The Dragon King and His Human Mate

2. Choosing Ritual

Anastasia

"Ana, please, you can't do this," Harry kept begging me while I was writing my name in a small paper, preparing myself to throw it in the magic goblet. The ritual would take place every two years and every human girl in between twenty to thirty years old, without exception, would have to participate. If they didn't, their whole family would be punished by death.

The result would come out only by the goblet, in a fair way. They said that the goblet knew who had the potential to be the dragon king's mate, however, this didn't make any sense to me. The Dragon's second-chance mate could be everyone, and most likely not a human, because we couldn't have mates. We could still be the shifters' mates, but for them it was most likely to have mates from the other species.

Then the 'winner' would be sent to the desert island in which the dragon was said to be imprisoned by an old witch after killing her granddaughter, his own mate, and if the chosen girl was indeed his mate, the Dragon could be free of there and free from his dragon form too. That had never happened before, because the madman had murdered every girl chosen in the past century, including my cousin, the one chosen in the last ritual two years ago. I wasn't still sure if I hated King Ethan or the Dragon King more, they were constantly in a competition for the first place in my list.

"I have to, Harry," I simply answered, and he sighed, again, failing to change my mind. "I'm their Princess, what will they think if I don't take place in the ritual? They're already desperate for losing another girl to the Dragon, I can't be that selfish, I—"

The door opening with so much force cut my sentence off. Felipe took the paper from my hands and ripped it in front of my eyes. "You won't take place in that f*****g ritual and this is final!"

I blinked several times in surprise, wondering why he was that scared of the idea of me being chosen to die. I knew he had a soft spot for me, but wouldn't this free him from the arranged marriage and give him the chance to find his own mate?

"And who'll stop me?" I simply asked.

"For the first time, I have to agree with Felipe," Harry cut in, surprising me even more. I had never thought I would live to hear that sentence. "He can do something with his spells to look like you took place in that ritual so no one will know but us."

"Are you really suggesting this?!" I asked, not wanting to believe my ears. My brother had always hated injustices, he was the kind of man to hate the world we lived in just because of how weak we were. I knew he loved me, but I'd never be able to live with myself if I did this. I was better than this.

"Please, Ana, I know it isn't fair, but as long as I have a chance to save you I don't really care," he said desperately and my attitude immediately softened at his words. I was really blessed to have him in my life.

"Then I think we all agree for me to—"

"We don't," I cut Felipe off, knowing what he was implying. "I'll participate in that damned ritual because it is my duty to do so, and you're the last one that could stop me."

"Anastasia!" He shouted again, probably thinking he'd intimidate me but he really couldn't.

"How bad you couldn't keep this energy to stop the whole ritual, right, Felipe?" I said in his face before getting another piece of paper, writing my name in it as I opened the door room and left both of them there.

People were already gathered in the royal court, all of them looking worried, some mothers crying in fear of their daughters being chosen as their husbands tried to comfort them as best as they could. It was the same heartbreaking sight every two years, but it felt even more painful this year that I was a part of them.

"Princess," some of them said in unison after noticing me there, and gathered around me in hope I had come up with something, which broke my heart even more. I bowed my head in shame, letting them know I had given up as well.

"Your Grace, you aren't really thinking of participating, right?" A mid-aged woman asked me in disbelief. I couldn't believe how she was still worried over me when her daughter would be part of the ritual too. Did they love me this much?

"Of course I will. It's the least I could do," I mumbled and they all gave me some reassuring smiles. "I'm so sorry I couldn't keep my promise."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your sweet talk but the King orders for the ritual to start now," I heard a voice coming from behind and I already knew who it belonged to. It was Princess Matilda, Felipe's mother. She was the voice of her father-in-law, following him like a puppy.

I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart before taking the courage to throw my paper in the magic goblet first, so the other girls would be brave to continue. My heart tore at the girls' bodies trembling in fear as they threw their names one after the other, all praying it wouldn't be them, or their relatives.

"Now we have to wait for some minutes to find out the who's going to be the lucky girl chosen as the Dragon King's second-chance mate, and probably become his Queen," she declared loudly, not even ashamed of the big lies that were coming out of her mouth.

"Please, save it," I hissed, giving her a full of hatred look as I received one as well. To say that the woman didn't want me as her daughter-in-law would be the understatement of the year.

I felt all my family's eyes on me as we waited in agony for a paper to come out of the goblet by itself and the name to shine in a golden sparkling way, like every other time.

It didn't take long for the moment of truth to come. I froze when I saw the name coming out of the paper in big capitals, ANASTASIA EVERLEIGH.

For a split of second, the world stopped moving and I was left with my memories flashing in front of my eyes as a never ending river. I didn't know what I was feeling, I just knew I couldn't form a sentence as I saw everyone's eyes on me, all gasping in shock and horror of what took place right in front of their eyes. In all this long, never ending century, there was no princess or queen being chosen in this ritual. At least until now.

"Not our Princess, please."

"It can't be her, we need her."

