The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 107

MIDAS

The dragon king is not a man who has many weakness.

Some might even say he has none at all.

And maybe, for the greater part of his life, that may have indeed been the case.

That he is ruthless and cruel and heartless is a rumor he has not been bothered to alter.

A reputation he has been careful to cultivate.

People are less likely to attack if they believed their opponent to have no enfeeblement of which they could take advantage.

But he is soon coming to realize that the only reason he has had no weakness in all his many, many years of walking the face of the dragon realm is simply because he had been yet to meet her. And now that he has...by the gods it is driving him insane.

"Stop pacing dragon king. It is unbecoming."

"Do you think she hates me?"

"She hated you before, I would think you might have been used to it already."

"By Hades Er'gan you are not helping."

"Very well. I am almost certain that she does at the very least dislike you."

If the dragon were corporeal, Midas would have glared at it. Now he is forced to be content with simply scoffing and sneering into thin air.

"For a five thousand year old dragon you are not very good at offering words of wisdom."

"You accused her of treason and plotting to betray you, what did you expect would happen?"

"But..."

"But what Dragon king, you did not mean it? When she told you her truth and you stepped away from her, was it not because you doubted her, believed her capable of betrayal?" Midas is silent. Saying No to that would be nothing but a baldface lie.

And the ruler of the 5th realm does not lie.

Most especially not to himself.

The dragon within him sighs.

The sigh of one dealing with a petulant child.

Or a king who is unused to the nuances of emotions and what it means to want another's happiness over their own.

Over everything else.

"You are apologetic dragon king and soon enough, she will come to see it too and perhaps forgive you but before then, you must give her space."

Midas growls quietly to himself.

What did Er'gan think he was trying to do by leaving her alone with Leo?

Letting her reject him to ride on another dragon that was not him.

"But what if she does not?"

"Does not what, forgive you?"

Midas throws his hands in the air, his voice exasperated.

"Yes Er'gan. What if she never forgives me. What then?"

"Unlike you dragon king, I do not believe that the queen is entirely unreasonable and if she chooses not to, well I believe you are just going to have to work until you deserve it" And now he is even more confused then he had been before he asked.

Apologies.

They have never been his greatest of strengths.

But before he can think further about it, she is here, sliding off of Leo's back and refusing to even glance in his direction.

The urge to go to her and pull her into his arms is so strong that he has to look away.

He turns to face the open portal, the antidote to the wolfsbane poison growing warm and heavy in the palm of his hand.

His kingdom...the Fate of his people...the affections of the woman he loves...

Everything in his life is suddenly uncertain.

And for Midas, a king who thrives on order and balance, the uncertainty is what frightens him the most.

That is until he feels her wrap her hand around his.

His stability in the drowning chaos.

His anchor.

His tether.

She is still displeased with him.

He can tell in the way her eyes darken every time she looks at him, can hear it in the angry pitter patter of her racing heart.

Yet that one tiny gesture, tells him that even if everything else is uncertain, she is not.

Even disgruntled and annoyed as she is, she is still his.

And Midas did not know how much he needed to know that until he did.

He also did not realize that her grasping his hand would make his ache to hold her even more acute.

How in hades did he even think that she would ever...could ever...

Gods he has been stupid.

Stupid and wrong and he had hurt her.

The one most precious thing in his life.

He will fix it

He has to fix.

Everything.

He just has to.

And he tells her as much.

She tells him in that sultry low voice of hers that makes him want to kiss her, to practice not breaking it first.

So he does not tell her that he wants to hold her.

He is not sure he would like her answer.

Midas could hear the heartbeat of anything living from across a distance of 30miles.

Could move with the speed of light and fight a war singlehandedly to come out victorious.

Could turn into a dragon of unimaginable strength and power and could soar above the clouds on wings the length of 7 horses standing abrest. And yet when it comes to her.

He has absolutely no idea what to do.

How to make her see that nothing else mattered to him of he did not have her.

There has to be something.

A way to make things right.

He is still thinking about it even after they step through the portal and back home.

