The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

The maids brought me the most beautiful dress. Cream silk with blue embroidery – Tristan’s colours. And as a special present from my fiancé – a set of jewellery to match the dress. A crown, a necklace and a brooch – all with finest sapphires, shaped like butterflies. A true jewellery masterpiece.

“Ah, what a beauty!” one of the maids sighs as she attaches the crown to my hair with a special pin, “You are going to be the star of the evening, my lady! The most beautiful one!”

“Of course she will be the star! She is the future Queen!” the other giggles, “I am so honoured to be a part of this moment!”

“Me too!” the first one joins her as she attaches a light but ridiculously long cape to my shoulders.

“And me!” Tristan’s voice makes the three of us flinch and the maids immediately curtsy as deep as they can and stay this way until he waves them to raise.

“You are early,” I say, standing up from the dressing table and notice the look in his eyes. Intense and… greedy.

“Heavens, Mira, I wish we could skip that ball tonight!” he says, walking straight to me and wrapping his hands around my waist.

“Oh, gods!” I hear one of the maids whisper.

“Leave!” he says firmly to the two of them and they obey him without any hesitation.

“Have a good night, your Highnesses!” one of them mutters before closing the door.

“What a beautiful queen I have,” Tristan brushes the palm of his hand over my cheek, “Mira, I am truly happy tonight.”

He lowers himself to k**s me, but I place my finger on his mouth, “The maids were making me this pretty for three hours. I wouldn’t want to repeat that if that’s possible, so keep your hands to yourself, sir Ragnard!”

He doesn’t look pleased at first but ends up smiling anyway.

“You are right,” he sighs heavily, “I shouldn’t be selfish and must let other people see such beauty at least once in their life. After all, you are going to be with me forever. Right, Mira?”

“Forever,” I nod and he seems satisfied with my answer.

He leads me into the main ballroom of our whole Kingdom – The Golden Hall. This place is as luxurious as it gets. White marble floors with golden patterns and walls and columns simply covered with gold vines, all going up to the ceiling that was painted as the heaven skies with a legendary painter several centuries ago.

When guards open the doors before us, all the guests have already gathered and a wave of low bows and curtsies follows. Tristan leads me confidently, his head up high. We only stop before the throne, where King Bendor is sitting and watching us with a smile.

“Tristan! Miradora! Finally!” he greets us and we do what etiquette requires of us, “Raise! Raise! Take your places beside me!”

I look at him in shock. Does he really invite me to stand right at his side? Me? Is he serious?ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

As we take our places, King Bendor raises his hand and the noise of chatting around us dies down.

“Dear guests! You all know that these are challenging times for our beloved Akyria! But even during those times, we do have something to celebrate!” the King starts his speech, “Our Sapphire Knight, my beloved nephew Tristan Ragnard, has been the one to discover the betrayal of the Gerdian Empire! He risked his life to stop them and won time for us! But what is also important, he managed to rescue his own beloved from the dirty gerdians’ hands! Lady Miradora Freyn here was chosen by the disgusting Crown Prince of the Empire and was facing a terrible future as his captive! But, luckily, her knight in Sapphire Armour came just in time! The hero that he is, he went through all the obstacles and brought his bride home! Now, I named Tristan my one and only heir! He will lead our army to the war but before that, he expressed the desire to marry the love of his life! I am not the one to stand in the way of true love, so I bless the two of them and their wedding will take place within next month! It wouldn’t be the grand wedding they deserve due to the times we live in. But it would be a beautiful wedding none the less! Only the closes and the most important would be invited. But after the war is done, we will celebrate once again and name Tristan our King! I will gladly pass my crown to the Hero!”

“Long live the King!” someone starts shouting and other phrases emerge as well, “Glory to the Crown Prince! Let the future Queen be blessed!”

Huh… I did not expect that… The crowd is all blurry before my eyes as I look at them. Until I stop at one face… a face with beautiful eyes and tiny sparks of purple light dance in them… So familiar…

“Bring the bracelets!” the King commands and I flinch. Bracelets? Nobody told me anything about bracelets!

“Don’t worry about anything, Mira,” Tristan pulls me closer by my waist, “We are already engaged. It’s just a formality. And a pretty bracelet would be a great addition to your whole outfit.”

“Probably,” I say, thinking that it must be a sapphire bracelet if he says so. And sapphires just never were my favourite stones. Gods, I would have to wear this thing forever.

A footboy appears with a cushion in his hands, trembling slightly. The boy is way too young for the task. He stops in front of us and Tristan smiles broadly, looking at me first and then at everyone else. All eyes are on us.

He lifts up the fabric, covering the cushion and…

“What the chaos?!” he roars, “Who did this?!”

Huh. I’ve never seen Tristan so angry! Ever! But, looking at the cushion, I finally get why. On it lie two bracelets. Or what is left of them I should say. They look like they’ve been melted… Ugly pieces of burnt metal… A very strange sight! Tiny bumps in that mass must be the stones that were decorating the bracelets before… Well, not anymore.

For some reason, I want to laugh. And bite my l*p hard not too.

“Find out who did this!” the King commands and guards start running back and forth.

“I would kill him!” Tristan matters and his words just catch my attention.

“Who?” I ask, not stopping to gaze at him in surprise.

“Doesn’t matter,” he shrugs and steps forward, taking my hand and pulling me next to him, “Well, lords and ladies! An unpleasant incident happened to our bracelets! But Mira and I do not need any trinkets to prove our love! We have already proven everything there was to prove! Mira is mine and I am hers! And the wedding will take place as soon as possible! Probably even sooner than a month! Nothing will stop us on the way to our happiness!”

And as soon as he is done, he turns me to face him and slams his lips into mine. He is kissing me madly and deeper than it is appropriate considering how many people are watching. He presses my body into his and doesn’t stop even when we clearly should! Sharp pain in my chest brings tears to my eyes but he doesn’t stop even then, only squeezing me tighter. My scream is muffled by the k**s and probably sounds like a m**n.

Gods, how embarrassing that is!

After he is done and all the guests applaud us for gods know what – Tristan leads me in the middle of the dance floor and we perform the first Lartan of the night. It’s one of my favourite dances but the mark on my chest is still hurting and Tristan seems like he is somewhere else with his thoughts.

“Mira, I need to leave you for just a few minutes,” he says when he k****s my hand, thanking me for the dance.

“Of course,” I nod, “Take your time…”

I escape to the table with desserts and walk along trying to choose what to treat myself with. My hand almost reaches one of the tin tarts, when I hear a familiar voice, “You should be careful with what you eat!”