Promised to the Dragon King

Chapter 2

Watching her from a peak a couple of miles away, King Brenton sighed. He had to find a way to win her heart. Her family died so long ago that she couldn’t even remember them, or who she was anymore.

When he cursed her, he never meant for her to live a life of solitude, but he thought that no princess would like to live like this forever and that she would come around quickly. Did she prove him wrong!! Which of course, just made him fall even more in love with her.

Her challenging nature, always having an answer for everything; her fighting spirit, never giving up.

“URGH”

He dropped to the ground, falling on his back on the grass, looking at where she was, her world upside down from where he was.

“Why do you have to be so damn stubborn, Kaida!”

***

Later that afternoon a drunk Phillipe returned with renewed guts.

“Miss me?”

“Like a rash!”

She sighed. He just never gave up.

“Don’t you have a house of your own?”

“Yeah, here, with you.”

He tripped over a heap of snow, falling face-first into the snow, his bottle of rum miraculously staying upright. Not one drop spilt. She burst out laughing at him, wanting to freeze the arm that was sticking out with the rum, but decided against it. If he lost it, she could just imagine what a pain he would be, blaming her for it, and then he would never leave.

Getting up, he found his way back to the wall where he made himself comfortable.

“I’m home darling! So how was your day, did you charm any princes?”

She rolled her eyes at him.

“Phillipe, I’m not playing your silly games.”

She shot a gust of wind his way, making him fall off the wall. Turning her head to look the other way, closed her eyes, she pretended to be sleeping. She hoped he would go away.

“Kaida, I’m simply trying to help you find a husband.” He said, swinging around the corner of the wall, making his way to where she was.

“You are my best friend.”

“I’m your only friend. Not that I’m your friend.”

She huffed a little irritated, when his strap from his bottle hooked on her claw, and he dragged it along, trying to look her in the eyes. She slightly pulled at the strap and he went flying back to where he started making her laugh.

“That’s what you get for bothering me. Now leave before I eat you.”

He stood up, cleaned the worst of the snow off his clothes, and made his way back to her again. Determined to tell her something.

“Tsk, you have been threatening to eat me for years, I don’t care what you try and do Kaida. I don’t care what you say. I’m your friend even if you don’t want to be mine.”

This time he tripped over the book, falling flat on his face again, but his rum bottle didn’t survive this fall.

“Noooo, my love!”

She burst out laughing.

“See, even the goddess was telling you to stop drinking.”

“But I worked hard to earn that one.”

“Doing what? You don’t know the meaning of work. Who did you steal it from?”

“I didn’t steal it. I tried, but the tavern owner caught me. He made me muck out the stalls all day to get that bottle! And now it’s all gone.”

He started sobbing.

“Oh hell, go get one in the cellar for goddess’s sake! I can’t deal with you when you cry!”

His tears miraculously dried up immediately, and she huffed at him not believing him when he said that he worked all day to earn the bottle. Yes, he stole it from the tavern, yes, he probably got caught… But he got away with it as usual. He just had this way of convincing them that she never understood, and they let him get away with everything.

He returned from the cellar with a brand-new bottle in hand, smiling. It seemed she was just as guilty as the townspeople!

“See you do care.” Walking over to the book that was the cause of his lost drink, he picked it up.

“Where were we?”

“You were being an i***t, and I was rolling my eyes at you.”

He sat there grinning at me like an i***t, and I had fallen for his trap. Just great. Snapping my teeth his way, he jumped and found a spot behind a wall, and opened the book.

“I’ve already read the end. Don’t bore me with that book!”

He opened the book.

“Don’t you want to find out what happened?”

“NO!”

Closing the book, he took a long drink out of the new bottle.

“Okay, fine, don’t you at least want to find others like you.”

“There aren’t any.”

“How would you know? You’ve never left this mountain!”

“I just know.”

He sighed.

***

How was he going to get her off this mountain? Brenton thought to himself. He just poured an entire bottle of rum out on the floor and filled it with water, and now he could do more with the rum, than with water!

It hit him like a bolt of lightning. He saw a book in the library about the order of the black rose! Grabbing the one in his hand, he ran up the stairs ignoring her calls for him.

He ran straight to the shelf and found the book. It was bound in black leather and the silver embossed writing was faded.

“The order of the black rose

This is the history of the order of the black rose and its protectors.”

Walking back downstairs… He pretended to look lost in what he was reading.

“What do you have there? You can’t just go running around my castle grabbing things!! They are mine!”

“No, they are not!” He looked up at her: “They belonged to whoever used to live in this castle.”

“Finders’ keepers, remember, and I found this castle, so I’m the keeper. It’s mine!”

He rolled his eyes at her and nearly tripped on the bottom step.

“So, are you going to tell me what it’s about?”

“No, you won’t find it interesting. It’s about adventure and traveling the world.”

He shrugged and pretended to read some more, making himself comfortable on the wall.

“It’s my book, so if you don’t tell me, I’ll just take it from you.”

He looked up from pretending to read.

