The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

When the door unlocks and a few maids come in, I am disappointed. They quickly close the damn door behind them and it just reminds me of the hell I just broke out of!

How dare he! What the chaos is wrong with him?! I am not some doll to use when he likes and then to put aside until better times!

“My lady!” the maids bow awkwardly since I am sitting on the bed wrapped in sheets only. Damn Derrien destroyed all my clothes yesterday!

“My lady, my name is Lina, and these Celia and Mary”, one of the maids introduced them, “We are going to be your personal maids. Lord Derwood hired us specifically to serve you.”

“Thank you,” I smile awkwardly, knowing that at least he was thinking of me and preparing for our life together warms my heart a bit. The girls bring me breakfast and help me take a bath, they style my hair into a complex hairstyle, which is apparently one of the latest gerdian trends. And then they bring me a beautiful dark teal dress with golden embroidery, helping me into it.

“You are not gerdians,” I notice in between our struggles.

“No, my lady,” Lina replies, “All of us were born in Akyrian Kingdom.”

“Did you take part in the Selection as well?” I ask.

“We wish!” Mary snorts and immediately gets shushed by the two others.

“No, my lady,” Lina says calmly.

“Then how did you end up here?” I raise my brow.

“We were refugees,” the maid answers with dignity, “All of us. We fled the Kingdom.”

“But why?” I am shocked, to say the least.

“When you are not a noble life is hard there. Sometimes two hard. When our families lost everything, we decided to move in search of a better life. We needed a safe place.”

“And you chode the Empire?” I gasp.

“Yes, my lady,” Lina says, “They were kinder to us than our own people. They gave us a home, education, and work even though we were not valuable to them. And now here we are.”

“I see,” I nod, and they curtsy and leave me alone to my thoughts. How little do I know about the world I leave in? I had no idea that humans were escaping to live in the Empire. And that the Empire was accepting them gladly. If someone told this to me a few months ago, I would decide that it’s a joke!

Time flows somehow much slower when you are locked in a room… I watch out of the window and see vast lands and sky. My prison, and I can’t call it anything different at the moment, is too high to notice any kind of details.

The room I am in is too simple. Just the bed, a dressing table, and a bathroom. I guess I don’t mean to him as much as I thought after all. And it makes me sad. Did I put myself into another trap?

I refuse lunch and say that they shouldn’t bother with dinner as well. By now I thought that I’d see Derrien again and we could at least talk. But no. No sign of him.

When it’s already dark and I have lost all my hope, the door opens and Derrien walks in, wearing his usual dark attire. He looks tired… But again, so am I – sitting on the windowsill I turn my head slightly to have a look at him and then bring myself back to my previous position, watching the two moons shining brightly in the sky.

“I have been told that you haven’t eaten anything since morning. Why?” he asks sternly.

“Not hungry”, I reply, holding back my tears.

“You need to eat. I don’t want you to get sick…”

“And why is that exactly?” I ask, “Because I haven’t played the role you predetermined for me till the end?”

He doesn’t say anything to that and I snap.

“What am I here exactly? What do I do here? Why did you bother to bring me if that’s what our life is going to be? I don’t deserve this, Derrien! You said that you loved me! And I trusted you!”

He walks firmly to the dressing table and puts something onto it. I look at it closer and see a visual crystal. He waves his hand over it, activating it and I jump off my seat and come closer as well.

“Explain this to me, Mira!” he grits through his teeth.

And then I see Tristan’s face, he is talking about the upcoming war with the gerdians and about his plan to use the Selection girls. And then I see myself. I quickly recognize the speech I had to give a day or two ago, saying the words that were not written by me. Suddenly, pieces of the puzzle start to be out together. So, that’s why he is so furious…

“I…”, I start.

“Before you say anything, these crystals were activated all over the Akyrian Kingdom! Everybody believed in your every word! And I already found out when exactly was the recording made! And that’s after you found out that you were drugged by Ragnard! So, Mira, explain to me, please, why did you do it? Why did you betray me like this?” he looks like he is fuming, sparks of dark magic dance in his eyes.

