Dropping my gaze to the floor. My long black hair falling to my sides creating a veil. I see his boots come into my line of vision. He then kneels in front of me and grips my chin, bringing my gaze to meet his own. “Why aren’t you sleeping on the bed?” he asks curiously. I look at Lilith, who is still asleep, and I don’t know when we fell asleep, but we were both warm in front of the fire and the rug was comfier than any makeshift bed I had slept on. “We fell asleep,” I tell him. I watch as he cocked his head to the side examining my face carefully before he lets go of my chin. I see Dragus walk in behind him carrying a tray with what smells like chicken soup. He sets the tray on the desk. “Get on the bed,” Dragus says, making me glance at him. I feel sick suddenly, my blood running cold at his words. He seems to notice what he said before putting his hands up in mock surrender. “Not in that way, take the girl with you,” he says, looking down at Lilith laying on the floor. I pl
The next morning, I was awakened by someone opening the door. A woman stands in the doorway. She looks to be around my age, but her skin is chafed like she spent a lot of time outdoors in the cold. Her blue eyes look at mine with curiosity before turning away. “I’m Abigail, follow me please,” she says, looking at me before noticing Lilith who is also awake and alert to the newcomer. We quickly sit up and walk to the door. Peering out the door I notice Abigail was waiting at the end of the hall. She waves us to follow, which we do obligingly. She walks us to a large kitchen area where people are busy preparing food and cleaning dishes. One thing I noticed was all their slaves are human or at least appear to be. The room is huge and modern looking, different from the rest of the castle’s traditional look. It has stainless steel appliances and black marble bench tops, a huge island bench sat in the middle with three women standing around it chopping different fruit and vegetables. T
I take the basket back to the cleaning closet and walk fast to the kitchen, only to notice Lilith is no longer there. Walking over to the woman with red hair and freckles I ask her. “The little girl that was with me. Where did she go?” “The guards came and took her; her mother has been looking for her,” she tells me. I nod, feeling a little sad, but relieved knowing she is safer out there than in here with these monsters. I exit the kitchen and head to the small room where I slept last night. Walking in, I see a small, dark object sitting atop the bed. It is the book I was looking at earlier in the library. Matitus’s deep voice behind me makes me jump. “If you want to read that you should also read this,” he says, holding another book out toward me as he steps in the room. I take the book from him and look at it. It’s a book on Dragons and mates. I look up at him. “Read them. I know Fae have their own stories of the past, but what if they aren’t correct? What if your ancestors lie
I walk closer but don’t take his hand. Instead, I follow, crossing my arms over my chest. Matitus sighs before walking off. Together, we walk to a part of the castle I hadn’t seen before. A huge wooden table sits in the middle of the room, Matitus sat down while Dragus pulled a chair out telling me to sit. I hesitate before finally walking over and sitting down. Dragus took a seat beside me and turned his chair so he was half facing me. A few minutes later, Abigail emerges and places three plates in front of us. I stared at the plate wishing I could be anywhere else. I would have preferred to sit in the room alone and eat instead of finding myself stuck between two intimidating men. Dragus touches my knee beneath the table. I just stare at the plate, feeling uncomfortable. Dragus runs his hand up my leg, making me jump before I move his hand off me only for him to place it back on my thigh. Ignoring his hand, I look over at Matitus. “Eat” he orders, but I suddenly don’t feel like ea
I wait for Abigail to drop the clothes off before having a shower. Using the wooden chair, I brace it under the door handle. I definitely don’t want a repeat of yesterday with them invading my personal space. Showering quickly, I dress in the sweater dress Abigail gave me. It was black and warm, but I didn’t like that it showed off so much of my legs. Opening the door, I find Matitus waiting in the corridor. “Block the door again, I will make you shower with me understood?” he says, not even trying to hide his anger. But why would he? He was one of the feared Dragon Kings and used to getting his way. Not wanting to anger him further, I nod before looking away. Matitus grips my chin, forcing me to look up into his snake-like eyes. “I said understood?” I nod my head feverishly. “Words Elora.” “Yes, understood,” I whisper, fighting the urge to roll my eyes at him and his tone of voice. I felt like I was being scolded by a teacher, not that I went to school. My grandmother schooled
When I am fairly sure the coast is clear, I pop my head up and look around the clearing. I can hear men shouting in the distance and I remain hidden amongst the long grass, too scared to move. Too scared to even breathe as I hear them get nearer to the clearing. Their voices grow louder, lucky for me though they ran that fast and the snow and grass masked my scent. Sitting upright, I scan my surroundings once again before running in the direction they came from, hoping they wouldn’t backtrack. Once hidden by the high trees, I keep running straight, looking for any sign of the barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire city. With the trees up above, the dark got darker to the point, even with my heightened senses and eyesight I struggle to see. As I run, I can only just make out the trees before I run into them. I keep running. What I fail to notice is that there is a pond. When it’s far too late, my feet hit air suddenly before I drop into the icy cold water, breaking through the th
Silas I was off searching other territories and no-man’s-land when my mates contacted me, telling me they thought they found her. Matitus ran into her on the streets. I had my doubts, of course. We have searched for her for decades trying to find this Chosen one the Oracle promised would come. Surely, we weren’t that blind, and she was under our nose this entire time, living in our city. Yet they were both insistent that she was the one. They called for all women to be brought to the castle, and that’s where they captured her. Dragus too confirmed saying he felt a strange pull to her. I headed home straight away. Flying back was easy for me, yet my mind kept going back to the great war and the destruction caused ever since. What I wasn’t expecting when I got home was everyone frantically looking for her. I landed in the back gardens. Matitus and Dragus ran out to greet me. “What happened?” I ask as I see convoys loading up and heading out the gates. It was already dark, and the n
Elora My eyes fluttered open to see the ceiling, my entire body was aching, and I knew the fates didn’t grant my wish of death. No, they once again failed me, painfully proving to me that they didn’t care for us anymore. My eyes scan the room and I see Dragus to my side, casually flicking through the page of my grandmother’s book. Sitting up, I look down to realize I am just in my underwear. I quickly cover myself with the sheet underneath me before sitting up. “You’re awake, how do you feel?” Dragus says, dropping the book in my lap. Freeing my hand, I snatch it away from his sight. “Like I have been hit by a truck,” I tell him. Every part of my body ached. Especially my back. Moving even slightly made my breathing wheeze loudly. “Can honestly say no one has ever referred to me as a truck,” comes a voice I was sure would haunt me for the rest of my life. Silas walks into the room, his height alone was intimidating, he was taller than both Dragus and Matitus. His reptilian