Chapter 37 37
DAVINA ELM.
I was fast asleep beside Dragon Sovereign, my arm across his chest while I leaned on his shoulder. I was having a beautiful dream, sure, I was snoring from the comfort of sleeping on such a soft bed, when something slammed on my back.
My eyes lit wide, and I jerked from the bed.
Dragon Sovereign sat up as well, looking so sleepy with his gaze narrowed.
As I was about to turn around, I was hurled from behind and dragged out of the bed, then came a resounding sound that gave me ringing ears for quite some time, and my vision was unclear while I pressed my palm on my cheek.
“Irian, what should this be called? On whose authority?” came the Sovereign’s voice, but the dragon lady ignored him and yanked my hair vigorously. She pulled me by my hair backwards and slammed my body on the wall, causing me to groan in panic. “You know how much I hate what you're just doing, and maybe you forgot she's my slave, which means that you have no authority over her.” Dragon Sovereign growled at her, his voice not too distant and signifying that he had left the bed.
I managed to open my eyes, and before me was Irian, her face flushed in anger, and some feet away was Dragon Sovereign.
“You look down on me a lot; if not, she wouldn't have the guts to climb that bed with you. What slave doesn't know their boundary and wants to take over their master? What would people say when they hear this?” Irian dragged me by my dress, scowling, and the hotness of her body sent excruciating heat to my skin. “Zaugustus, I'm not going to stand this fae slave taking you away from me.”
“I took her to my bed, so she shouldn't be blamed. And who said she's taking me from you? I was never yours!!” he slammed, his eyes turning white like a storm. “Now let go of her…”
But Irian shook her head, “I won't dare! I'm taking her with me, and I'm going to have your parents…
Irian's words were cut short when her betrothed yanked me away from her hands forcefully. The white, cloudy rope around me was so chilly, as though it would cause me to catch a cold. I took a good look at it, and I could only say that it was a storm rope, because it looked like one.
“I'm not going to stand this mess next time. She's my slave, and I do with her what I want…so keep off me if you don't feel okay with it,” he warned her, while his bare arms were almost covered in his scales.
My eyes landed on Irian, and the lady didn't seem to be giving up. I knew she was no good when she watched us for so long and left without doing a thing, but if Dragon Sovereign doesn't want her any longer, shouldn't she just let him be?
She stepped closer, her face already pale from anger. “Zaugustus, did you think I would let you dump me and choose this fae slave? Did you know how many men I have refused because of you? What about the years I prayed for your return when you were in that ground?”
I glanced at my master, but his expression was emotionless.
There was no way her prayers made me risk going to the forbidden shrine only to end up saving this monster of a dragon. Does she even know how risky my life was because of their Sovereign? My brother hadn't been found, my human friend risked leaving her family for my sake, and she was making it look like she lost a lot because of him.
“I do not care if she's your slave or not, and would love this to end here if you will hand her over to me.” Irian threatened, and I hated that part of this.
Slowly, I closed the distance between my master and me, and got my fingers tangled into his. We had a deal, so I wouldn't want to part with him. My life was in his hands, so he must do anything to save me from the wrath of his people.
When Dragon Sovereign saw how I held him tighter, he responded to Irian, "You're going nowhere with her. But if you think you are above my command, then try.”
Irian scoffed, her smile so dirty and devilish.
She didn't back off like I thought, because she knew how deadly her betrothed was. I only thought she wanted to test his patience, or maybe have something to hold against him.
As she took two steps closer, I shuddered at the amount of flame that was wrapped around her like a fabric.
She winced aloud, her eyes shut tight.
Fear gripped me, and I turned to Dragon Sovereign, “You can't hurt your betrothed this way because of me, or they could get back at me any time soon. Isn't that your Stormfire? I read that it takes one life at a time.”
He didn't budge, but continued staring at the lady steadily.
“Dragon Sovereign!!!” I screamed and quickly got to my knees. “I don't want it this way, please. You can't harm your people because of me, who's a rival.”
Then I heard a loud groan from Irian, and she happened to slump to the floor, her skin all burnt, her face so ugly, and the dress almost ripped from her body. I thought Dragon Sovereign didn't even want her dead, but just wanted to teach her a lesson…but that was damn scary.
She raised her face and flung her hair to the side. “Zaugustus, you used your stormfire on me because of this brat? You really did treat me like an enemy?” Her voice was so loud that one could tell how shattered she seemed to be.
I felt pity for her, but still blamed her for trying to challenge someone she knew could take her life.
“The next time you try to hurt her, I'll do more than this,” was all he said to her, and he pulled me along as we got back to the bed.
I didn't expect him to act like nothing ever happened and forced me to lie beside him again. I wondered how tired and drunk he was that it didn't take time for him to sleep off, and then I turned to Irian, who was still sitting on the floor, helpless.
The emotions in me swelled, but I didn't want to overdo things by acting like a good girl, so I pretended to be less interested in her staying there and lay back on the bed with my master.
In the next few hours, she had already left, and Dragon Sovereign was still fast asleep when I didn't feel like shutting my eyes at all.
___
Days had passed since the incident in the Sovereign's chamber, and since then, I hadn't set my eyes on Irian ever again and didn't even want to.
Dragon Sovereign had also been acting weird to my liking, and it always made me recall Perrin's words about him. I couldn't be fond of my master when I was scared of him. And also, we had nothing in common except finding my brother for me.
I feared telling Ofelia about it would result in so many questions I wouldn't be able to answer, because as much as it made me uncomfortable, I still felt bad each time he didn't act that way.
The idea of him not marrying Irian wasn't okay with me, but there was nothing I could do other than to pray to the goddess mother of the fae for my survival with my friend and brother.
On a certain afternoon, when I was doing some laundry with the help of Ofelia, several female dragon servants whispered to themselves while staring at us. I paid little to no attention, but Ofelia got fed up and simply trailed behind two of them to hear what they were saying.
“Who the hell said she spellbinds your Sovereign? Is that man so little to be spellbound, or isn't he strong any longer?” I heard her voice and jolted to my feet. “You all are so foolish if you think she did spellbind your ruler. You should be grateful that she even exists in his life and should do anything to please her. And if you don't like the idea of her being a slave to your ruler, what happened to meeting him instead? You bunch of idiots!!” she snarled and let out a loud hiss.
The dragons gathered and watched as she walked back to where I stood, and nothing was as scary as her actions just now, because it could land her in prison soon.