The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

We land in some kind of side street and I recognize the architecture of the Akyrian Kingdom’s capital – Astera. Whitestone houses, red rooftops, flowers everywhere… I am home…

“Are you alright, little mage?”, Derrien brushes his palm over my cheek and I realize that I am still in his arms.

“Oh,” I try to push him away.

“What’s wrong?”, he asks.

“What if someone sees us?” I blush.

“And that would be terrible because…?” he looks at me questioningly.

“It is not appropriate behaviour,” I lie. His last words are still circling in my mind. I want to ask him what he meant. Yet somehow too afraid to do it… I don’t want to seem petty… or clingy… And yet the phrase bothers me.

“Don’t worry about anything”, he smiles at me, “Look at the shop window behind you.”

I turn and look at the said window, not quite understanding what he wants me to see. But gasp as soon as I realize that it’s my reflection. I look different. Pitch black hair, plumper lips, dimples on cheeks that I don’t have, cute little snub nose… The girl in the mirror could be my sister.

And Derrien… Brown curls, light blue eyes, bigger facial features, but still handsome. I wouldn’t recognize him, though.

“Illusion?”, I turn back and see gerdian’s usual appearance, “But why do I still see you as normal when I look at you directly though?”

“Because I want you to see the real me. And I want to see the real you. Always,” he pulls me by my hand into his warm embrace and k****s gently, making me forget about everything. He breaks our k**s reluctantly while breathing heavily. “Gods, Mira, I can’t get enough of you…”

I reply nothing to this, just look away, biting my l*p. I feel the same, but there is no need for him to know that now.

“Aspen’s shop is not far from here”, I smile at him.

“We’ll go there later,” Rien offers me his hand, “First we need to get new clothes and then eat. You must be starving by now since we had nothing to eat in the hut…”

“True”, I look down pretending to fix creases on my dress but In reality, I just remember that food was the last thing on our mind back at the mountain hut.

We start walking and I prepare myself to give my companion a tour of the capital, but to my surprise he knows exactly where he is going, navigating around the busy city streets just perfectly.

“If you want to ask something just ask”, the gerdian smirks, “You know I cannot lie and you look like you are about to explode.”

“How on heavens do you know the city so well?! I mean, I know you’ve been here as you picked me up from the Academy. But you seem to know your way around pretty well!”

“That’s easy”, he chuckles, “I come here often. For work.”

“You mean as a spy? You? Really?”, I can’t close my mouth at all – that’s how shocked I am at the news.

“Not as a spy”, he chuckles, “I am a representative of the Empire when one is needed here. Your king knows about it very well. And sometimes I was coming here just to enjoy myself.”

“Huh?”, I look at him surprised. What does he mean exa… “Ewe!”, I shrug as soon as I realize, “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

“Yes, Mira, you asked and I answered honestly. You already know about the lack of women in the Empire. So it became common practice for our men to come in disguise and live a healthy life with human women from time to time…”

“I get the idea, thank you!”, I almost yell, not wishing to hear the rest. It makes me so angry for some reason, although, of course, by the way, Derrien is in bed, I knew pretty well that there was no chance that he didn’t have previous experience with women. Somehow he didn’t give me a virgin vibe at all. If anything, he knows exactly what to do… Oh, gods! How many women has he been with before me exactly? I… I must seem like such a fool to him.

A rough pull on my hand turns me to face him and he takes my chin into his hand, lifting it up so that I look into his eyes.

“My little silly mage, I now feel the urgent need to inform you that it has been a long time since I came here for pleasure purposes last time. I was young and foolish and had to experience things. And I did. What you and I have is very different, though. You are special to me, Mira.”

“Uh-huh”, I look away, “I am sure you never told it to anyone.”

“That’s true. I never told it to anyone else,” he admits nonchalantly and turns me to look at Lady Sen Court Boutique, “We are here!”

I know that place far too well. The most expensive and exquisite shop in the Kingdom, where you have to stand in the queue for months to get an appointment. I was only getting one when my mother was mentioning that I am Tristan’s fiancée.

“That’s not the best idea, Derrien”, I look at the gerdian in disguise.

“Killian”, he says firmly, “Right now call me Killian. Killian Krauten, count of Rochland”

“Oh my gods! You even have a title!”, I gasp.

“Tsss, little mage”, he puts a finger to his lips and opens the door for me, “After you.”

I walk in and at once an assistant gives me an unhappy glance. The shop is famous for its arrogant workers. And it’s incredibly hard to get into their good grace. Miradora Freyn is treated well here, but at the moment I am just some unknown girl to them.

“I am sorry, we are incredibly busy today and do not accept any new customers”, the girl – a blonde with all her hair in a tight bun – says.

“Are you sure?”, Derrien smirks at her and she turns pale.

“L-lord Krauten”, she curtsies in front of him, “I am sorry, I haven’t noticed that the lady is with you.”

“The lady needs a dress and a cape plus all accessories, I need a suit. And we are in a hurry,” he drops his coat to a nearby sofa.

“Yes, my lord!”, she curtsies again. Even though one time was more than enough.

“What did you do with them here?”, I whisper to him, shocked to my bones.

“Let it be my little secret”, he winks at me with a playful gaze.

This man is full of surprises.

In just a few minutes I am taken to one of ladies’ changing rooms – spacious and luxurious. The assistant, whose name turns out to be Rose brings multiple dresses for me to choose from. Any colour, any design… I almost settle for a teal one, when I hear a familiar voice in the hall next to me.

“And now that Freyn is out, the next ball would be to live or die!”

“I don’t think he would be choosing a new fiancée so soon, though”, another familiar voice.

I open the door a little bit and look at the two women through the gap, recognizing my social friends Amalia and Elenora. And I call them social friends because we only interact at social events. We are not friendly at all… If anything, they despise me. And the feeling is mutual.

“I am telling you now that Mira is out of the picture, you’d better not lose time and seal the deal!”, Amalia insists, “A man like Tristan would not stay single for long! You need to act fast!”

I roll my eyes. No, I always knew that every girl in the Kingdom wishes to become Tristan’s fiancée and secretly wants me to disappear. But to hear them speak about it so coldly…

“Miradora is lucky, though”, Elenora continues, “First she had Tristan, and now she is about to marry a gerdian lord! That’s what I call lucky!”

Lucky is so not the word that I’d use in this situation. Although, remembering about Derrien…

“I know! So not fair!”, Amalia chimes, “There is nothing special about her, and yet she gets the best men. I’ve heard that she wanted to become a battlemage. Can you imagine?”

“Gods, no!”, the girl giggles ugly, “I bet she went to that department only to seduce more guys!”

I roll my eyes. This is getting annoying. Another assistant walks into their room and brings out a burgundy dress. And a stunning one at that.

“My lady”, Rose appears out of nowhere, looking at me a bit terrified, “Is everything alright? Did you like anything?”

“Rose, from one to ten,” I smirk, “Just how much are you scared of lord Killian?”

She turns pale and stutters, “T-ten.”

“Good”, I bite my l*p, “Then I want that burgundy dress. Get it for me!”

I feel a bit guilty when the girl disappears with this terrible task I gave her. And when the door opens, I turn to apologize to her for making her do this but it’s not her who is looking at me expectantly.

“Having fun?”, Derrien walks in wearing a gorgeous outfit that fits him like a glove and raising a brow at me.