The Dragon Prince's Slave

Chapter 7

MARIETTA

I was back in Milan’s room and I was alone in it. Milan had gone to talk to his brother and he had locked me in the room again since he was scared I would run away because he had said that he can’t let me go back home.

I hadn’t even thought of running away. I had spent my time alone thinking of what he said about Crista coming here in the morning to stay with me and honestly, that plan had no disadvantages.

Crista and I haven’t exactly had the best life. The village we lived in was very poor and it had problems like food shortage, drought, bushfires and bandit attacks. Bandit attacks were even more frequent than the rest and most of the time, the bandits didn’t only take their food and money... they also kidn*pped and r***d women.

Some of the people in the village had gone to the King to tell him about some of the problems he could help with but he ignored us seeing as our village wasn’t even on the map.

Bandits attacked the village again last week and they almost got Crista so we had both decided that we had to get out of there but we hadn’t decided on where we were going yet. Living in the Capital of The Northern Kingdom was definitely the safest option but it was expensive and Crista and I were really poor.

Moving to the palace in The Dragon Empire was way more than what we wanted and in this place, we would be safe and we wouldn’t have to go to bed hungry so I wasn’t angry at Milan for keeping me here because living here was certainly the best option. In fact… I was grateful.

I had a question though: How long was I going to spend here?

I certainly wouldn’t mind Crista and I living here forever but I didn’t know if that was possible. Milan said I was valuable but how long was I going to remain valuable for and what exactly was I going to be doing here? The reason Milan wanted me to stay here was because dragons didn’t attack me and they became sort of docile but he hasn’t told me what I would be doing.

Am I just going to stand around dragons? ...Could I even stand around dragons?

I took a deep breath and decided to ask Milan when he comes back before a smile crept onto my face as I remembered that Crista will be here tomorrow. My smile grew bigger as I pictured the stunned look that would be on her face the moment I tell her we would be staying here.

A knock came on the door and I sat up in Milan’s bed as the person on the other side of the door unlocked it before opening it. I raised my brows slightly when I saw that it wasn’t Milan, it was a woman in a red robe.

“Hello,” she said cheerfully as she stepped into the room and I recognized her as the woman that had been talking to the Emperor in the box for the Imperial family in the arena.

I quickly got up from the bed while she walked towards me. What should I do? Where’s Milan? Do I bow or curtsy?

“I- uh… Good evening, my lady,” I stated as I did what I think was a curtsy. “Oh, wait…” I remembered what Milan had said in the afternoon and curtsied again. “Good evening, your Imperial Highness.”

The woman let out a laugh as she waved me off before grabbing my arms and making the both of us sit on the bed. “Just call me Brynna, Marietta. My brother already told me everything about you… well everything he knows about you. I just came over to see the woman that allegedly used red eyes to control the dragons.”

I frowned. “Red eyes?”

“All sorts of stories of what happened in the arena are floating around,” she replied as her eyes glinted with humor and I furrowed my brows.

“In one of them, your eyes turned red and you used that to command the dragons to not attack you while floating above the ground.”

… What the hell?

The both of us stared at each other for a couple of seconds before we burst into laughter at the same time. “What the hell? Floating above the ground?” I asked in between laughs and she nodded while laughing too.

She managed to stop laughing after a little while and said, “I’ve heard at least six ridiculous stories today and in everything, you had some sort of crazy, weird power.”

I was still laughing because who the hell had made up that story. How did I go from being scared to death and crying on the ground to having red eyes and floating above the ground? I remembered that someone had called me a witch as Milan jumped into the arena but I didn’t think people would take that person seriously and create ridiculous stories with that because magic went extinct years ago.

“In another one, the dragons breathed fire on you but you remained unharmed and you spoke a foreign language that made the dragons lay on the ground,” she stated and I snorted after getting my laughter under control. “I wasn’t in the… arena when it happened but I knew that was daft the moment I heard it and my brother was the one who told me what had actually happened.”

I opened my mouth to ask where Milan was just as a knock came on the door and the both of us looked up before Brynna called out, “Come in.”

The door opened and two servant girls and two servant boys walked in. The girls were crying trays of food while the boys were carrying buckets of hot water.

“His Imperial Highness asked us to bring these over,” one of the girls said after she and the other girl placed the trays on the table while the boys placed the buckets of water next to the bath across the room and I assumed that the person the girl was talking about was Milan.