I kept hearing my people's worried voices, but I was still too shocked to answer or move or do anything else.

"This is a mistake!" My father shouting from a distant finally brought some senses into me. I saw him rushing inside the palace furiously, probably to talk to King Ethan. My mother's face was buried in her hands. I could clearly tell she was sobbing, but Harry was the one that hadn't moved from his spot for minutes, clearly in shock.

How was I going to live them behind? Face death like it was the easiest thing in the world to do?

"It's alright," I mumbled to my people when I saw they were already gathered in front of me. "I'm happy I could at least take the place of one of your daughters," I genuinely said, giving them a weak smile, before rushing to enter the palace and reach my own room.

I needed time and I needed to be alone to wrap my mind around the fact that I was going to die, really, really soon.

*******

Felipe

I opened the door of his bedroom without bothering to knock, finding my grandfather peacefully drinking a cup of wine and enjoying the view of the sun setting from the big window.

Son of a b***h.

"Where are your manners, young man?" He asked, almost teasingly, and I simply couldn't believe how I shared the same blood with this disgusting man in front of me.

"It was you, wasn't it? You chose her on purpose? That's why the ritual took place before the wedding, so I wouldn't get to marry her." I didn't try to hide to the hatred in my voice this time. I could barely keep myself from punching the man until he'd end up dead in the floor.

However, he looked more calm than ever, even amused by my reaction. "Now, wouldn't you be the happiest by the turning of the events? I remember quite clearly that you were against this marriage two months ago."

I tightened my jaw as I tried to remain calm. He was right, I hated the idea of marrying someone who wasn't my mate back then, especially a weak human. But this was because I hadn't met Anastasia, because everything changed after that. It actually started as a simple game, me trying to make her fall for me. Admittedly, I was the one who fell for her in just some days. And how couldn't I, honestly? She was the most passionate, smart, brave, beautiful girl I had ever met. And now I was losing her, because of my grandfather who was exactly the one who had set up this marriage in the first place. 

"You know damn well that I want her now," I pointed out, throwing daggers to him with my eyes only.

"Do you think it matters what you want? You're not the King," he said, shamelessly.

It was me who chuckled this time. "That's why you did it," I simply told him. "After you saw what she's capable of, you were scared she'd kill you in your sleep, become the Queen and change your little rules, am I right, King Ethan?"

He stood up from his couch furiously, and I could almost see the fume of anger coming out of his ears. "I'm the one who made it possible for her to be chosen today, is this what you want to hear?" He shouted. "Because I realized I made a grave mistake in setting this marriage up after I saw what she did to you, even though she isn't even your mate. You'd do absolutely everything to please her, to make her want you, including going against your family. She has you wrapped around her pinky like a little fool you are."

Once again I tried my best not to kill the man in front of me, despite the desire to do so. I knew I wasn't ashamed to admit I'd do everything to please Anastasia, to make her want me, exactly like he said. But not because I'd go against my family for her, but because I knew they were wrong and she was right. I never agreed with my grandfather's ways of ruling and dictating everything and not only in our kingdom, but mostly in the human's one. However, as long as it weren't my people getting hurt, I didn't care that much. In the end humans were just some weak pathetic beings to me who were to blame for never learning to protect themselves. But my point of view changed after a conversation I had with Anastasia. The way she talked about seeing her people getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it, living life in fear, being other people's toys, it made me understand a lot. And I felt like I wanted to change things, even if it was only to put a smile on her face. 

So that day, I swore in my head, when the throne would be mine I would let the humans free. There would be no more rituals. Their kingdom would be ruled by her brother, and we'd have the best political and financial relations there could be between two kingdoms.

"You'll go there and tell her people there has been a mistake and princess Anastasia isn't the chosen one," I ordered. "I don't care how you'll do it, but she lives. And the wedding takes place tomorrow."

This time he busted into a hysterical laughter. "Forget about her, Felipe. She belongs to King Vladimir now."

"Like hell she does!" I shouted as I felt my whole body shaking. Differently from everyone else, I actually knew King Ethan's plans, I had overheard him talking with his guards two years ago in the day of the ritual. However, only the idea of her belonging to another man blurred my judgment and all I wanted to do was kill someone with my bare hands, that someone being my grandfather.

"You're even weaker than your father, I'm ashamed of you!" He said with much disgusting.

"That's why you killed him?" I couldn't believe I really said that, but now I couldn't take it back. There wasn't a day I hadn't doubted this being true, but I was even scared to admit that to myself, let alone accuse him of killing his own son.

"Watch your words, Felipe, don't force me doing things I don't like doing!" He demanded, trying to stay as calm as he could but I could see my words had affected him a lot. Did this mean I was right? "Princess Anastasia is the chosen girl and this is final. Now, because of how much I love my dear grandson, I'll leave her until tomorrow morning. Now get out of here before I change my mind!"

I closed my eyes, not wanting to believe what I just heard. It was over now, there was nothing more I could do, I had already lost Anastasia. My beautiful Anastasia.