The Mehndi Prince

It’s time

“Nero! You ready yet?! You’re going to be late!” Fennick yells through my bedroom door.

I sigh as I adjust the collar of my over tunic while looking at the slightly blurred reflection of myself in the silver mirror. Damn thing feels like it’s choking me, no matter what I do.

“Nero!” Fennick yells again.

“What! Can’t you come in and talk to me like a civilised being?” The heavy wooden door slams open and the large, muscled frame of Fennick swaggers through the opening.

“Where’s the fun in that?” He grinned and shakes his shaggy sable hair out of his eyes while throwing himself onto my bed. A soft growl trickles out of my mouth.

“Okay, okay. I’ll get off your bed.” He chuckles as he moves over to a seat, which creaks in protest of his bulk, as he sits.

“I don’t want it reeking of you,”

“Hey now, if anyone reeks…” he inhales deeply “it’s… me?!”

“ I told you so,”I smirk.

“d**k,” he counters with no malice.

“I see you’ve gone with the sleeveless look.” I state. Fennick flexes his biceps making the intricately inked roaring bear on his right arm move realistically.

Fennick and I have known each other since we were small. His father, the head clansman of the bear tribe came to declare fealty to my father the king of the dragon clans. We were thrown together as children are. At first we hated each other, having more fights than anything else. It wasn’t until we were teenagers and after a particularly brutal fight we became friends. We ended up in the infirmary with broken bones, as our healing abilities were not completely active yet. It forced us to do things together, other than fight for once and we found out we had a lot in common.

“So the ladies know what they’re getting” he continued.I snort derisively.

“So, on that premise, I should turn up naked?” My gold and black dragon tattoo covered the entirety of my back, the wings extended over both of my biceps and the tail curls around my left thigh.

“They already know what they’re getting with you. A royal pain in the arse with nothing to speak of in his braies.”

“Jealousy does not become you, my friend.” Fennick opens his mouth to reply, when my much younger sister Deanna steps through the open doorway, violet eyes wide and incredulous, her lavender gown rustling as it brushes the door.

“What’s taking you so long? She’ll be here any minute now. You know mum’s been organising this for years now. She’ll be so disappointed if you pull some kind of stunt”

“Why can’t she just focus on marrying you off?” I demand “instead of destroying my life?”

“Because I’m fourteen and that’s just yuk. Also you sound like me.” I glare at her.

“Nero, son?” My dad’s voice echoes and rumbles in the stone passages. Fennick and Deanna look at each other and each mutter something about needing to be somewhere else, as they dart out the door.

I walk over to the seat Fennick just vacated and sit with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands.

“Son?” I look up when I hear my father’s voice. His midnight hair and chartreuse green eyes reflecting the fire in the sconces. Making my badass looking father even more terrifying. His presence in my room making me feel small, like I did when I was a child.

“Dad. I don’t want this. I’m not ready for this” desperation leaking into my voice.

“Will you ever be ready?” I open my mouth to reply only to realise I don’t have an answer.

“Nero, you’re twenty five and I know that seems young to you, considering our life spans. But I married your mother when I was nineteen and you and your sister are the only surviving hatchlings. Your mother and I have lost seven other hatchlings before you. The golden dragon bloodline is dying.” The sadness in my father is palpable.

“If you had found a mate on your own, your mother and I wouldn’t be forcing this on you. We had hoped by letting you partake of different women, something would have come of it. Hells, we would have accepted any bastard child you had into the family.” I watch as my father prowls the room like a caged beast, his dragon close to the surface, seeing the golden tint of it’s scales shine through his skin.

“Was your marriage to mum arranged?”

“You could say that,” he muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“Your grandpa caught me with her and I hadn’t mastered teleporting or creating portals yet. It didn’t start off as love but it grew, son.” He looks straight into my eyes as he says this.

“It’s time,” he clapped me solidly twice on the shoulder and walked out of my room.

I suppose i should just man up and accept my fate. I look around my room one last time before I make my way down to the great hall.