – there is a way out! Empty jewellery boxes! I just need to accumulate 50 of them from all the participating lords and that’s it! After that, I would be considered unworthy and they’ll send me back in disgrace… And by that I mean that I am going to be free!

Yes, from now on this is my plan A. And Plan B would be my escape. But it’s so unlikely that I’d better pray to all the gods that plan A works fine…

I walk into the classroom finally wearing a simple human dress. Modest, covering most of me. Gods, it feels so good! But, of course, the girls start to whisper as soon as I arrive and Isidore is louder than anyone.

“I think they took their gifts away from her”, she giggles with her minions, “Or maybe it was a mistake in the first place and they delivered everything to a wrong person!”

“Maybe!”, I turn to her and smile, “Have they delivered it to you already? Or are you just daydreaming?”

The whole room goes quiet, but then I hear a few giggles here and there. Yes, I am not the most favourite person here. But neither is Isidore.

Morgan and Xia wave to me and I take a seat right next to them.

“You, my friend”, Xia smirks,“Have a very sharp tongue and I like it!”

“I think we all appreciate it”, a girl on my right adds. She has beautiful hazelnut colour straight hair tied into a complicated plait. She is wearing a very simple dress that has seen some life already. So, I guess, she is a commoner. ”I am Desirae Berton, “ she introduces herself.

“Miradora Freyn”, I smile at her, “But you can call me Mira.”

“I know”, she giggles, “Everybody here already remembers you, Mira. You’ve made some noise.”

“Not that I wanted to”, I mumble.

“Still. You are going to be the main talk here for a while!”, another girl that sits next to Desirae says. She is also definitely a commoner, judging by her clothes. But an incredibly pretty one. Thick curly brown hair and light green eyes, plump lips and rosy cheeks – she is a picture of perfect health and beauty. “Fawn Ritton”, the girl offers me her hand. The nobility doesn’t greet each other like that, but I take it and shake it a bit. I have enough enemies here and it would be nice to have a normal conversation sometime.

I want to say something, but lady Cecilia walks in and I am definitely not getting on her bad side. But she looks at me with so much cold in her eyes that I realize that I am probably already there!

“Ladies,” she starts, “Today, we train your gerdian etiquette skills as well as dancing again. As tomorrow night we are going to have our official introduction ball! Isn’t this exciting?!”

Yeah, as exciting as the plague…

“Do you have any questions about tomorrow?”, she looks around the room, “We don’t have much time to prepare and I would prefer to cover everything now.”

“Can we not attend?”, slips off my tongue and I bite it immediately. Why? Why did I just say that?

“Only if one of the lords already proposed to you and you are leaving with him to the Empire!”, lady Cecilia replies coldly, “Anything else?”

“What do we do if we don’t have a dress for the ball?”, Fawn asks, looking embarrassed.

“Don’t go!”, one of Isidore’s minions laughs, the brunette whose name is Alexandra if I am not mistaken. They all giggle, covering mouths as if they don’t mean that. But they do.

“We have a few gowns stored from previous years, you can look in those!”, our mentor says.

“Will we be able to talk to the lords?”, another girl asks, I am unaware of her name.

“Of course”, lady Cecilia smiles, “But only if they speak to you first. Do not embarrass me by hanging on their necks before they have shown interest in you. Do not throw yourselves at them!”

“Will there be dances?”

“Just a few, this is a small event designed for you to mingle with the lords. Usually, after the Introduction Ball some girls start receiving first presents…”, lady Cecilia points her finger to the ceiling with dreamy eyes. Gods, she should be one of the brides! She would have been perfect if she was younger!

Everybody starts signing and daydreaming. And I just roll my eyes. There is only one thing I want for a present… Speaking of which…

“Do any of the ladies receive empty jewellery boxes?”, I ask loudly, and the whole room gasps. Everybody is staring at me, even my friends.

“Why? Have you already received one?”, Isidore’s second minion, Ariadna, starts laughing and the whole room explodes with whispers.

When the room gets quiet, lady Cecilia comes to my table, “Lady Mira, you indeed have some unusual questions! It’s rare for a girl to receive an empty jewellery box. Usually there is no need. And for sure not after the Introduction Ball!”

Damn it!

“I see”, I nod, “And another question. What happens if two lords like the same girl?”

This time the whole class is quiet.

Lady Cecilia smirks, “Still haven’t read the book of rules, I see?”

