The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

Derrien’s voice echoes around the huge hall and I see some of the girls gasp in shock while men politely step away.

“What is wrong, cousin?” Ryden smirks, pressing me into his body tighter. This is nowhere near the etiquette requirements, but I guess he doesn’t care about something like that, “You are interrupting this very wonderful moment between my woman and me. Mind your own business!”

Lord Derwood steps forward, his fists clenched and almost white from the pressure, “She is not your woman!”

“This says otherwise!”, Dargen lifts up my hand with the ring he just put on me and shakes it. And for the second time during the evening, I feel like a rag doll without her own will, emotions, speech…

“This says nothing!”, Derrien smirks and dark flames appear around my body. I flinch, but they do not hurt me one bit. However lord Dargen steps away from me quickly and I see him rubbing his hand, noticing there is a burn on it.

“You… bastard!”, he grits through his teeth and somehow the silence in the room becomes heavier.

Although other girls flap their lashes at the scene, looking at Derrien’s face and noticing tine flashes of dark magic in his eyes, I see that the words hit the goal. So, he is a bastard… I wonder what is the story there and who are his parents.

“Come up with something new already, Dargen”, Derrien smirks and the flames around me die down, leaving a long chain with a round gold pendant on my neck.

A wave of whispers fills the room, “He gave her a gift too! What now? Who has more rights for her?”

I look at the pendant and somehow it seems familiar… Black diamonds and rubies are matching each other perfectly in a complicated pattern.

“You cannot do that!”, Ryden is furious and moves back to me with clear intention to tear it off my neck! But Derrien takes a step forward and his cousin stops.

“Of course I can”, he chuckles darkly, “I can do whatever the hell I want and you know it!”

“You are not the crown prince!”, Dargen’s face is almost red.

“Neither are you”, Derwood replies, “You are a duke. And I am the archduke and the general in command of our army. I outrank you by a mile and that means that if there is a dispute of any sort between the two of us, you have to step away. So, off you go!”

“Not for long!”, the duke starts to move, but lord Brandon quickly runs up to him in an attempt to distract him.

“Come on, Dargen! It’s just a girl!”, he says jolly, “Look around you, here are plenty of others to suit any taste! Just choose someone else!”

Ryden looks at me and for a second I feel so cold that shivers go down my spine. His look is so…menacing… This kind of man would better break his toy than let anyone else have it…

“This is not over!”, he throws at his cousin, and, taking another look at me, he disappears in the dark smoke. The moment he does makes it easier for me to breathe.

The silence is still hanging in the room like an axe over the head of a sentenced to death convict…

“Lords and ladies”, Brandon says in his usual playful voice, “The evening continues! Forget what you just saw and have fun!”

With that, he moves towards Morgan, making Ariadna, who he danced with before, frown, “Lady, would you be so kind as to gift me this dance?”

“Why, yes, my lord!”, my friend curtsies and he leads her to the middle of the dancing floor. Other couples follow them quickly and I just stand there not even knowing what to do now. It’s all a bit of a shock to me.

So, when Derrien grabs my hand and forcefully takes Dargen’s ring off my finger, I gasp in shock.

“You are not going to be needing this!”, he says and the ring blazes with dark fire, which destroys it in seconds, turning it into ashes… I didn’t know that something like this is even possible. “It would only bring you trouble if I let it exist,” the lord says, “Dargen charmed it especially for your aura. To make you more…willing. If you know what I mean.”

My cheeks flush as I know exactly what he means. What is wrong with those gerdians?! Who does something like that?! But I also remember something else…

“Oh, you are worried for me now?”, I stress out the last word.

“You are speaking about that knight?”, he smirks, “I thought you could handle him on your own.”

“You know very well that I wouldn’t be able to handle any gerdian on my own!”, I roll my eyes, “Your magic is much stronger than ours!”

“But you still manage to keep us on our toes”, he chuckles and then adds, “I wouldn’t have let him hurt you… Him or anyone else.”

My cheeks suddenly feel so hot that I briefly touch one with my hand and Derrien catches it in the air.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Dance with me, Mira”, his voice sounds even more husky than usual as he lifts my fingers to his lips and k****s them gently.

So gently… He had never kissed me like that before. Possessively yes, passionately yes, roughly even… but not like this…

I just nod and he takes me by my waist, taking the lead.

I danced many times in my life. Most of them with Tristan and, if anything, my ex-fiancé has been the perfect partner – skillful and thoughtful, elegant and helpful in case I made a mistake… And yet it has never felt like that! It never felt like I am flying next to him.

Step, step, and Derrien makes me arch my back, step, step, and he pulls me so close that our faces almost touch. His firm grip on my waist makes me shiver as he leads me circle after circle. For a moment there I forgot where I am… Nothing else exists – just me and him… The next move – and he puts my hand on his shoulder, bringing me so close that I feel his hot breath right on my neck…

And that’s when flames of dark magic consume us…