The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 26

HERA

"You are not the princess of Averia are you?"

I freeze.

Here's the thing about Averia's royalty or any form of royalty in general.

They do things...everything really, differently than a commoner would, no matter how high bred.

From the minute the ladies of the royal house are old enough to sit at the dinner table, and dine in all the splendor and finery their position allows, they are taught a thousand and one rules.

Chew daintily, swallow completely before you drink, at no moment should you ever speak with food in your mouth, your elbows must never make an appearance on the table, you must use the soup spoon for soup and soup alone and heavens forbid you ever...ever used your hands to bring food to your mouth.

These distinctions are what make royals... royals

They are so glaring and observable, that every servant who works or has ever worked in a palace knows these rules themselves.

I know them and Henette most certainly does as well.

And in that short moment of eating, I have broken every single one of those rules and she has noticed.

Maybe I could have laughed it off or pretended to be angry at her because in my defense, I was beyond hungry.

What did it matter that I had forgotten to use a spoon, or a fork, or any kind of cutlery really.

But I am so completely thrown off by her question that all I can do is gape stupidly at her.

Or maybe it's because deep down inside I want someone else to share the burden of sustaining this lie with me.

She stares at me calmly, her voice not rising a single octave higher and she repeats her question. "You are not the princess of Averia are you?"

I bite my lip and look away. "Oh don't be ridiculous."

But it sounds false even to my own ears. "Whatever gave you that absurd idea?"

"The only people, who gossip more than maids my queen, are the palace guards and Ryders. And we have all heard the tales of their conquests in far off lands and with these tales, came stories of Averia's royalty and their fair haired princess whose beauty is known to be greater than any before her."

She is speaking quietly, almost as if she is trying to convince herself and not me.

"but your hair...it is far different than the stories say....

"That doesn't prove anything."

But she continues speaking like I said nothing, raising her head to look me in the eye. "I for one thought maybe the rumors were mistaken but you...you do not speak like royalty, neither do you move like one and your hands..."

I glance down at them, open in my laps, my eyes trailing over the calluses and scars from years and years of scrubbing and scraping and serving.

Scars that a Princess would must definitely not have.

Her voice is barely a whisper. "Your hands...they look just like mine."

I grab her arm, abandoning all pretence. "Oh Henette, you don't understand."

"I think I do."

I shake my head furiously. I can feel my eyes brimming with hot tears threatening to spill over any minute. "No you don't."

I wasn't just afraid for myself.

Doubtlessly, if she were to expose my secret to the other maids and word got out, the King would be forced to punish me for my crimes regardless or else his people would think him weak.

But I am also beginning to like Henette and if the Midas found out she knew, there's no telling what he would do to her.

"Henette, oh Henette you must tell no one about this. You see..."

It is she who shakes her head gently this time, her palm coming to rest gently over mine. "You owe me no explanations your grace."

"But..."

A soft rueful smile plays on her lips. "We all have our demons Hera, the things that haunt us..."

She bows her head. "For you my queen I shall keep my mouth shut."

I can scarcely believe my ears. "Do you mean this?"

Her head bobs up and down in a quick nod, eyes dropping to glance shyly at her feet. "You no longer have to bear your demons alone."

My voice breaks, the tears I have been trying to keep hidden replace their way to the surface. "Henette...thank you"

She nods sharply one last time and without another word, sets about clearing the empty plates.

She doesn't look at me again till she leaves the room, pulling the noisy, squeaking cart behind her but I know I have just found my first real friend in a long...long time. And it feels really good.

She doesn't return for a while after that and I am at a loss for what to do.

There is something at the back of my mind that is making me restless. Something I am not ready to acknowledge so I ignore it

I want to leave my room, to walk around and at least know the palace that I am to be queen of but I am unsure if I can do so.

For all I know there is another guard stationed outside my door again and the thought of being cooped up in here for another full day is going to drive me insane.

At least that is what I tell myself because I would never admit that I want to see him.

I pace around my room, back and forth, around the bed, to the window and back to the bed again.