“I am somewhere in the middle”, I lie.

“Well, if two lords like the same girl, the one with higher title and status gets her. And if they are of the same status, they can fight in a duel. But that rarely occurs as well.. I think it’s enough questions, let’s start today’s lesson!”

“Have you been asking for yourself?”, Morgan snorts.

“For a friend”, I wink at her and all five of us giggle quietly.

“With your suitors everything is decided”, Desirae says, “Ryden Dargen, the one who protected you the last time is a prince! I don’t think there is a title higher than that.”

“He is from the Royal family, yes”, I agree , “But he is not a prince. Moreover, there is someone else here from the royals of the Empire…”

“Are you serious?”, Xia’s eyes become wide, “Who?”

“Girls!”, Lady Cecilia almost shouts at us, stopping our chitchat,“Attention, please!”

After exhausting lessons, we go to lunch and this time Fawn and Desirae join Morgan, Xia and me at our table. The company around me is finally nice and I manage to even relax a little bit. And after we are done we decide to go to the Selection’s main wardrobe room together with Fawn, as she really doesn’t have any suitable dresses for the ball. Even if it is small.

“Don’t be embarrassed”, I whisper to her on our way, “Just a few days ago all I had was my travel costume. And I am sure we are going to find something beautiful for you here!”

“Thanks”, she smiles.

But, gods, was I wrong! The room is full of the ugliest dresses that ever existed! Puffy, cheap, shiny, tasteless… Poor Fawn walks between the hangers, clearly depressed, and I see that Desirae’s face is tense as well. I guess she needs a dress as well.

“Oh, my!”, Xia takes one of the gowns, “I think my grandmother wore something like this once. To a funeral.”

“Maybe we can take those and redesign them a bit?”, Morgan suggest, “I have my needles and sewing supplies with me here.”

“We can try”, Fawn agrees weekly.

“Look, we are almost the same size”, I say suddenly, “And I just got my things back from the academy I attended. There is a ton of ball dresses that I wore just once. Maybe you would like to have a look at those?”

“Can we?”, Fawn smiles, hope in her eyes.

“Of course!”, I nod.

“Is it true that you live on the same floor with gerdians?”, Desirae asks eagerly and I laugh at that.

“Yes, so brace yourselves, ladies. You are in for a not so pleasant surprise!”

In my room, the girls are a bit upset at first as we haven’t met a soul on our way here. But they soon forget everything as I unpack one of my bags full of dresses. I uncreased them with magic and they look as good as new. Mostly because they are new. My mother never allowed me to wear the same ball gown twice since I was Tristan’s fiancée and had to be on his level. So, now our engagement is off and I end up with a pile of dresses that are too flashy to wear in everyday life.. But at least now I have some good use for those. Maybe I should even take a few of to that horrid wardrobe room, so that other commoner girls had a chance?

“They are so beautiful!”, Fawn twirls around the mirror holding two dresses at once. One is bright red and the other is light green. “Green is more of my colour. But this red one is so amazing! Where does one even gets dresses like that in the Kingdom?”

“I think it was a present from my ex-fiancé”, I say, taking a look at the dress, “His family seamstress made it to match his outfit… It’s actually one of a kind…”

“You had a fiancé?”, Desirae flaps her eyelashes, “And they still chose you to participate?”

“Yeah, I don’t think they care about stuff like that…”, I shake my shoulders.

“Do you miss him?”

“She has no opportunity to!”, Morgan snorts, “Her ex is Sir Tristan and he is here!”

“Oh, gods! You were his fiancée? How… how was it?”, Fawn gasps almost dropping the dresses, her cheeks flush red.

“Pretty boring actually”, I chuckle, “It was supposed to be an arranged marriage…”

“Can I take this dress?”, Fawn points at the red one, the one Tristan gave me. She looks excited.

“Sure”, I smile at her, “You can pick anything except for the gerdian ones. Because they would kill me. And probably you too. So we’d better not risk it!”

“And which one would you be wearing?”, Xia asks, “You have quite the choice here.”

“I don’t know”, I shrug shoulders, “They are all dark and equally beautiful, so there is not much difference really…”

And right when I say it, flames of the dark magic rise, and a new huge box appears on my table. I take a step towards it and black smoke appears, bringing another box. For chaos’s sake!

“Uh-oh”, Morgan gasps, “You are in trouble again, my dear, aren’t you?”