“Okay,” Brynna said and gave them a dismissive wave. “You can leave now.”

The servants bowed again and made their way out of the room while Brynna pulled me to the dining table which had fruits, cake, buttered bread and chicken. “The chocolate cake is really amazing,” she said as she pushed the plate containing the cake towards me. “You should eat that first… or last. In whatever order you want.”

I smiled at her and grabbed a fork from the tray before taking a bite of the cake. It did taste amazing and I smiled at her again as I gestured for her to take some but she waved me off.

“I had more than enough at dinner.”

“Oh,” I muttered and wondered if Milan had eaten too before I realized that Brynna might know what exactly I would be doing here. “Mil- His Imperial Highness said I can’t go back home because I’m… valuable,” I started and she raised a brow at me. “Do you know what I’m going to be doing here?”

“Oh, yes. We have a couple of aggressive and out of control dragons that you need to work your…” she trailed off as a grin grew on her face and her eyes glinted. “Red eyes and foreign language skills on.”

I snorted and shook my head sideways as I remembered the ridiculous stories. “I already met those dragons.”

“No, not just the ones in the pyramid. We have ten in the caves behind the palace and some are... not in the Empire,” she replied and my eyes widened.

“Not in the Empire?” I asked and she grimaced as she nodded.

“They escaped to the East before we could lock them up and they’re causing… a lot of trouble in the kingdoms over there.”

I swallowed and took another bite of my cake. How do they expect me to get them under control? I can’t even get my own thoughts of Milan under control.

What had happened between him and I earlier today popped into my mind and I was about to shake my head to dispel the thought when I remembered that I was no longer going home tomorrow. Before he took me to see the dragons in the pyramid, I had decided to stop thinking about what else could happen between him and I because I was meant to leave tomorrow but since I would be staying, I can let myself think of it.

Me staying here doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a prince and I’m still a nobody… okay, maybe not a nobody, I’m a weird girl that makes dragons docile. Also, me being a nobody doesn’t change the fact that I still want to roll around in his bed with him.

My face flushed and I cleared my throat. “What made them aggressive?”

“Some of them felt they didn’t need masters after growing bigger and stronger and the rest just didn’t want to be controlled by anyone else after their masters died so they just -”

A knock on the door cut her off and I glanced at it just as a voice called out, “Your Imperial Highness... the Emperor is asking for you.”

Brynna’s mouth set in a hard line and she let out an irritated sigh as she got to her feet. “I’ll be taking my leave now. I’ll come see you in the morning,” she said with a smile and I got to my feet. “Goodnight, Marietta.”

“Goodnight, your Imperial Highness,” I replied as I curtsied and she smacked my shoulder.

“I told you there’s no need for that… well, in private. There’s no need for that in private and call me Brynna please.” She lightly tapped my cheek while smiling again and turned around, heading towards the door.

“Goodnight Brynna,” I called out when she opened the door and she waved at me over her shoulder before shutting the door. I sighed deeply, now feeling a lot better than I did before she showed up, as I sat back on the chair and resumed eating my dinner.

I was done eating after a while and the servant girls took the trays with them after they came to check on me. The hot water in the buckets was already warm by the time I was ready to use it and I poured them into the bath. I found a jar which contained red spheres in a small cupboard that was next to the bath and it made the water smell like roses after I dropped one of the spheres into the bath.

I smiled as I thought of how much Crista would love this while using my hand to stir the warm water before I got to my feet, took off my clothes and got into the bath. I let out a luxurious sigh the moment I was finally settled in the bath and let my head loll back.

“Wow,” I murmured as I thought of everything that had happened today.

I had thought this would be a normal day - as normal as a day could be in the village Crista and I lived in - when I woke up but I had been so wrong. I still didn’t know if Crista had been kidn*pped too and taken somewhere else but I really hoped she hadn’t been. I really hoped she was okay.

A loud growl came from the window next to the bath and I jolted, making the water in the bath splash as I quickly sat upright. A dragon flew past the window after a couple of seconds and I let out a breath that I didn’t know I had been holding before I let myself relax again.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.

I got out of the bath after a little while and dried my feet on the bath rug as I grabbed the robe which was hanging on the back of the chair I had placed close to the bath. “Am I going to sleep here?” I muttered to myself just before the door suddenly opened and I squeaked as Milan walked in.