The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 111

Minth

She laughs.

Laughs and cackles and giggles.

Over and over again.

The bones beneath her chest have begun to hurt and the skin across her cheeks feel tired and strained

But she does not care.

She continues to laugh and laugh and laugh.

Tears have filled her eyes and they run down her cheeks in tiny, eager rivulets.

And yet she keep at it.

Sniffing and sighing as if done, only to burst into loud noises immediately after.

It does not matter that she is not alone.

That her maid stands cowering in the corner, shaking like a leaf in the wind, tears running down her cheeks.

Nor does it matter that like one who is half insane, she has been doing the exact same thing since she stumbled into her chambers, half naked, hair amiss and began breaking everything in her room.

She had laughed when her maid startled by the noise of shattering glass and against better judgement, had appeared in the open door way to check on her mistress.

Still laughing Minth had swung and swayed towards her.

Hands graceful and hips swinging from side to side, she had pulled the shaking, flabbergasted dragonkin girl into the room by her hands.

Her movements almost gentle and kind which of course, only served to make the maid all the more frightened.

When her mistress smiled, nothing good was brewing and when she laughed like this, then the brewing calamity must finally be ready.

She had been right.

Minth still smiling, had positioned her against the far wall.

And then as she threw glass after vial after bottle at the wall behind the shaking maid, sometimes missing, sometimes not, she had laughed and laughed and laughed. She laughs not simply because she wants to.

But because she replaces it nearly impossible to stop.

How can she stop when they are all so stupid?

A bunch of morons content with whatever scraps the Fates have thrown their way.

Stupid...stupid....stupid...

And oh so very easy to play.

To string along like a fiddler's harp and watch them scramble and dance to her tunes.

Every single one of them.

Fine so maybe not everyone.

Somehow the dragon king had managed to slip through her fingers.

He is the reason why even through the haze of her madness filled euphoria she is still very much unsatisfied and angry.

She had known it was an insane plan, down right batty if not impossible.

A plan that should it fail, could get her executed publicly.

Hung, beheaded, maybe even drawn and quartered.

And she had told the voice and it's messenger just as much.

Told the castle's prisoner to go to hell and replace some other fool stupid enough to play the putty and bell the cat.

But then they had showed her the truth.

Shown her how she had been called, chosen.

She was not to be some putty, dancing to the music of the puppet master.

Had she not herself made her way to the the voice?

Had she not outsmarted the guards who stood watch at the door to the concealed, forbidden tower where the prisoner was kept. Getting information about the prisoner from the chief steward had been as the pulling of a horse's teeth.

Tricking the guards had been even harder.

But she had done it.

So what if the voice had told her what do and how to get to the tower?

Everything other thing had been her.

Her and her alone.

She had planned and she had executed. Until she had finally found her herself standing in front of the one they call the queen of elves. "We have been waiting for you."

The witch, for Minth is beyond convinced that is what she is, had been The most beautiful thing Minth had ever laid eyes on.

As beautiful as the setting sun.

The radiance that kisses the earth before darkness takes over.

Yet the voice that had come out from between the elven queen's lips was not that of any woman Minth had ever heard.

It was dark and deep and made the skin on the back of her arms prickle and itch.

She had almost turned back then.

Almost.

But then the woman has spoken again.

And just like that, Minth had found herself unable to move. Barely able to even breathe. All she could do was stand and watch in wonder. Heart racing, mouth dry, she had struggled to clear her throat and replace her voice.

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled at her, bright red lips against a pale white face and this time when she answered, her voice was normal. "who I am or what I am does not matter. What matters is you."

"Me?"

"Yes you."

She had not looked like any prisoner Minth had ever seen before that day.

Even trapped and locked up as she was, the elven queen moved around the stone walled room like she was home.

Perching on the edge of the bed and smoothening down the covers like she hadn't a care in the world.

"We are very much alike you know."

"We are?"

"Of course. Beautiful... intelligent...ready to do what everyone else is much too...scared to do. Ready to get our hands dirty." Every word she spoke, like a fisherman's reel had pulled Minth forward.

Step after step after step until she found herself standing directly in front of the dragon castle's most feared prisoner.

The woman had patted the bed beside her and Minth had sat. Her hands falling limp by her sides.

Almost like she was no longer in control of her body.

The longer she had looked into the shadowed eyes of the queen of the dark elves, the more the feeling had intensified.

And when the woman had laid a hand on her arm, she had to struggle not to shudder and snatch it away.

"Just like me dear Minth. You have had to fight for what you have. Tired of feeding off the crumbs of others you have had to tossle and scrap and claw your way to get to where you are now, Mistress of the dragon king...the one who should rightfully be queen..." Minth had nodded like an eager child.

Agreeing with every word that fell from the woman's mouth was easier than trying to think through the effect the elven queen was having on her.

"...And yet dear Minth, despite your struggles, you have had things taken from you. All the things you so rightfully deserve taken by those who have spent all their lives in luxury. As the favorite, the most beloved. After all your years of fighting some human now wears your crown and dons your robes while you wander the castle grounds nothing more than a glorified, forgotten maid."

Minth had snatched her hand away then.

She had been more angry than she had ever been before.

But she was not angry at the woman who was exactly like her.

No, her rage was at everyone else. All the people who had taken from her, those who would not acknowledge her and give her what she deserved.

The b***h who stole her throne.

"What do you want from me?"

"I believe the right question dear Minth, is what can we do for you?"

She had hated the way the woman said her name. The way it made her feel.

She still does.

