The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

MIRA

I did not expect this. I did not expect this in millions of years! But to be honest, I am not even sure which one of us is surprised more. Tristan looks at me as if he has seen a ghost.

“I told you I would get her myself!” he growls at the two girls, “And why the chaos is she tied to a chair?! Explain yourselves!”

My heart sinks. He is their leader. He is their superior that they mentioned… Oh, gods! Tristan was taking part in all those murders! He…he…

Now that I think of it, it makes so much sense! The Sapphire Knight of the Akyrian Kingdom wouldn’t lower himself to supervise the Dark Selection. The task is well below him. And yet he is here. The naïve me have thought a few times that he might be here because of me. But no. That’s not the reason. He is here because of King’s orders because he needed to help to plant the spies in the Empire. And the higher the better.

“She saw that i***t Alexandra walking in here,” Xia rolls her eyes, “Since we were going to take her out today anyway, I decided not to risk it and knocked her out.”

“You knocked her out?” Tristan looks furious and I can only think of the words that they were going to take me out today. Was I really the next to be killed or…

“Mira!” Tristan kneels in front of me and I flinch at his touch. The move only makes him upset, “Mira, you don’t have to be afraid of anything.” He smiles and brushes his hand over my cheek.

“Well, sir Ragnard,” I look him straight in the eye. I find it extremely difficult since I am, you know, brought here by force and tied up with a magic blocking rope! Not to mention that you managed to murder three ladies that I knew personally!”

For a second there he contemplates. I know him well enough to know that look. But when he sighs heavily, I understand that he is not going to untie me. At least not now.

“Mira, please,” he pleads, “I would need you to trust me this once. You are safe and no one is going to hurt you. ”

“Uh-huh,” I want to roll my eyes but he leans forward and k****s me on a forehead throwing me off my trail of thought completely, “Wh-what do you think you are doing?!”

“Mira,” he smiles, calling my name for the hundredth time, “You are going home tonight. I found a way to save you from all this! Everything would get back to normal between us. Our families are already aware, our engagement is back on track and we can get back to where we were interrupted!”

I am speechless. No, I really mean it, I am lost for words and just sit there and gape like a fish thrown out of water. I look around and notice Alexandra roll her eyes and Xia clenching her lips tightly.Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“Tristan,” I sigh finally and look at him, “We can’t get back to where we left off. Everything is so different now… It’s just…”

“Leave us!” he growls at the girls and they obediently walk out into the adjoining room without saying a word. Tristan looks at me with pain in his eyes and takes my face into both his hands. “Mira, I know things… happened while you were a part of the Selection. It’s all my fault that I let it happen to you in the first place. But trust me, I would never hold it or anything else against you. We would never speak of this. It’s… none of this is important to me. All I want is you. I want you back, I want you as my wife and the mother of my future children. I would never lose you again. We will…”

“Tristan,” I close my eyes in the most desperate move, “I am not embarrassed about what happened here. It’s not that… It’s… Well… I fell in love with someone else… You and I… I am afraid it’s too late for that. Please, Tristan, just let me go. I promise I would be quiet about everything, considering it’s my own king’s orders and all… I…”

“Stop,” he says harshly and stands up back to his feet, pacing back and forth in front of me. He is clearly thinking about something, rubbing the bridge of his nose from time to time.

“Tristan?” I call for him after a while, “Please, I am so sorry that…”

“That’s not Dargen, right?” is all he asks.

“No,” I shake my head, “Gods no! He is a psycho! It’s… it’s Derrien Derwood…”

A g***n comes out of the Sapphire Knight of the Akyrian kingdom as he closes his eyes and starts breathing heavily. He walks to the fireplace and shoves a few pieces of wood in the flames vigorously. For the always reserved Tristan, this is as furious as it gets. I know that he is fuming inside.

But finally, he exhales heavily and comes back to me and kneels again. He stretches his hand to my cheek and I flinch once more, making him even sadder.

“It all right, Mira,” he says softly, “I am not angry.”

“You are not?” I raise my brows, “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” he smiles, “Mira… Gerdians…they are… they have this charm to them.”

Well, it’s true. They do. But I wonder where he is going with this.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Mira, their dark magic… We’ve been researching it for a while. It is captivating, it makes you look differently at the person who possesses it. It’s out of your control. But once you don’t interact with it anymore, you will feel much better. I promise.”

Oh, gods. He thinks that it’s magic and not the person.

“Tristan, I assure you, Derrien’s magic has nothing to do with it. He and I…we’ve been through a lot together and…”

“And so have we!” he snaps, “And we will be together through even more! Mira, don’t you get it? They are the enemies! Not friends! The Empire and the Kingdom are on the verge of war! You are an Akyrian battlemage for gods’ sake!”

It’s true. And it cuts through my mind like a knife through a cake. But nevertheless… we might be enemies with Rien, but we are also in love. And I am sure we can make it work! If he dealt with the Crown Prince, I am sure this wouldn’t be such a problem after all…

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, “I am sure we can find a way out of anything. Just, please, Tristan. Let me go!”

He stands up again, clearly disappointed by my words. He looks somewhere behind me and nods decisively. Xia joins him in just one second and gives him a little bottle. I don’t like where this is going. This is bad! Really bad! Are they going to poison me now? Should I have lied and accepted Tristan to run away later? Is he going to kill me like all those other girls?!

“Mira, just trust me,” he smiles softly as he takes my chin into his hand, “Everything is going to be all right. Your friends from the academy already waiting behind the gates to take you to my castle, where you would be protected even from the gerdians! Time will pass and this feeling you have now would go away like a charm that it is. It’s not real! You’ll see…”

“And what if I don’t?” I look him straight in the eye.

“You’ll see!” he says firmly and forces the liquid from the bottle down my throat. Somnium Nox… The potion that can take down a horse! That’s bad…

I feel how my heavy head starts to fall and strong hands catch me, ropes that were tying my hands are cut, but it’s too late as I am too weak. Tristan lifts me in his hands and starts walking to the exit.

“Remember that the order was to deal with it today but they both must be there,” I hear my ex-fiancé’s words.

“We know,” Alexandra chuckles, “How convenient such an order is for you! Two of your competitors in one blow…”

What do they mean exactly…

I want to ask them, but the darkness consumes me…