SWNOVELS Chapter 99
MIRA
The knocking on the door gets more and more intense. Dargen is not going to give up and live and I look at Derrien in horror.
“Rien, tell me, where are we exactly?” I ask him.
“My castle,” he replies.
“And why is he behaving like he owns the place?” I can’t connect the dots.
“Because he is the Crown Prince now, you know that,” Rien sighs, “And I wasn’t supposed to bring you here.”
“What does that mean?” I raise my brow.
“Mira, the situation is complicated now. Because of those crystals that were spread among people in the Akyrian Kingdom, the Emperor became interested in you. He ordered me to bring you to the palace. And for the first time ever I disobeyed his order…”
“For me,” I nod understandingly while the banging gets louder, “What do we do now?”
“Whatever happens, stay inside this room,” he says to me with the most serious face and I want to k**s him again, but knowing that this is not the right time, stops me, “He wouldn’t be able to come in because of the barrier. I’ll deal with him.”
“All right,” I smile weakly, brushing my hand over his cheek, “I trust you.”
For a second there his eyes flash with dark magic and he pulls me in for a quick but very passionate k**s. When he breaks it and moves to open the door, I lean on the wall behind me. Because, otherwise, I am going to fall…
“What do you want?” Rien asks his cousin when he opens the door, his voice doesn’t reflect any emotions whatsoever. I notice how curiously Dargen tries to see what’s inside and when his eyes stop on me, he smirks. There are four knights with him and I don’t like the way it all looks.
“Dear cousin,” the Crown Prince chuckles, “I am here simply to remind you of our Emperor’s order. He specifically told you to bring lady Miradora straight to the palace. And yet here you are – not in the palace.”
“It’s so kind of you, Your Highness, to bother yourself with little things like this,” Derrien sneers.
“Little things?” Dargen looks like he is shocked, “Are our Emperor’s orders just mere little things for you now?”
“Not at all, but it was nothing urgent. Lady Mira didn’t feel well when I managed to take her from the Akyrian Kingdom. She was in no state to stand before the emperor. I sent my servant to let him know that I will bring her as soon as she is ready.”
“She is a war prisoner!” Dargen growls and my heart sinks. Is that what I am here?
“Mira,” Derrien looks at me and stretches his hand to me, “Come here, please, for a second.”
I come up to him, without saying a word or hesitating, and put my hand into his. He k****s it and then lifts it up so that it’s right in front of Dargen’s nose.
“Look at this, dear cousin,” he smiles broadly, pointing at the bracelet on my hand, “Mira and I are engaged. She is not a prisoner here, she is officially my fiancée. So, don’t misunderstand again what status she has. Otherwise, it might be awkward. For you.”
“I am the Crown Prince!” Ryden grits through his teeth.
“And you have to repeat that out loud a lot, don’t you?” Rien chuckles, “Imagine how awkward it would be when you go to a war and more than half of your army does not arrive.”
Dargen wants to say something but soon changes his mind, throwing daggers at us both with his eyes. I bite my l*p not to laugh and quietly step behind my man not to embarrass myself, as it is insanely hard to hold a laugh at this point.
“Anything else?” Rien raises his brow and the Crown Prince snorts and leaves, stomping furiously and not saying another word to us.
I bury my face in Derrien’s back and finally give in to my emotions, laughing hysterically. He turns to face me and looks at me with some kind of adoration.
“You really are unique, Mira Freyn,” he smiles.
When I calm down, he brushes my cheek and I say, “About that bracelet…”
“I know, my love, I am sorry,” he sighs, “I owe you a decent proposal. Yesterday I was just so mad that…”
I put my finger on his l*p, making him stop talking, “Rien, I don’t care about all that. I just want to be with you. I am proud to wear your engagement bracelet. But what I want is to put a similar bracelet on you.”
He pulls me into a k**s and I feel how dark flames surround us, taking us somewhere else.
When I open my eyes, I see a beautiful room. It is very light and the walls are silver silk with beautiful golden patterns on them. Two elegant sofas are standing around a beautiful golden tea table. A huge white stone fireplace and some bookshelves. A white exquisite desk with a chair matching the sofas.
“What is this?” I look at Rien questioningly.
“One of your rooms, of course,” he smiles, “Reception, to be exact.”
He pulls me to one of the doors and the next room is full of dresses, and jewellery, and perfumes, and everything else a woman needs to keep her beauty. But we don’t stop there, as he drags me behind him to the next room. And as soon as we are there I realize that I know this room. It’s the bedroom we’ve been in so many times in our dreams together. This is the place where he wanted to take me at the Portal Ball. I recognize the magnificent bed, the luxury silk sheets, the fireplace in front of it…
“I hope you don’t mind that we are going to share one bedroom?” he says after a momentary hesitation.
“Is it a gerdian tradition?” I raise my brow.
“No,” he answers honestly, making me smile.
“Then I love this idea,” I put my hands around his neck and stand on my tiptoes to give him a k**s. The k**s is sweet and gentle. And as soon as I am done, he drops to one knee and gets out something black and shining out of his inner coat.
“Miradora Freyn, I promised you when I saw you last time, that I will ask you an important question. I have to admit, that it doesn’t matter what you answer, because I would never be able to refuse from you anyway. And yet I wish to hear you say it out loud… So, Mira, under the eyes of all the gods, will you agree to become my wife and to share my love, my magic, my happiness, and my struggles?”, in his hands he is holding a bracelet exactly like the one I already have on my hand, only bigger.
“Yes!” I drop to my knees next to him with tears in my eyes and take the bracelet from him, opening it and closing it on his wrist, “During the light days and the dark, I will be with you forever.”
As soon as the bracelet’s clasp fastens, both bracelets glow with sparks of dark magic, signalling that our engagement is official now. Next time, when we say our wedding vows, they will both be sealed forever on our hands…
After many minutes of madly kissing each other, we take a break to breathe and I ask, “Rien, about the Emperor…”
“Mira,” he stops me, lifting me up in his hands and walking to the bed, “We are not going to talk about that today. Today we are going to celebrate…”
***
In the morning the maids bring us breakfast and I notice a black envelope on a silver platter. Derrien is busy consuming sausages and bacon and I realize that this is the first time ever I actually see him eat in normal circumstances. And to be honest, this is a terrifying sight, as he eats everything that he sees. I wonder how he keeps such a good shape… Although remembering our last night together, I come to the conclusion that he is going to be fine!
Blushing, I open the envelope and gulp: “His Grace Duke of Derwood and lady Miradora Freyn are cordially invited to attend the Golden Jubilee of the Great Emperor of Gerdian Empire Ghardin the First on the first Golden Moon of Spring…”
And so the game begins…