“He had my father hostage!” I turn to face him with tears in my eyes, “I had no choice but to read the speech he wrote out loud! I had no idea that it would be used in such a way! And even if I did, for my Dad…I’d do it all over again! And I am not going to apologize to you for that!”

Something changes in his face at my words…

“I can’t believe that you assumed the worst in me after everything we’ve been through!” I yell, “What did you think? That I am with him?! That I am playing with you?!”

I don’t even notice how I start hitting him on his chest.

“What, then this Portal of yours back at the Selection meant nothing?! When we saw each other there it meant nothing? When I gave myself to you meant nothing!” now tears are rolling down my cheeks, “I hate you for this, Derrien! I hate you! How could you? I hate you!”

His strong arms wrap around me, pulling me so close that I couldn’t hit him anymore and in just a few seconds I am already sobbing into his chest.

“Why didn’t you tell me when we saw each other?” he asks somewhere in my hair.

“When?” I snort, “If you don’t remember, we’ve been busy with something else! And before we could really talk, I woke up.”

“I am sorry, Mira,” he takes my red, wet, and puffy face into his palms and k****s me softly, “I am an i***t to have doubted you… I…”

“Yes, you are an i***t!” I agree eagerly and he chuckles.

“Mira, I believe you and would never doubt you again,” he says, brushing his hand over my cheek.

“Is that why you locked me in here?” I ask, looking into his now happy eyes, and his expression changes.

“That’s not the only reason,” he says, sighing heavily, “Mostly it was needed for your safety…”

“For my safety?” I am startled by that reply. I thought that next to him I would be safe whatever happens…

“Those crystals, Mira… They had quite the effect on both – your Kingdom and our Empire… The war is now inevitable. And you became one of its symbols.”

“What do you mean?” I shrug. The last thing I want is to become the symbol of this crazy war.

“Ragnard is using this recording and your images to motivate his people. Now he tells a story of how we stole his innocent beloved because she was fighting against us. And people rise across the Kingdom for its “protection”… Because if a delicate girl was fighting the aggressors then anyone can do it. It’s bad, Mira, really bad…”

“Oh, gods!” I am lost for words.

“Mira, tell me,” he turns me to face him, “Did you…did you pass your dark magic to Tristan?”

He looks like my answer could kill him…

“And do I have any?” I look at him surprised with those words.

“You do… some,” he says dryly.

“How?” I flap my lashes, he was mentioning something about selected girls being special and able to accept dark magic, but I am not sure he ever mentioned how exactly it is done. Tristan was saying that it is possible to transfer magic, but again.. no details on the process.

“Ghm,” he clears his throat, “Mira, you receive my magic every time we make love.”

Oh, gods! I feel like I am blushing to the tips of my ears.

“Every time your womb receives my seed…It also receives my dark magic. The process is gradual. Slow even. And depends on each girl. Some accept magic faster, some slower. But before your body fully accepts it, you can’t get pregnant from me.”

I am going to explode now!

“This is something they never mentioned at the Selection!” I chuckle, trying to sound as if I am not embarrassed at all.

“We usually tell this to our wives, not brides,” he smiles at me but soon becomes serious again, “You can only accept the magic willingly. And then you can give it to someone else. Also willingly. So, when Tristan says that you are going to help him to get it…”

“Oh, gods, no!” I cover my face with my hands, “Nothing like that happened! He and I… we never… Oh, gods!”

“Thanks to the chaos!” he pulls me into another warm embrace, “I believe you, Mira. And to be honest, I don’t care anymore. As long as you are with me… As long as you are mine… nothing else matters…”

He raises my chin to look at me and then covers my lips with his. The k**s is sweet and gentle this time. And so intoxicating…

But a loud bang on the door disturbs us.

“Derwood! Take away that damn barrier! That’s an order!”, Dargen shouts and I will recognize his voice anywhere…