"What do you mean 'we'?"

But the elven queen had ignored her, standing up and putting her arms around Minth's shoulders.

"You see Minth, we can give you everything your little mind desires. Everything you have ever dreamed and more could be yours."

Even through the seduction of the woman's voce Minth's mind had managed to put her first. Her natural instinct to survive kicking in

"Why?"

The elven queen had frowned then. As if surprised by the question.

"Why what?".

"Forgive me but you do not exactly strike me as one who would do anything for free. What is in it for you?"

"Let us just say we know what it is like to have what you deserve taken from you and we have grown tired of waiting. Tired and angry. And now...now we wish to take it back. To take and to punish."

To take and to punish.

To Minth That had sounded just about right.

"What would you have me do?"

"Oh nothing much..."

And then the voice had told her what needed to be done.

And she had done it.

Well... almost.

The dragon king was not supposed to have woken up from his slumber.

Neither was he supposed to have broken away from the spell as quickly as he did.

And it bothers and irritates Minth that she had not be able to have him completely to herself.

But the look on the face of that little human usurper...that insipid b***h had made everything worth it.

Minth knows she should be concerned.

Worried for her life even.

The dragon king had caught her red handed.

But she is not.

Because it is too late.

She finally manages to get herself under control, to stop laughing.

Swinging like one drunk, she steps over the pieces of shattered glass scattered across her room.

Making her way towards her maid who is now making no pretence of hiding her tears.

"Oh stop that stupid sniveling at worse. Honestly you should be grateful."

Leaning over and grabbing the girls chin forcefully in her hands she smiles. "Very soon you will be maid to the queen of the 5th realm. So stop crying or I shall have you replaced. Now laugh." "My lady..."

"Laugh I said!! Now sing me a song while I get ready."

Minth dresses to the tear filled voice of her maid.

Twirling and dancing as she slips into a dress the color of darkened blood and weaves gems of jade and onyx into her hair.

An emerald necklace cool against her chest, her arms nearly covered beneath the rows and clasps of golden bracelets.

An attire fit for a queen.

All that is left now is the crown.

She does not even notice when she steps on a piece of glass and slices open the skin of her feet.

She simply slips her foot, bloody and all into her sandals, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.

Minth knows she has never looked more beautiful.

Knows it without a shadow of doubt.

She turns to the maid who is still singing while sniffing back tears. "Run along girl. You might want to hide somewhere. Perhaps if you are still alive when all of this is over I might even consider promoting you. Now go. Run." With one last look in the mirror, Minth waltz out of her chambers.

Knowing deep in her mind that she would not return back here.

The next time she laid her head to sleep it would be in the King's bed.

With or without him.

She makes her way around the castle.

Cutting across the gardens and through the well positioned groove of trees.

Towards the part of the dragon castle that lay in shadows.

Which each step she takes, she watches the sky begin to change.

The sun loses its shine and the once constant grey sky slowly becomes even darker.

A mass of writhing heavy clouds like a thunderstorm floating gradually towards dragon's mount.

So what if the dragon king woke up early.

It was already too late.

Everything was going according to plan.

The voice may have called her first, she being the most important of course, but it had called to others too.

Had reached into their darkest of desires and brought their most secret of fantasies to the fore front.

And once one is promised whatever it is they truly, truly desire then they would do whatever it takes to get it.

Even if it meant betraying the king and the realm they swore allegiance to.

The tower is unguarded.

Little wonder there.

The wooden door is heavy and creaks loudly when she pulls it open.

She does not bother to close it behind her.

She hums as she walks up the steps, a meaningless tune that Minth does not remember knowing.

"You failed."

"I did not fail. She simply returned too early."

The Elven queen sneers at her. "You disobeyed my orders."

"Please. He is of more use to me alive than dead."

"I did not intend to kill him"

"You told me to pour in everything."

"Because it was the exact amount that was needed to..."

"How was I to know that? Anyway, you should have seen the look on her face when she saw us...him. Priceless."

Minth does not see her move.

Before she can blink, she is clutching at the hands wrapped around her throat, her feet dangling a few feet off the ground.

"It would appear you have forgotten your place."

Woman or not, Minth is dragonkin.

Tall and strong boned.

And for the elven queen to be able to lift her so easily, her powers must have returned.

Just like she said it would.

The dragon within the king must well and truly be asleep.

The hand squeezes harder, the runes across the elf's pale white skin beginning to glow and writhe again.

"Shall I remind you?"

"No."

'Louder."

How can I be louder when you're trying to kill me you f*****g b***h.

But she does not say that. Instead she coughs out another choked no.

"Good. I'd hate for our guest to have to meet your dead body. Does not set for a good precedent now does it...oh here they come now."

Minth drops down to the floor like a bag of stones. Coughing and retching.

Foot steps.

Slow and hesitant.

Minth turns her head and frowns. Wondering whether to run and hide.

"Who..."

"Oh relax. It is one of us."

Minth dusts off herself. It would not do for whoever it is to meet the future queen of their realm coughing and covering in dust.

She listens... listens to the footsteps getting louder and louder and louder... until.

The shadow at the door steps into the light of the stone chambers and Minth gasps.

She stumbles back, nearly falling over and twisting her ankle.

"You!"

Her head snaps towards the woman through which the voice had called to her.

"How did you..."

The elven queen smiles.

"Everyone has their darkness Minth. Everyone. All we have to do... is call to it."

The dark elven queen spreads out her arms and turns towards the door and it's visitor. "Welcome... we have been waiting for you."