Dragon's Bride

Chapter 4

The cold air hit her face, the rain blinded her. She didn’t care about the state of her hair or clothes. The brushes hit her arms, scratched her body mercilessly like claws trying to devour her. It was terribly dark but she got used to that a long time ago, during the countless hours spent in the solitude of her room or the dungeon cell if Mrs. Bliss’ fantasy wished that upon the poor girl.

She ran as fast as possible, getting further and further from the tower as possible. She couldn’t stay. Molly didn’t even have a chance to tell her about the bath prepared for her because she was gone. She used the bed sheets, the curtains and the clothes prepared for her or left in the long forgotten wardrobe. Luckily they were enough and before they knew, she was gone.

She heard a roar in the far distance and turned around alarmed. It took one second of not paying attention to the road ahead for her to trip on some root. The fall wasn’t terrible but the puddle certainly was. Her clothes and hair, already soaked with rain were covered with mud. She looked like the most desperate and poor creature on Earth. She got up quickly, her heart racing, the terror flooding her soul.

She heard a loud woosh, saw the land before illuminated by red light and before she even had a chance to hide, a heavy claw threw her to the ground, immobilizing her in the thick mud. She was totally covered in mud.

The dragon let go for a second and as soon as it did, she began crawling away from him. She didn’t get far. The spiky tail of the creature blocked her way. She was trapped in a ring of fire.

Mia turned around, sitting in the mud and looked with utter fear at the dragon’s face. He was pure anger.

The quiet night was ripped by the horrendous roar of the furious dragon and a tiny, barely hearable squeal of its prey, Mia.

The dragon moved closer to her body. Terrified of the fire she moved away and with shaky body, stood up. She looked like a rug but she still had some fight left in her body.

‘I’m not going to die like my parents!”, she though to herself grabbed a long stick and waved in front of the fiery head in a desperate and brave attempt of keeping the creature away. She held it firmly. A loud, merciless laugh erupted from the creatures chest and then it appeared to be totally engulfed in the fire, disappearing from the girl’s view for a second. Then, the fires decreased in size, calmed down and Kai emerged from the flames in his human form.

”Pathetic!”, his laugh ringed though the silent forest. “Do you really think you can fight me with a stick?”, he said walking quickly and firmly towards her. “Do not think for a moment that I can’t overpower you even in my weaker, human form.”, he added snatching the stick out of her hand with such fury that the twig left bloody scratches on her hands. He grabbed her aggressively and held close to his hot body. The heat was pleasant, compared to the cold at least. He looked into her eyes. He was commanding, possessive, angry but also mildly amused by her weak attempts at getting away from him.

“Don’t you know that dragon’s have the best sense of smell in the world? Or that we can hear things from miles away?”, he hissed with pleasure.

“You didn’t hear me getting out of your cursed tower.”, she answered with the same contempt. The fires around them rose higher with new strength, fuelled by his anger. He pushed her to the ground and got on top of her. With one hand, he held her arms firmly above her head. He was so close she could feel his hot breath. He smelled of pine trees and oranges. Although he was on fire, his touch didn’t burn her or her clothes. His face lowered down so close their noses could touch. She turned her face away. It was the only movement she could make.

”I could do this right now, right here. I can take whatever I want. And why shouldn’t I?”, he said slowly. She could feel his breath on her neck, tickling pleasantly. Maybe she would have given in if it wasn’t for the pain of her arms or knees or the hated fire all around them.

“You are bound to me by the curse. Fate has given you to me.”, he continued, enjoying her defencelessness. She closed her eyes.

“Chosen.”, she whispered.

“What?”, he was shocked she answered.

“Fate has chosen me for you, not given, and I’m not bound to you. You are bound to me. And right now, I don’t want anything to do with you and I’d rather die, I’ve got nothing to lose, so you might as well do it and end the charade because I’m never going to be yours, Kai.”, she said and as she did so, her voice became clearer, louder, more arrogant. She pierced him with her look. The words worked. He’s never heard anything more surprising than this. He got up quickly and moved back a step as if to look at the pathetic creature in front of him with more attention. She was not what she appeared to be. The muddy, weak shell of her body his a fearless heart.

“Wow. I’ve never met anybody more… arrogant!”, he said and laughed out loud.

“It’s not funny!”, she clenched her hands firmly.

“It’s ridiculous!”, he shouted back.

“Just because you’re handsome, well spoken, powerful… the most powerful creature in the world doesn’t make you any better than what I am! We were all born and we will all die! This is what the witches and wizards say and… and they’re right!” she said. Kai stood observing and listening to this fantastic speech. He’s never been treated like that before but that’s because he always followed his brother and Luke never let people address him like that. If they did, they soon ended up burnt like a marshmallow on a stick in a bonfire. This was something new.

“I saved you from that damned place!”, he said.

“Not before I saved you first! I believe I… I deserve some... some… respect! And at least a thank you not a one way ticket to your bed!”, she screamed at him. The guy laughed softly, looked at his shoes and back at his love. He was changed a bit. She was right.

“Ok, Mia… thank you…”, he said walking towards her. He stopped only when their bodies almost touched. “Thank you for saving me and my brother from that frickin’ witch. You want respect, fine, but you know what I want. I cannot bear to be denied.”, he looked into her beautiful eyes with desire. She swallowed loudly and looked down at the ground. They stood in silence for a minute or two. Kai came closer and reached out to grab her dirty hand but she wiggled out of his hand, took a few steps back and whipped the tears off her face. She shook her hands and head. “No, no, no… I… I can’t… I’m not… I’m not ready! It’s just too much… too much, Kai! You want too much from me!”, she cried. “I don’t lov…”

“DON’T!”, he roared startling her. She turned pale again. He signalled with his hand for her to calm down. “Don’t say these words, I beg you.”, he said slowly taking two steps forward. The tears flowed down the girl’s face as she erupted sobbing.

“I’m not ready!”, she repeated.

“Fine. Let’s get back to the tower, get you cleaned and rested and then we can talk, ok? Is this ok?”, he said softly.

“Just… just talking?”, she asked and calmed down a bit.

“Yes. Just talking.”, he answered. She nodded her head, agreeing to the proposition. He exhaled and started to walk towards her while beginning to turn into a dragon. Mia squealed out scared.

“What?”, he asked unsure of what’s going on.

“Must there be so much fire?”, she asked. Kai laughed out loud as if he’s heard the funniest joke in the world. “Of course! I’m a golden dragon! Golden dragons, turn though fire! Blue dragons have blue fire, red have lava, green dragons water, silver have wind, white have ice and purple… whatever. I’m the most fiery dragon you’ll ever meet. There’s no other way, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that.”, she said boldly. She surprised him again. He scratched his head, a bit confused for a minute.

“Ok… how about… love? No? Ok… honey? No? Ok, but you have to agree to sweetheart? No?! Darling? Bunny? Tiger? Kitty?”, he asked.

“Sunshine.”, she answered with one word.

“Great! Sunshine! Perfect!”, he exclaimed happily and then asked, still being confused, “Why?”. Under the layer of mud, a little blush appeared on her cheeks.

“I’ll… I’ll tell you when… when…when we get to know each other… better.”, she answered shyly. Kai smiled at her warmly and then, remembering what he had to do said:

“Close your eyes and I’ll change into my full dragon form. I’ll try to make as less fire as possible”. She did exactly what he told her to do. Then, gently, he took her into his claw and flying above the sleepy and rainy forest, took his sunshine to the tower.