The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

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Dragon! Dragon in the sky! Oh, thank you, gods! He is alive and breathing…fire. I want to chuckle but I am too weak for that.

“Nort! Invisible barrier! Rick, hold the horses!” Dereck commands.

Damn it! He is too good at all this. A perfect battlemage and for the first time ever I regret it.

A shadow covers us all, as I lie in Dereck’s arms and all my friends are looking up in the sky, not saying a word. He is so close!

“Rien!” I whisper as the strength leaves my body and I feel one single tear roll down my cheek. A huge dark dragon circles right above us. He is so close that I can almost see his scales. And then he flies higher and higher, breathing out fire to the sky.

“He is looking for something,” Nort whispers.

“Or someone,” Dereck looks at me as if he understands something and then mumbles to himself, “A freaking dragon! Who could have thought…”

Then he notices something and I feel him pulling the chain on my neck, tearing my locket off me.

“No, please,” I whisper as my eyes start to close. I try to blink, try to keep them open… I see Dereck throw the locket with force off the hill we are at. This is bad…

The dragon flies away. He is searching for the signal, he doesn’t know that I am here. My last hope is gone…

And that’s when the darkness consumes me…

***

It’s been days. I am not sure how many though. Every time I am awake, ‘healers’ pour something down my throat and I go back to sleep. Sometimes I wake up for very short amounts of time. I see my mum or my brother next to me, or some maids I do not recognize. I never saw Dereck, Rick, or Nort again. Not that I want to… Traitors!

There is only one person I want to see but I wouldn’t be able to see him here and I know it!

I open my eyes carefully and check what is going on around me. And for the first time, I am alone in the room. I listen carefully to make sure that no one is behind the doors, that no ‘healer’ would arrive to drug me again! This has to stop!

Throwing back the sheets that cover me, I put my bare feet down on the cold marble floor. Marble… That can only mean one thing! I am at the royal palace! But why? Why would I be here of all the places? Not my family castle? Not Tristan’s – after all, that’s where they have been taking me. Why the palace? The room is spacious and luxurious, something like that is usually offered to important guests. And I am just not one of them. So what exactly is going on here?

On shaking legs I walk to the glass wall and look outside. Busy. Everyone is so busy, guards are hurrying around, maids running in different directions with baskets in their hands, mages of all sorts everywhere… This is not the usual scenery here. Usually, this place is elegant and tranquil. Well, not anymore…

I don’t even notice how the door behind me opens.

“Mira!” Tristan sounds happy, “You are awake! Finally!”

I try to turn to look at him but my trembling legs fail me and I almost fall down. However, he is right next to me in just seconds and catches me in time, lifting me in his arms and giving me a proper princess carry.

“Where do you want me to take you?” he smiles, showing off his pearly whites.

“Selection castle,” I say spitefully, “Oh, wait! It’s been blown up! And, I guess, by you?”

His smile fades and he takes me back to the bed, placing me carefully as if I am going to break if he makes a wrong move.

“Yes, that was me. That was my final task,” he sighs, “This is not something I am going to be proud of for the rest of my life. But we had to try.”

“You had to try and do what exactly?” I raise my brows, “Kill twenty innocent girls?”

“Kill two heirs to the gerdian throne. Kill the two key figures in the Empire. Kill the Crown Prince and… the Archduke/General,” he says truthfully and at least I can respect him for not lying anymore.

“And how did that go?” I can’t help but smirk, knowing that at least Rien is alive.

“We are still not sure,” he shrugs his shoulders, “We tried to evacuate whoever we could and none of us had an opportunity to check if we have succeeded.”

“Who did you manage to save?” I ask.

“Iliana, Ariadna, Celeste, Maxine, Erica, and most of the staff that worked at the Selection.”

“I see,” I turn my face away from him. I just can’t look at him anymore.

“How are you feeling?” he changes the subject and brushes his hand over my cheek.

“How do you think?” I snap at him again, “For how many days exactly have you been drugging me?! And what the chaos am I even doing at the royal palace? Surely I should be back at my own house.”

“You are here because you are important,” he answers and I notice how he is now holding a lock of my hair, playing with it as we speak.

“How so?” I snort.

“As my fiancée,” he says and I gasp for air.

“What do you mean? It’s been annulled when I was sent to the Selection!”

“But you are not there anymore,” he smiles softly, “You are back and our engagement is back. I have already told you that. You must have forgotten.”

“Yeah, it could have slipped my mind after being drugged for so many days,” I roll my eyes, “Tristan, this is not going to happen! It’s not…”

“Mira, let me speak first,” he interrupts me, “I am sorry, but I feel like I need to explain everything in more detail. We are at war, Mira. With the gerdians. There will be no more Selections. Ever. Unless they win, of course. But then they’ll just be able to take any woman they like anytime. They would even be able to take children if they would want to. This is what they wanted from us in the long run. They need us to fill their gaps. Women, children, and men for hard labour. And they would stop at nothing to get what they want.”

“They won the last war but only requested some land and the Selection,” I retort.

“And now they realized that they want more,” my self-proclaimed fiancé says, “It would be even worse if Dargen becomes the Emperor. You know him, you can imagine…”

Well, I can’t argue with this one.

“So, what is the big plan?” I ask, “You know very well how powerful they are. They will crush us in a heartbeat.”

“There is a way to become just as powerful,” he smiles and touches my cheek again, while I try to distance myself, “You see, Mira, there is a reason why they were choosing specific girls for the Selection. Not everyone will do and this was the most helpful clue we ever had about them. You! And women like you. You are the key!”

“A key to what?” I don’t even react to his hand on my face.

“To obtaining the dark magic warriors!” he says and I sink back into the pillow, “With the b***d of women like you and some amplifiers we can match their strength!”

“Are you going to bleed me to death now?” I raise my brow.

“Of course not,” he chuckles, “Gods, what kind of ideas you have? It’s a bit complicated procedure that needs to be done but long story short – if we mix just one drop of your b***d with someone else’s bloodstream and add some dark magic to the mix, that person would be able to possess dark magic for up to 24 hours. Then it fades but it’s all right. But the best part is that someone like you doesn’t need any amplifiers. Just add some magic and it will stay with you. Forever. That’s why they needed you, girls, as their brides. You can accept dark magic, live with it, and bear their children in your wombs. A regular human would die.”

Interesting… Derrien never told me that. Not that I asked. At least I don’t think I did…

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” Tristan turns my face so that I look at him.

“No,” I say.

“Of course he didn’t. That’s their biggest secret. That’s their weakest point. If we fight back and stop giving them our women – they wouldn’t last for long! ”

“I see…”

“Yes, Mira, with the time you will see everything. Trust me. You would feel so much better with a clear head.”

“I guess so…” I yawn, there isn’t enough strength in me to do anything anymore…

“Sleep, my love, “ he leans down to me and k****s my forehead. At that moment I see the door open and my mother comes in…