Dragon's Bride

Chapter 8

Mia’s POV

Days became somewhat calmer. Kai, although always tense, was more talkative and gave me all the freedom I wanted. He didn’t even touch me but he almost never left my side, either. I would get up, open the door and he would be sitting on the floor, waiting for me. If I went to the library, so did he. If I went to the kitchen, he went, too. We even went on walks in the forest surrounding the tower.

I was fascinated by everything around me: the nature, it’s beauty and freedom enchanted me. I could spend hours laying on the ground, looking at the white, puffy clouds.

“I never knew that the world could be so beautiful”, I whispered while admiring the butterflies on the wild lilies.

“You haven’t seen anything, yet. The Forbidden Mountains, the Green lakes beyond the Wall, the Wall itself is a nice piece of work. Oh, and the cities beyond the Wall! The great city of Drakonum with it’s castle and academy! And the Pool!”, said Kai. I got up and faced him, holding a flower in my hand.

“You’ve seen the Pool, right? Tell me about it!”, I begged him. He scratched his head and turned a little red.

“Well, it’s big and there are lots of people. I don’t know what to add.”

“The colours! The sounds! The smells!”, I couldn’t believe that he had nothing interesting to say about it.

“I’m not good with words, sorry.”, he said and my spirit dropped. As soon as he noticed that, he took a step forward and said with newfound enthusiasm: “Perhaps I can show you the pictures!”. My face lit up immediately. We didn’t stay in the forest a second longer.

“I took these photos ages ago when we pilgrimaged to the place.”, he said. We were sitting in his room. He passed me the photo album, letting me look through the pictures at my own pace.

The first picture just showed the heads of the pilgrims: dragons, merpeople, fairies, vampires, werewolves, some witches and wizards, all with their teenagers. They were all dressed in simple but colourful clothes and wore necklaces of huge flowers. Some of them held instruments, staffs, while others prayed to the gods with their hands up. There were a couple of photos of the crowd. Then, there was a picture of Corbus, Kai and Luke, all with huge smiles on their faces. I looked over at Kai. He smiled, looking at the picture. Then there was the Pool- a lake more like it! It was huge! A pink mist of magic hung in the air above the clear, blue water. At the edges of the Pool stood the crowd. The next picture showed Luke walking towards the water. In the next one, he stood in the water, waist deep, with his head. Then his body disappeared in a white flare. The next picture showed Luke in his dragon form, standing in the water.

“everybody cheered like crazy. Dragon’s are the most powerful beings and the South is under their rule.”, interrupted Kai.

“And then you went?”

“Yes.”, he said in a gloomy voice. The next picture showed him looking over his shoulder at his father with a huge smile on his face. The next picture showed him in his full dragon phase.

“Does it hurt?”, I asked quietly. He didn’t answer. He showed me the next picture. It showed Luke sitting on the ground as if exhausted and next to him, Kai, with a pale face and tears streaming down his cheeks.

“It’s one of four most painful things I’ve experienced.”, he said hanging his head down.

“What are the other three things?”, I whispered. Kai clenched his fists.

“Loosing my mother, being turned into the bird and locked in the cage and you.”

“Me?”, I was shocked.

“I’ve never felt what I feel for you. Not being able to touch, hold, kiss you is a torture.”, he said looking straight into my eyes. My heart skipped a bit, my face became red as a rose. He put his hand on mine.

“And if you have me will you let me go?”, I asked.

“No. I will never be able to let you go.”, he answered. We were quiet for a while.

“Kai, I’ve been in a prison before, I’ve been made to do things I didn’t want to do but this is different. What you want is different… it’s… the only thing I didn’t lose there. I can stay here forever. I don’t care. I’ve nowhere to go, anyway, but you want something I don’t want to lose… yet. And not like… that… forced into the corner.”, I said slowly.

“But I love you!”, he shouted desperately. I shook my head.

“I haven’t been out in the world much but I know that this is not love. This is pure desire.”

“Then what is love?!”, he asked looking straight into my eyes.

“I… I… don’t know. I’ve experienced desire before but… never… love.”, I said turning red again. Kai jumped up to his feet.

“Then I will show you what love is! I’ll make you feel so loved… like… like you’ve never felt before! I’ll give the whole to you! Fight your enemies! Wipe your tears! Give you flowers, presents, kisses! You’ll be my sunshine and I’ll be your… starlight! I’ll make you happy, like no one can!”, he said with passion making me laugh. He helped me stand up, pulled me closer to him and held me tightly, tenderly in his arms. “You’ll be my princess.”, he said softly. I smiled back. His face was closer and closer to mine till I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose. His hand moved along my neck and face into my hair.

“Then… if I’m supposed to be your princess, let me get to know my prince better.”, I said feeling my cheeks burning.

“What?”, he chuckled.

“I want to know you. Before you know… we do it or… die.”, I said. He smiled at me.

“Ok. Then let me show you all that I am.”, he said and let me go after a moment of inner struggle. Over the next hours, he showed me his childhood toys, baby photos, drawings, manga collection, films, music and guitar.