Home where thank the gods everything is neither bejeweled nor designed to either blind or give a splitting headache.

He holds her hair while she coughs and helps her back to her feet.

She tries to hide it but he sees on her face the effect the journey through the portal has had on her and he almost loses the fight not to hold her.

But her eyes tell him he is better keeping his hands to himself which of course only makes him want it more.

But he steps back and keeps his itching hands in fists by his side.

He looks around carefully, his senses merged with that of Er'gan.

Sharp and alert.

Ready to sniff out any difference in the air.

Any lingering magic.

But the only thing he can smell is residual magic from the portal they had just come through.

Yet something feels off.

For an almost imperceptible second his skin had tingked and the hairs on the back of neck had stood on end.

Midas frowns, hard.

Leo, ever alert to the changes in the mood of the king turns towards him.

"My King?"

Midas lifts one hand, silencing him.

He tilts his head to one side.

Yes, something is definitely wrong.

Something he cannot feel, something he does not understand.

Perhaps it is even something that has yet to happen.

Well whatever it is, He only knows that they have to get back to the castle.

Now.

The horses come galloping towards them but Midas is barely paying any attention and he does not glance in their direction until the horses are within reach. Maybe that is why he does not see it happen.

Why he does not notice it until it is too late and she is crumbling to the ground.

He moves like the wind, he and his chief Ryder.

Here one moment, there the next.

Both dragonkin men reaching out and catching her before her sleeves can even brush the hard and weathered rocky floor.

Midas does not notice, the chief Ryder until Leo lets go.

He steps quickly aside but his eyes remain fixed on the prone queen lying still in Midas' arm.

The chief Ryder swallows, the worry in his eyes and clenched fists obvious for much longer than he undoubtedly intended for it be.

He rights his expression soon enough but it is too late, Midas had seen the look on the face of the man who has been his only friend for many years.

The emotions in his eyes.

But he is much too worried to deal with it now.

Brushing the hair from her face, he calls out her name.

Softly first, then louder.

But she does not stir.

The horses, as if sensing the direness of the situation bray loudly.

Stomping their hooves and kicking up dust.

Leo starts "Your highness..."

But Midas is already moving.

His wings break out.

"Meet us at the castle."

And he takes off without another word, the body of the woman he loves lying still in his arms.

He is much too exhausted to be using Er'gan's wings right now.

But he could not afford to wait.

Midas is not afraid because her eyes are closed.

It is not even the state of her unconsciousness that spurs him to urgency.

No, what truly unsettles him is the expression on her face.

Pain and fear.

It chills him to his very bones.

Makes the dragon in him stir and stretch out.

He lands right in the middle of the courtyard.

"Your highness!!"

It is late and the torches that line the courtyard cast a orangey bright glow on the faces of the chief steward and the Kingmaker Arydian who are standing at the entrance to the castle. He does not wait to ask how or why Arydian, messenger of Clotho the present is here.

Neither does he bother to ask how they knew to wait for him.

He simply matches past the chief steward who had run up to him and approaches Arydian.

"Wake her up."

Arydian shakes his head, his green eyes filled with a sympathy that only serves to annoy the king.

"I am afraid I cannot do that your Majesty."

Midas growls. "You can't or you won't?"

"I can't. She lies in a realm beyond my reach. Only she can wake herself up."

The dragon king did not realize how much he could come to hate a mere sentence until he would hear it again, for the second time in three days.

Midas paces the room angrily

"What in hades do you mean you can do nothing Arydian! She has been lying in bed like that for three days and two nights. Surely you must be able to do something." "Your highness I have told you she is..."

"What good is your power if it cannot do anything to bring her back? What good is any of our powers....what good is my power."

The Chief Ryder places a hand on the King's shoulder.

Midas had almost forgotten that he is here.

He glances at the Chief Ryder.

At the way he looks at her.

And he sees his face, his emotions mirrored in the chief Ryder's face.

He shakes away the thought.

Because it is ridiculous.

Leo knows better.

As his friend.

As his subject.

