Chapter 5

As the hand holding mine began to tighten his grip, I heard the familiar voice from that day come from inside the carriage.

“Why are you hesitating? My son is waiting for you”

I turned to my father with tears in my eyes. He stood there with his family beside him, Kaelara smiling as history repeated itself, I felt the same defeat I imagine my mother must have felt when she was used to replace the Queen in order to die in her stead. now here I was as well, lied to, fooled, tricked, deceived by my family, well, who am i kidding? They were never my family and the so-called duke who wanted to marry me was the Dragon King’s son who was to be mated with the princess and used as his plaything.

My father took a step forward and whispered something in my ear.

“You should have seen this coming, I would never give up Kaelara for these savages and you know that you have less worth to me than she does, you’re a princess by blood so they won’t treat you so badly if they find out, honestly this is better for both of us, you were such a thorn in my side, constantly reminding me of my youthful mistakes” he then withdrew from my ear and tapped my shoulder before leading me into the carriage.

“Now be a good girl, and don’t forget our agreement”

I sat in the carriage and the royal convoy began to move. I was quiet, not from fear but from a renewed sense of hatred towards my father. All these years I thought he had avoided me and didn’t want to talk to me because he didn’t want me to be a target, he never even wanted me around in the first place…

“Princess..” I heard my father-in-law’s voice call from the side, he was asking for my name.

“Astra, my name is Astra,” I said fiercely.

“You’re a feisty one, Astra. Tell me, why did your father choose you and not your older sister?” He asked crossing his arms.

“I don’t… I don’t know” I responded not looking at him.

There he sat, the Dragon who killed my mother, with a frame that was nine feet in height and the build of a warrior that had been trained from birth, I knew this man with reddish tanned skin imitating his red scales and long white hair in a ponytail would not hesitate to kill me if given the chance. This meant I couldn’t make the wrong move.

“This is my problem with humans, your love for one another is feeble, there’s no substance in it, once you need something, you’re ready to throw a life away”

“But don’t you kill people as well?” I covered my mouth as soon as the realization of what I said hit me and I slowly turned my head to him.

“It’s not the same,” he said as the carriage continued to drive in silence.

Finally, we had arrived at his Kingdom, Maelstrom. It was a confusing place to be at, a stark contrast to what I was used to which was the summer breeze accompanied by the hustle and bustle of the capital. The entrance to the kingdom felt like a wasteland until we began to move towards what seemed to be the capital. The homes were dark and all looked the same, the ash from the inactive volcanoes surrounding the kingdom formed snowy hills around the city covering every surface, the children outside were not playing, instead I saw them training, some in their human form and some in their dragon form. This really was a kingdom of warriors. I searched through the window for women and I didn’t see any, maybe they had a shortage of them, I couldn’t tell.

We had finally reached the palace and the convoy stopped. The king came out through the other door and walked over to mine to take me to the prince.

We stepped into the hall where the soldiers were seated and among them, I spotted a few women, I sighed knowing I wouldn’t be alone at least, and then my face was covered with a veil.

As I walked to the front of the wedding hall where the prince stood waiting for me, I held my breath tightly as my face was now covered and I couldn’t make out his face.

He was standing in front of me calmly, not saying anything as we listened to the elder dragon welcome and introduce me to the guests.

“Show us her face already!” One of the guests shouted causing the others to laugh and in that moment, every feeling of freedom I felt disappeared, after all, at the end of the day, I was just a princess forced to marry their prince, and they knew this was a loveless marriage so why would they respect me?

As I bowed my head in shame, I saw the Prince’s feet move and then the next sound I heard was the slashing of a sword and the sound of blood pouring as silence filled the hall.

I trembled as the prince raised my veil to reveal my face and I heard gasps of awe coming from the crowd. I slowly looked up at the prince and his red and amber eyes caught my attention immediately.

There he stood in front of me with his red and amber eyes, his tanned skin was complimented by his jet-black hair, a deep contrast to his father’s. He was way taller than me, probably seven feet tall or even more and despite this, he simply looked at me with a sort of gentleness in his gaze I’d never received from anyone.

He turned to face the crowd.

“This is my bride! Anyone who disrespects her disrespects me! Is that understood?!”

“Yes, Prince Sirius!” A resounding response came from the crowd as they began to applaud us. I looked in the direction from where a person had teased me earlier and it was then I realized that Sirius, my husband had beheaded the man who dared to make fun of me and his blood was on his wedding suit.

It was at that moment that I knew I had gotten into something bigger than myself. The second fear I had to face was how I’d be able to meet the needs of such a scary man in the bedroom, especially tonight.