I mean I know he doesn't care one wit about me but couldn't he be bothered to see if I was at least conscious again or even still alive?

Ugh, what does it even matter if he checks on me or not?

"Besides, it's much better this way. He makes me angry and afraid and I'd much rather be left alone than have to endure seeing him." But saying it out loud doesn't make me feel any less jittery.

Moreover, Henette must have sent word to him that I am awake already, so it really doesn't matter if he comes or not.

I do not even realize I am wringing my hands this way and that way with nervous energy until they start to hurt.

My mind keeps going back to that night in the forest, when he had collapsed in my arms, his weight dragging us both to the floor.

I'd seen his eyes change back from red to gold before they drifted shut and when they had met mine, the way he looked at me... "Oh for Zeus' sake get a grip Hera. You can't possibly think..."

Mercifully a knock comes on the door before I can completely lose my mind.

"You may enter" I call out and the door opens with a creaking sound I am coming to loathe.

In comes the last person I expected to see.

"Leo?"

He bows low, his right hand on the hilt of his sword. "My queen"

Again with this 'my queen' business.

I know it is no use to tell the chief Ryder to call me something else. Something tells me he would sooner cut off his own tongue. Besides, he may have tried to save me a few times but he also seems to be Midas's right hand man and that means I dislike him just as much. Birds of the same feather and all that.

When he does not straighten immediately I realize quickly that he is waiting for my permission. "Oh...uhmmm...you may rise?"

Pretty sure I was not supposed to make it a question but luckily he straightens to his full height without so much as a raised eyebrow.

For the first time I take a good look at the man who appears to be the closest to my husband.

He is as tall as Midas is and almost as big too, but while the dragon king fills up a space, moving and brimming with a burning danger that consumes everything in his path, his chief Ryder is the complete opposite. Leo with his short pitch black hair and silver grey eyes, sharp and piercing like he can see right through you, moves with a cat like stealth and calculative, deceptive silence.

The expressionless steel of his gaze and the brushing of tiny dark hairs above his upper lip lends an air of aristocracy and danger to the hard, handsome planes of his face.

He is the calm to Midas' storm and the exact kind of deadly danger you do not realize or recognize until it is about to kill you.

His eyes sweep briefly across the room before coming to rest squarely on me. "I am glad to see you have awakened your grace." "As am I Chief Ryder."

"Please, call me Leo your grace."

The one who led me to prison... right hand to the man I hate.

I laugh; short and sarcastic. 'I do not think so Chief Ryder."

His expression remains unflinching and emotionless.

If he is here, could that mean...

I replace myself craning my neck, looking behind him and he notices.

"His majesty is busy but he is glad to hear that you are now in perfect health."

I turn away, masking my disappointment and move towards my window "You know Chief Ryder, somehow I highly doubt that." "Nonetheless, he has sent me in his stead."

I glance at him, making sure to keep my face disinterested even if I am feeling the complete opposite of that. "Has he now?"

"I am to accompany you around the castle grounds. That is, if you desire to do so."

This time there is no hiding the surprise or relief on my face and in my voice. "Is this true, am really free to leave this chambers?"

"My queen, I don't think you understand, you are not his prisoner."

I scoff. "You don't say."

"However..."

My ears perk up and I raise one cynical brow.

He does not look away when he speaks to me like Henette does and I replace myself wondering how he got the little scar that sits just above his right eye, passing through and dividing the brow above it. "However... you are never to walk around unaccompanied and once dinner is past, your door will be locked and you are not to leave your room until the morning comes."

"You have got to be kidding me."

He frowns as though confused. "Kidding!...I am afraid this term is unfamiliar to me your grace."

I laugh bitterly. "That is Averian for you must be taking lessons from the court jester. You say I am not a prisoner yet I am to be locked up in my room at night and not allowed to move around the castle grounds without armed guards watching my every step?" "It is for your own safety your grace."

I scoff in disbelief.

He doesn't look away, his gray eyes holding mine in place. "Besides, you have proven to be a flight risk and a danger not only to yourself but to his majesty as well. So until the king can trust you, I am never letting you out of my sight again."