Luke’s POV

It has been some time since my brother’s outburst. I was beginning to anticipate another one shortly so I’ve decided to start spying on the two, just in case. Luckily, when my brother was with the girl, he was too immersed in the fight with his desires to pay any attention to what was going on around them. They spent countless hours in the forest or the meadow, talking, laughing, looking at the world around them. He even taught her the basics of guitar playing. The same green guitar that our mum bought for him and that he would never let me touch sat in the laps of the girl. She turned out to be quite talented, at least when we take into account that she never held an instrument in her hands. She also had a voice of an angel. They sat together singing, oblivious to the fact that I was sitting nearby. I thought she would let him kiss her or something. Maybe it would have happened if it weren’t for the fact that it started to rain one day and they could no longer sit in their favourite spot. They turned to the library. It is there that I found them on the second day of rain, sitting in the armchairs. She was reading and he was drawing, drawing her, of course.

“Hi, little brother. Dad wants to see you in his study.”, I said passing on the message. He got up unwillingly and grumpy and left without a single word. When he was out of the way, I walked in and sat in his spot.

“What you reading?”, I asked. Kai didn’t care what she read. I did.

“Nothing… Just a book.”, she answered coldly but she couldn’t full me.

“You know, when we moved into this place, just before me and Kai were captured, I helped my father organise the whole place. His love for the books is almost as great as the love for our mother. I have a very good memory. I know every book here and I know what you’re reading and I don’t like it.”, I said.

“Why?”, she asked arrogantly. I jumped up, pushing the table in between us out of my way and stood above her.

“I know what you’re doing. You’re looking for a way to free yourself from the curse. Well, my dear, it won’t work. I’ll make sure of that.”, I hissed.

“You can try. If you hurt me, I’ll scream and you know Kai doesn’t like that.”, she answered arrogantly.

“You clever beast.”

“I’m not the beast here.”, she said. I clenched my hands in fury but she was right there was nothing I could do. I stormed off to my dad’s study where both he and Kai were discussing Mia.

“She’s looking for the way to get rid of the curse.”, I said.

“Not good. What is she reading?”, asked dad standing over his desk.

“The History of Dragons.”, I answered and sat in the chair in front of his desk.

“There’s nothing there about the curse that can help her.”, he said. He was correct.

“But it’s not good that she’s reading books like that.”, I added. Kai looked unhappy as ever.

“I’ll talk to her about it.”, he said. I didn’t think it would bring anything good. He ran out of the room to meet his love in the library. Me and dad followed just behind him. He got into the library and walked straight to Mia and grabbed the book she was holding,

“It’s fairy tales! You lied to us, Luke?”, he said with anger. Clever beast. The book she was holding now was totally different.

“No! I didn’t! She was reading about us, dragons! Looking for information about the curse!”, I said trying with all might to remain calm.

“It doesn’t matter who’s lying if anybody even is…”, said dad trying to sooth the atmosphere.

“You’re not to read any book on dragons!”, said Kai with power. Mia turned pale a bit.

“But... why?!”, she squealed.

“Because I don’t like it! I don’t want you to read about it! If there’s anything you should know, we will tell you! You understand? I don’t care about fantasy books, romances, whatever…”

“You’d have me read kids stories rather than learn and grow as a person? Well, thank you but I don’t need you to teach me about the world. I want to learn on my own!”, she said with anger. I must say, she surprised me again and Kai did, too- he didn’t slap her or anything.

“Just don’t read about dragons!”, he shouted.

“I’ll read what I want, when I want and books about what I want! I’ve lived far too long in a prison to live like a prisoner here, too!”, she screamed and ran out of the library.

“You’re in trouble, brother.”, I said when we were alone. He looked at me with despise. Even he knew I was right.

Unknown POV

“Master! Your father is ready to see you!”, said the male servant. I got up and walked straight to my father’s study. My steps echoed through the black, cold corridors. I opened the huge wooden doors and walked into the room. My father was sitting behind his desk, surrounded by books and papers. The TV was playing the news. Our forces were still looking for the escapees.

“Sit, Angelo.”, ordered my father. He didn’t even look at me, his own son.

“You heard?”, I asked after making myself comfortable in the old armchair.

“Why do you think I ordered for you to come?”, he answered with the question.

“Then, why didn’t you return quicker? Why now?”

“Because the matters of the state are far important than you.”, he said lifting up his black eyes at me. His hair were white as snow, longer than the last time I saw him. He wore his military uniform. He always did. “You are a part of this family and everyone in this family, even you, has a role to play. You failed. You brought shame onto the family.”, he said and got up. He walked over to the stone fireplace. “We’re a family of dragon slayers, famous throughout the whole world and you, when faced with the dragon, ran away.”

“But dad! There were two dragons! How was I supposed to fight them?!

“With bravery and honour! Your grandfather killed ten dragons in one night! The famous battle of Leak and you didn’t even try to fight them! You let them escape with that girl! Who was she anyway?”

“No one, father!”

“An yet the whole country is talking about how you let the dragons take YOUR prey, YOUR girl!”, he screamed at me after turning to face me. His face was red with anger. I bowed my head and waited a bit for him to cool down.

“How can I make it better, father?”, I asked humbly. I knew the answer but I had to hear it from him.

“Get the girl. Kill the dragons. Serve the country.”, he said and faced the fireplace again. After a minute of silence he spoke again: “Leave now. You may return when you’ve accomplished your goal or perished.”