“Okay, fine, but only if you promise not to interrupt me.”

“Agreed.” She nodded.

“This was once a happy kingdom. The King and Queen ruled with love and kindness. They had a beautiful daughter called Vanora. When Vanora was born, the King was so happy, he had white roses planted all over the castle grounds in honour of her birth.

When the Fairy King declared war on the kingdom, the king had no other choice but to ask the Dragon King for help to win the war.

The Dragon King demanded payment in the form of marriage to the beautiful princess Vanora, but the spiteful king refused to honour his agreement.

This infuriated the Dragon King, and he cursed the princess to remain a dragon for the rest of her life, until she agreed to marry him.

When the kingdom woke up the next morning to hear the terrible news, they found that each white rose that had been planted had turned black during the night. Not a single white rose had been left behind.”

“You are making this up!! Where is the other book about the princess?” She waved her big paw around.

“I’m not, take a look for yourself.”

He handed her the book, and she started reading.

“Well, it must be some other kingdom because I don’t see any black roses around here.”

“You can’t even remember your age; how will you remember black roses, huh? So, all you need to do is charm a prince, fall madly in love, get true love's kiss, and you will change back into a princess and live happily ever after.”

“If I understand the spell correctly, I have to marry the Dragon King.”

“Yes… Like I said.” He grinned at her.

“Vanora left the kingdom ashamed of what she had become, breaking the Queen's heart when she lost her only daughter. The Queen withdrew from the kingdom, from public functions and contact with the King.

Keeping to her chambers, she only went out at night when the moon was full, she would walk among the black roses, and pick one to place on the bed of her daughter. In the morning only ashes would be left behind.

After losing so much, the King could not stand being in the castle, and rode off declaring war on all nearby kingdoms fighting to enlarge his territory. He returned victorious each time, to find the castle had grown colder and colder. The wind was howling through the passages, and the gardens dried out, except for the black roses.

Winter came and never left the castle. The King was killed on the battlefield in his tent and brought home by his army, carrying the kingdom's signature black rose on his chest. And the kingdom mourned his passing, after which the castle turned even colder, the Queen came out only on full-moon nights to pick the black rose. A bone-chilling cry was heard that night, and then silence fell over the castle until the next full moon.

The Queen had made friends with a young servant girl whom she thought of as a companion. They spent many hours in secret practice, the guards instructed not to let anyone interrupt them. It was thought that the Queen was learning how to defend herself. The girl mysteriously disappeared, nearly breaking the Queen's heart, but over time, she accepted it, passed away, and the castle was left empty, but each full moon, there was that bone-chilling cry, a ghostly howl of the wind, reminding the town of the loss of their beloved royal family.”

“That fairy-tale took a turn for the worse!”

She laughed. He ignored her and kept reading. She seemed to be enjoying it at least, and he hoped that it would be the story that got her interested enough to go on an adventure.

“Are you going to listen, or can I read on my own?”

She shuffled around a bit, making the snow float up in the air. Putting her head down, she looked at him, fluttering her lashes.

“I’m all ears.” She pulled them upright, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“The first black rose.

“It was a cold night like any other. The Queen had just placed the black rose on Vanora’s bed when she heard something behind the dressing screen in the room. Keeping quiet for a few seconds, she listened again, but there was no sound.

Finally, wanting to make sure that no rats ware disturbing her daughter’s room, she slowly made her way to the screen.

The young girl behind the screen was praying that the Queen would not find her there. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to see the princess’s room, and the day she decided to come and have a look had to be the one day the Queen brought the well-known black rose!

The moonlight flooded into the room, showing her form through the screen, made the Queen rush to the back of it. She grabbed the girl by her arm and pulled her out from behind the screen looking furious.

“What are you doing here? Nobody is allowed here! Who are you?!” The poor girl Elizabeth had such a fright, that she started crying trying to explain herself to the Queen.

“Your Majesty, my apologies, my name is Elizabeth, I’m just a servant girl who wanted to see the princess’s room. Please, please forgive me.”

“Why did you come here?!” Her honesty was pulling at a heartstring, making the Queen let go of her arm.

“I just wanted to see her room. Where she lived, what it looked like, so I could imagine what she would have looked like.” Elizabeth tries to explain again.

“But why? Did you want to steal something to sell it?!” The Queen lost her temper again.

“No, no, your Majesty. I was told the story of the beautiful princess and her tragic end when I was little. The story intrigued me, and I so wished I were her. I wished I had such loving parents. I am truly sorry. I will leave your service if that is your wish. I meant no harm.”

Elizabeth didn’t look up at the Queen once. She just kept her head down, tears streaming down her face, and something inside made the Queen's cold heart warm towards the young girl.

“Well, you didn’t take anything. So, I don’t see a need for you to leave my service. Who told you the story of my daughter?”

“The old lady that took me in. She told me of the day she was born and how happy the King was that he had the entire palace filled with white roses, and how they all turned black when the princess was cursed.”

“Yes. It was the night of the full moon. What else did she tell you?”