The Dragon's Bride

It Laughs

After the stranger and his lackeys finished their parade around town the real festival began. Sibian and I walked towards Ember's Ice; my place of work for the time being. Entering the tavern, a glass bottle flies right by my head and into the street behind me. I glance to where the bottle has landed and then to the person who threw it. I scan the room of drinkers and s*x workers until I see a certain blonde with a tendency to avoid eye contact. 

"Opal?" I ask with a condescending tone.

"Hey, Mira!" She answers nervously.

I look at her disheveled dress and the drunkard man in a slur. He had just barely avoided Opal's glass bottle and now seemed to be angry. Assessing the situation immediately I took Opal's arm and led her away from the main room and into one of the dressing rooms. I sat her down by a mirror and proceeded to the cabinet. I took out the sewing kit and makeup. I had her take off her outfit leaving her in her slip. She stared down at her hands while I began fixing her costume. I looked up and noticed the numb expression on her face. Lazily, I reached for a compact and threw it her way. 

"You know how to do your own makeup right?" I say with the needle still in my mouth. 

She lamely nodded and began prepping her face. Sibian watched intensely as I sewed together Opal's costume. Each stitch recreating the old pattern. I handed it back to her after she finished her makeup. She bowed towards me and began to exit the room. Her dejected sigh rung in my ears.

"If you ever wanna talk..." I start.

"I'm here." She nodded again to my attempt at kindness and walked away.

I took Sibian by the hand and led him to one of the empty rooms, sitting him down at the center table. I give him some toys and pat his head. 

"I'll be back in no time," I say patting his head one more time.

He nods solemnly and I make my way to the worker's backroom to get changed. I change into a long blue skirt with lace trimmings and a white sleeveless turtleneck.  I tye my hair up into a bun and pull my satchel around my waist letting it hang to the side. Pleased with my appearance I walked out of the backroom and ran into another waitress. We walked together exchanging casualties until we reached the front bar. It was to the left when you first entered the main room and was the poshest part of Ember's Ice. Heiren, the bartender behind the bar, greeted us with a smile. 

"Hey Carmen, Hey Mira! Hows the day treating ya?" He said with a goofy smile on his face.

"It's alright," Carmen said with a giggle.

"As good as any can be when the Dragons come to town," I grumble.

"Always the mean one Mira," he said pretending to act upset. 

"These are your tables today. If they give you trouble blame the missus, not me" He said handing us our numbers and smiling sweetly. 

"Thanks," I say, taking the piece of paper and opening it up.

I flip the paper around a couple of times, double-checking it as many times as I could. There was only one number on the card. It was strange because usually there are at least 5 tables we each need to attend. I turn back to Heiren who just winks at me and lets out a chuckle. I take that as a sign this is the right number. I shrug to myself and walk towards the room number, 24, our suite for "important customers". I open the curtain and almost fall backward when I see the Dragon Prince and his posse from this morning. I steady myself and slowly make my way to the head table where the Dragon Prince, eyepatch, and some other fellow with glasses and a book in his hands. Before I can even speak I am interrupted.

"Well if it isn't the creek wench!" Eyepatch says with a hearty laugh.

The glasses fellow looks up from his book and closes it shut. He looks at me arms folded and uninterested. I cower back a little when the prince also lifts his head. His piercing gaze keeping me paralyzed. I compose myself and attempt to ask their order but it comes out as a mutter.

"What was that?" Said glasses.

"What would you like to order?" I say with my head down, staring at my notepad.

"hm..." Glasses mumbled unimpressed.

"Are you on the menu?" Eyepatch says, adding to my disdain for him.

"No, if you would like an escort I can provide you one," I say in a louder voice than before.

"No, I think I want you," Eyepatch says beginning to stand up.

He is immediately sat back down by the prince whose hand is now on eyepatches' shoulder. A loud bang sounds throughout the room from the sheer force of Eyepatch landing back on his chair. My eyes snap up to see the Dragon Prince with his deathly glare aimed at Eyepatch. 

"General Grier, I hope we won't have a problem here." The Dragon Prince says never taking his eyes off of Eyepat-- General Grier.

The general had no response. He simply stayed seated as the room fell deafly silent. After a few seconds, the prince directed his gaze towards me causing me to audibly gulp. He lifted his hand from the General's shoulder and placed his hands together on the table. 

"We'll have whatever alcohol you have and you can order the food," The prince said nonchalantly.

"Me?" I said in disbelief pointing to myself.

"No one knows a country better than its people." He said with the shadow of a smile appearing on his face. I stayed silent not knowing how to respond.

"Meaning if anybody knows what's good to eat in the north, it's a northerner," He further explained.

"No, I got it the first time," I said in a neutral tone.

Audible gasps filled the room and I looked around confused. It then dawned on me that I had committed a great crime. While realizing what I had just done glasses erupted out of his chair.

"How dare you?! Not only did you neglect to address his highness properly, but you also rejected his attempt to educate a servant like you!" Glasses yelled.

Before he could continue the prince began... laughing. He was laughing. As the prince banged his hand against the table the rest of the room was silent. I was mixed with confusion and dread. I didn't know if he was happy or just surprised by my ignorance. I made an effort to kneel before him to apologize but I was swiftly stopped.

"No...no it's alright," the prince said between laughs. 

"Please go get the food, it's okay," the prince stated coming down from his high. 

I exited the room swiftly as to not call attention to myself any further. I run to the kitchen to place the order for the table. After placing the order with the chef I make my way back to check on Sibian. I draw back the curtains to find him asleep. Smiling to myself I pull the curtains back the way they were. Before making my way back to the kitchen I see smoke form around me; a blue mist. I am not familiar with it and it doesn't look like the smoke from a kitchen. 

"Poison..." I say breathlessly before attempting to open the curtain again to get Sibian. 

I attempt to cover my mouth with my hand and step into the room when a cloth is placed around my mouth. I struggle with the person. Trying to jab them and kick them. Tears start forming in my eyes as I can't help but breathe in the aroma in the cloth. I can't fight the smoke either as my eyelids begin to get heavy, I search for a weapon, anything. But all I see is Sibian sound asleep. I try to scream, but I'm muffled by the cloth. Eventually, I am unable to hold on anymore. I slip into unconsciousness. 

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Hey, I'm glad you came back! Again thanks for reading and have a beautiful day.