Beauty And Chaos: A Tale Of The Dragon Prince And His Fae Prize

A Useless Princess

Elaria's heart still pounded hours after her encounter with the dragon prince. Whether it was from the fear he roused in her after his threats or her own stupid decision to anger the brute that had brought down her entire kingdom, she was not sure.

'Prince Lukius' they called him. Even when she was blinded by fury, he was still a sight to behold. His imposing figure that was covered up in his war armor elicited nothing but fear. His steps towards her had matched those of a beast stalking its prey. The unmatched strength with which he had dragged her across the arena like she weighed nothing had left her in awe of the dragon prince. His deep and deathly voice was forever etched in her mind. Reminding her that she only lived because of his mercy.Those defined muscles that effortlessly pierced a man's flesh, reminded her of a god or a demon descended from Hades himself. That and everything else about him that screamed death.

His mere presence rendered every one mute. He was everything capable of bringing down even the strongest of kingdoms. Elaria could clearly imagine him on the battlefield. Dancing the dance of death with precision as he wielded those heavy blades in his hands. Slicing men's throats like he was merely cutting through air.

She should have been afraid of the dragon heir. Should have lowered her eyes, should have willingly given him the answer he sought, but all Elaria could think about when he roughly held her face was death. His death. She wanted nothing, but to see his blood covering the arena's floor like her people's blood had been made to. And so she defied him. She stood up to him. For a moment she even felt proud of herself. Proud to stand up to the man who had brought nothing but death in her life. But her pride lasted but for a fleeting moment. A dagger buried deep in a man's flesh was all it took to have all that pride and fury melting.

Elaria shivered at the memory. It had happened in a flash. One moment the man was shouting at her loudly and the next, only painful grunts escaped his lips. Shock did not even begin to describe her reaction at witnessing someone on the verge of losing their life. There was so much death around her. Dead bodies were piled up right in front of her, but there was something overwhelming about witnessing it with her own eyes. Even after seeing so much blood, Elaria was too shocked to move when the deep dark liquid poured from the soldier's side. And she was even more shocked when she couldn't find any hint of regret or remorse on the dragon prince's face after stabbing his own soldier. She couldn't wrap her head around how someone could take another's life so easily.

She placed her hand on her chest, seeking to calm her racing heart, but it was a futile attempt. A brutal reminder that she was headed towards that beast's lair kept her heart from calming down. 

Elaria dared to peek out of the uncomfortable carriage that she had been threatened to ride in. After the prince walked out of the arena, she had been led out moments after and she found herself in front of a carriage. She had resisted when a soldier pointed to the carriage asking her to enter it. Despite the threat on the soldier's face, however, Elaria stayed rooted on the ground. 

The resistance wasn't due to her need to defy her captors. No. She was dying inside. Her life may have been spared, but her enemies might as well have had a dagger piercing her heart.

Her heart had broken anew when it dawned on her that that was the last time she would see her home. And though it wasn't her decision to leave, she felt like she was running away and abandoning her people when they needed her the most. If only she had been born with the least amount of magic her father possessed, she would have stood for them. But she was nothing. A useless princess with nothing to offer her people. 

That would be the thought to make her take that dreaded step into the carriage. She had thought that the life of a slave was fitting for a princess who was only a princess in name only.

The tiny window to the carriage made Elaria sigh with sadness. A slave being dragged to a foreign land was not how she had pictured her day when Aelinor, her personal maid had walked into her room smiling on that fateful day. 

"No point in dwelling on what could have been." Elaria thought as she wiped her tears that had escaped with that peaceful memory. There was really no point in torturing herself with thoughts of what could have been, had the Xerith empire not chosen to attack her kingdom.

She instead chose to let her thoughts dwell on the positive sides to her sad situation. There were not many, however. Only one to be precise, but it still was something she was most grateful for. She remained untouched. Her dress was in tatters, leaving her naked and ashamed, but her treasured virtue was still intact. For how long, she was not certain. She could have complained about a million things, but she realized that she had been more fortunate than the rest of the maidens that were in the arena. 

The soldier's had also kept their distance during the entire ride, no doubt out of fear. She was grateful for that too, no matter how they had come to that decision. Elaria knew the prince had everything to do with it, but she refused to give any credit to that monster. After all, it was his doing that had turned her whole world upside down.

"Whoa!"

Elaria was jolted out of her thoughts by a horse's loud neighing and men shouting. The carriage stopped abruptly, thrusting her body forward. Thanks to her shackles that had been attached to the carriage's floor, she only came inches shy of hitting her head on the wooden partition in front. Recovering from the shock of their abrupt stop, Elaria quickly peeked through the tiny window, wishing to see what was going on outside. 

