confused

confused
“remember the plan?” he said, adjusting the arm of my dress for me whilst i stood there, letting the servants dress me as though i was some doll.
I said nothing, looking ahead so that i did not make eye contact with him. “Mika…” he said, a bit of frustration in his tone. “Mikky” he said, a little softer this time around. I looked at him, forcing myself not to break out into a smile. “i need this to work out” i looked at him long and hard. The only reason i was going to this stupid meeting was because i was scared what could have happened if i did not go.
Again i said nothing. He grabbed my face, holding it in place so that i was unable to look away.
“reply when i fucking talk to you” he growled, looking at me with a bit of irritation.
“why not just put a fucking collar around my neck, i mean it would be easier. Wouldn’t it?” i said, not breaking eye contact as i spoke.
he looked at me long and hard, finally taking a breath, trying to let out a little tension.
“i am trying to do this for you, for us” he said, taking a different approach on the matter but i was no longer interested in the conversation. “you should know that by now”
I fought the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes “look, i get it. You are starting to sound like some broken radio, so please…” i said, visibly irritated by whatever it was that he was about to say.
He said nothing, studying me like any person would do, while watching over their prey. “very well then.” he nodded, whispering something to the guard behind him who just nodded, looking at me briefly before walking out. “here” Darius said, stretching his hands out for me to take it. “if you are ready that is” i took in a deep breath, taking his hands with mine before walking out the door.
“you make sure not to speak, even when you are spoken to. Those men…” he started before shaking his head, as though thinking it through and deciding not to talk
Darius was tense.
It was very obvious from the way his hand clamped around mine like he feared I might vanish if he loosened his grip even a little. The long stone hallway to the Council chamber or whatever it was called felt colder than usual, and each step echoed with a weight I didn’t understand. Darius had said nothing since we left our chambers. Not a word. Just that rigid jaw… that storm building behind his eyes.
“Darius,” I whispered, breath fogging in the cold air, “where are we going?” i said when we passed a door, the nerves suddenly creeping in
But Darius only tightened his hold on my hand
When the massive doors opened i froze five elders sat waiting—old dragons in their half-shifted forms, with eyes that glowed like embers and scales threading up their necks. Their gazes snapped to me the moment I entered.
I swallowed hard.
Darius placed himself half a step in front of me, shoulders squared, already radiating heat in irritation.
“Let’s get this over with,” he growled.
One of the elders—a thin, silver-scaled woman with eyes like mercury—leaned forward.
“Dragon Lord,” she said, tone slicing through the room, “we have convened because you have made a claim. A mate claim.”
Mate? My brows knitted. My heart skipped.
What?
My gaze darted up to Darius, but he didn’t turn. He kept his eyes locked on them.
“I stand by my claim,” he said, voice steady. “as you already knew or most likely had heard of it earlier”
Another elder—bigger, his horns curling like obsidian—snorted.
“She is human. And completely ignorant of what the claim even means and she is a hunter”
My chest tightened. Ignorant? Claim? What were they talking about?
But something in Darius’s silence warned me not to speak. Not yet.
“She does not bear the mark,” another elder added sharply. “She is unfit. Fragile. Unworthy to stand beside a Dragon Lord.”
Darius’s heat spiked so instantly I almost stepped back. He snarled, “Choose your next words carefully.”
But then… everything changed.
A side door opened.
Two guards stepped in.
Carrying a small bundle.
My breath froze in my chest.
My baby.
My baby.
His little cry broke through the suffocating tension, raw and desperate, and all the air rushed from my lungs. My knees almost buckled as instinct tore through me—I tried to run forward, but Darius’s hand shot out, gripping my waist, silently begging me to wait.
I didn’t understand why until the elders spoke again.
“It is this child,” the silver-scaled elder hissed, “that poses the greatest threat to the order of our kind.”
My heart stopped.
Threat?
My baby?
“An abomination,” the horned elder said coldly. “Half human. Half dragon. Unstable. Dangerous to our lineage and we heard rumors of the child not being yours Lord Darius.”
My vision blurred as heat pricked the backs of my eyes. I barely understood what they were talking about anymore, and honestly? I did not care
“How dare—” Darius thundered, flames flickering at the edges of his lips.
“The only path,” a third elder interrupted, “to even considering accepting your so-called mate bond…”
He pointed at my trembling child as if she were nothing.
“…is to have the baby removed.”
My mind shattered.
Removed?
As if he were an item. A mistake. Something disposable.
My chest constricted until it physically hurt. Confusion, rage, terror, disbelief—all of it swirled violently, tearing through me.
Darius moved before I could breathe.
His flames erupted—not fully, but enough to make the chamber tremble. The guards holding my baby flinched, stepping back instinctively.
“You touch her,” Darius growled, his voice a fractured promise of death, “and there will be no Council left to speak of.”
“Your emotions cloud your judgment,” one elder hissed. “A Dragon Lord does not bow to weakness.”
Darius barked. “ Mika is my mate. I will not repeat myself.”
Mate.
There was that word again.
And suddenly… it clicked. Halfway. Barely.
But enough that something inside me began shaking.
I didn’t say anything. Not until I saw one of the guards shifting his grip on my baby—too rough, too careless, making him whimper.
Then something inside me snapped.
I stepped forward.
Not behind Darius.
Beside him.
My voice trembled, but it didn’t break.
“T-touch him again,” I said, every nerve in my body lighting on fire, “and I swear I will tear this entire chamber apart with my bare hands.”
Silence.
The elders stared at me—this fragile human woman threatening them like a lunatic—and something flickered in their eyes. Surprise. And something darker.
“See?” the silver elder whispered. “Lord Darius, we do not come here to argue, but if this would be another blood bath just like the last time she was here….” i looked around, wondering what the fuck the woman had meant by that
Another elder inhaled deeply. “Our verdict remains. If the child is not eliminated, we refuse the bond. No exceptions.”
My breath hitched.
Eliminated.
They said it again.
My baby cried louder as though understanding what was being said.
Darius growled so deeply the floor vibrated. “i said everyone should watch their bloody tone!”