So Midas tell himself he is being ridiculous and turns his attention back to her.

To where she has been lying, pale and unmoving since their return from the realm of Fae and Elves two nights ago.

"You should get some rest Midas. You have barely slept on nearly three days."

"No Leo. I want to be here when she awakens."

"And you will be. But only if you allow yourself be strong enough to still be awake when she opens her eyes."

"But..."

"The chief Ryder is right my King. You have been awake for too long a time."

Ever since he brought her back and Arydian took the antidote from him to create a warding spell against Wolfsbane which he cast over the 5th realm, Midas has not slept.

He has barely even blinked his eyes.

He has refused to leave her side.

To let go of her hand.

It was Leo he sent with Arydian to make sure the spell was cast,

It was Leo he sent to check on their prisoner in the far end of the castle

And it is Leo who has been keeping the castle running while Midas watched the woman he loves refuse to open her eyes.

And dragon king or not, it is beginning to tell on his body.

Arydian touches his arm gently.

"Go and rest Dragon king. We shall not move an inch until your return. You have my word."

So reluctantly and with one last kiss on her cold, smooth forehead, Midas walks away.

He sees her maid, the one they called Henette, sobbing quietly outside the room.

He wants to tell her to wipe her tears.

That her mistress will be fine.

But the words reach the back of his throat and remain stuck there.

Midas is surprised to replace that he is not just sad.

He is angry.

Angry at whatever is doing this to her.

And angry at himself because he is powerless to help her.

The servants wisely skitter out of his way.

Even the Chief steward for once is silent when the King passes by him.

Midas barely sees any of them and even when he does, he can barely bring himself to care.

He steps into his room but before he can close the door, a hand shoots in and stops him from doing so.

He turns around and sighs.

"Minth"

His former mistress bows her head.

"Your highness."

"Why are you here?"

"The chief steward sent me....with this."

Midas stares at the cup of what he assumes is honey Mead.

"I did not ask for it."

"Oh but you need it. To keep your strength up. The whole castle, we are all very worried about you...and the queen of course."

He takes the cup from her grasp, not because he wants it but because he needs her to leave.

She smiles sweetly.

Her cherubic

face

lighting up when he takes it.

But she does not go away.

So he lifts the cup to his lips.

"Dragon king I do not think..."

The liquid is strangely warm.

Tricking down his throat and leaving a trail of burning fire behind.

He clears his throat once...twice... wondering what Er'gan had been about to say.

Wondering why the dragon had suddenly gone silent.

The feeling goes away and he hands the cup back to her.

She smiles even wider.

Yet there is something in the way her eyes glint that reminds Midas of the way he had felt when they had stepped out of the portal.

That feeling of something wrong about to happen.

But he brushes it off.

"Thank you."

She curtsies and bows her head. "You are welcome my king. If there is anything else I could...

But Midas is already closing the door in her face.

A bath has already been drawn in his room.

But neither the warmth of the water nor it's scent is able to soothe the chill in his heart

He cannot live without her.

He just cannot.

But agitated and unsettled as he is, his body is beyond exhausted.

And somehow, maybe as a kindness, he replaces himself drifting, floating in a place where his worries are no more.

Tired and drained, the dragon king falls asleep.

Until...

"Midas...."

He stirs but he does not awaken.

"Midas..."

He can hear her voice.

She has followed him here, into his dreams.

And because he does not have her in reality, he reaches for her now.

Hands desperate to touch her, to hold her.

His eyes blink slowly open. "You're here"

She smirks at him, her blue eyes twinkling and his heart fills.

"You did not think you would get rid of me that easily did you?"

"How are you here...why did no one tell me you had awoken."

She stands up straight. "I wanted to surprise you."

"So you no longer hate me?"

"Oh Midas..."

She leans in, pushing him back into the water. "I could never...ever hate you."

He lets her get into the tub with him.

His happiness at seeing her again so acute that he does notstop to ask why the hairs on the back of his neck are standing again.

He tells himself it is the cold.

And when she presses her lips to his, he does not stop her.