Someone was shouting orders. Something about keeping to their formation and making sure that whatever happens, no one should get near the carriage. The men that guarded her carriage were positioned beside it with their swords drawn. Of those she could see, none even bothered to look her way. They were all focused on whatever it was they had encountered. Some unknown guest or a possible enemy, she could not tell.

Elaria clutched the remains of her tattered dress tightly. A quick scan of the carriage for a possible weapon to defend herself with, came out empty, and so she just sat back and waited.

She expected a battle to ensue, but only silence. Everything and everyone had gone eerily silent and before she knew it, the lock to the carriage clicked. Elaria scooted to the side of the carriage that was furthest from the entrance. Her heart leaped into her throat as fear invaded her soul. She did not know what to expect.

"Come with me."

A large calloused hand extended towards her while that familiar deathly voice spat the command.

She wanted nothing more than to spit in the person's face and stay seated in the carriage but the dragon prince's fearful expression and the vivid memory of that large hand stabbing a man, was all she needed to obey without question.

She nodded but held back when those calloused hands reached in between her legs.

"W...what do you think you are doing?" Elaria panicked at the inappropriate action. She was sure her days of keeping her virtue intact were about to come to an end right there in the carriage. But the person simply reached for her shackles and with one seemingly easy pull, the metal snapped open.

Realizing that she was finally free, she willed her eyes that had shut along with her panicked heart, open. She found the prince staring at her form with an indecipherable expression. It lasted longer than she would have liked. She was even tempted to put on her disapproving look when a deafening growl sent her scooting right back into the carriage. 

"Lucky for you, he had his fill with more Autarian flesh than he needed, otherwise this little piece of wood wouldn't keep my dragon out."

Was he boasting about his dragon eating her dead people so carelessly? Elaria's heart boiled, but more at that amused smirk on the prince's scarred face than the fact that some of her people had ended up in the dragon's belly.

"Come, night is almost upon us." His deathly voice sounded almost gentle but his handling of her was anything but.

Elaria yelped when those calloused hands pulled her out of the carriage without regard for her comfort. She landed on a hard surface, the impact making her cough her lungs out.

"Don't they teach you any manners in Xerith?!" She lashed out, her hand striking out at the hard surface. "Ouch!" Elaria pulled back her hand quicker than when she struck out while tears welled up in her eyes. It had completely slipped her mind that those pieces of body armor were made of hard material and dragon scales being the hardest.

"Are you alright?" A voice full of concern spoke from behind her, while her nemesis in front of her simply wore his amused look."

"I'm fine." She spat, while shooting glares at the prince. He remained unfazed, much to Elaria's annoyance.

"We should get going then."

The Prince grunted while he shed his coat and placed it on her shoulders.

Elaria stared up at him, surprised by his action. 

"It tends to get cold up in the clouds."

"Up in the clouds?" She croaked out, wondering what he meant by that. "No." Elaria retreated when the prince's movement revealed a huge mountain of flesh with spiked edges crouching behind the carriage. "Up in the clouds?" There was no way she was getting on that thing. They would have to kill her first. She gulped when she realized that that would be a welcome option for the brute who was used to taking people's lives.

Another look and her legs trembled. The only beast she had ever ridden was a horse and even then her father had so many people around her waiting to help if she were to injure herself. And now she was expected to ride the most dangerous beast with another beast that she did not trust?

But while she battled in her head, she was lifted off the ground and the next moment found herself seated on something warm. Not what she expected of a cold hearted killing beast. But despite the warmth, she froze like all those statues that were displayed around the fae palace as fear coursed through her veins.

"I told you, he won't be needing to eat for a while so you can relax."

"Relax?" Her voice was nothing more than a squeak that turned into a shrill cry when the beast took to the skies without warning. 

Realizing there was nothing for her to hold on to as the beast accelerated, her screams got even louder. Her poor heart accelerated along with it and before long she found herself unable to breathe and in total panic.

"Relax." The prince shouted over the loud flapping of the dragon's wings while the coat around her tightened. She realized that was due to his arm that wrapped around her waist. That was inappropriate for an unmarried maiden, but now was not the time for her to think of what was appropriate or not, so she didn't fight him on it. And she had a feeling the brute wouldn't care at all.

She instead tried to relax, but not for him. She wanted to live and the will to make that happen had air trickling into her lungs. And the more she willed herself to relax the smoother the flight became too.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Even without beholding his face, Elaria knew the prince wore a smirk on his face.

"Promise you won't let me fall?" She probably sounded stupid for trusting an untrustworthy being, but she strangely hoped that the beast of a prince had a shred of humanity left in him.

"I promise."