The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 48

MINTH

It is late, very late.

She can hear the sounds of the festival, the noise from the great hall dying out as people fall into dreamless and most likely drunken stupors.

The creatures of darkness have begun to crawl out of their hiding places.

Owls and bats waking up from their slumber to fly across the bright moonlit sky, rodents crawling around the empty cobbled streets of the capital now that the inhabitants of the dragon realm have all since closed their eyes and laid down their heads down to rest. But not her.

Her eyes are wide open.

Staring unseeing at the wooden ceiling of her ornate four poster bed with its velvet green drapes decorated with embroidery and tassels of gold.

She has always hated the color which is ironic considering they are almost the exact shade of jade as her eyes.

Staring up at them now, the ugly drapery she hates, they only serve as k****e to the fire of rage simmering beneath her clear, perfect, porcelain skin and angelic face.

She sneers at it and were it a living thing, it would have shriveled and withered beneath the malignant, malice of her gaze.

But no such thing happens and Minth has something else to add to her ever growing list of nothing that was going the way it should.

She has not been sleeping well.

Not since that insipid little human crawled into her life and stole what should rightfully have been hers.

The king has barely even glanced at her, let alone visited her chambers.

Since the night he stormed out of her room to rescue that trash from the cellar, she has seen neither hide nor hair of him beyond passing glances as he walked through the castle or trained in the courtyard. It bothers her. Terribly.

Twisting her belly into knots and causes her head to ache wickedly.

But she hadn't known the worst of it and she managed to swallow most of her bitterness or at least keep it beneath her perfect, smiling surface.

It was especially easier after she had gone down to dinner yesterday and seen the poor little sod sitting alone at the table, eyes down, twisting her fingers nervously.

Minth had wanted to throw back her head and laugh till her sides began to hurt.

The king obviously was not interested in being around the wench and it kindled the tiny flame of hope that had begun to burn in Minth's chest.

The tiny flame that told her all hope was far from being lost.

Had she not always been a quick thinker?

Not to mention skilled with her hands and her mouth and all the job requirements that came with her position as the King's mistress.

All she had to do was remind the King of exactly why dragonkin women...her most especially...were a thousand times better than any stupid human girl.

That was until she found out about the binding ceremony.

And Minth had nearly gone blind with anger.

Not only was Hera, for that is the insufferable little troll's name, not only was she going to be lady of the castle, she had managed to sink her disgusting little claws so far into the king that he was now willingly to be bound to her before the fire gods and all the inhabitants of the dragon realm.

No. Minth could not allow it to happen.

Yet even as she had thought about it, she had known there was nothing she could really do about the ceremony.

She had found out about the news too late and now she would be forced to suffer in silence, while she watched some weak, human b***h take away her crown.

She had refused to go the binding ceremony and forbade her maid from doing so either.

Choosing instead to stay locked up in her chambers, stewing in her rage and anger.

She had paced around her room, knocking things over and sending her maid cowering in tears to a corner of the room to avoid being the focus of her angry tirade.

Of course she could hope that the Fire gods would reject the b***h and that the ceremony would fail, but Minth has never and will never be one to leave her destiny up to the Fates.

Especially not now, when the threat is so real and very much present.

This is not the first time.

Minth has come close to losing everything once before.

Years ago, her sister had appeared out of the blue, banging on the castle's gates and Minth's doors.

She was angry.

She had heard about Minth's appointment as the King's new mistress and now with many years to think about all Minth had done to her; she was now determined to pay her back in her own coin.

So she had stormed the castle, armed with secrets and damning information about the poisoned Lord's daughter who Minth should have killed, and threatened to bring everything Minth had built crumbling down around her ears. Minth had been blindsided by her sudden appearance but she had recovered quickly.

Lucky for her the King had been away from the castle on a journey.

She met her sister's rage with tears in her eyes and deep remorse engraved on her face.

She fell at her feet and wept and begged.

She had been desperate she said. She knew she had hurt her own flesh and blood and even though she now had everything she could ever want, Minth could barely sleep at night for how sorrowful she felt. Minth's sister was beyond confused.

She had come expecting a fight, not this slobbering, pleading mess.

Yet she was still angry and not ready to forgive everything her own sister had done to her.

But Minth had taken advantage of her confusion and begged her to stay the night and think things over and if when the morning came, she still wished to have her revenge, then Minth would take her punishment with grace and remorse. Her sister had reluctantly agreed.

The foolish girl had always been too trusting, to ready to give second chances.

It would turn out to be her undoing.

For when the castle awoke the next morning, the maids had gone to clean and had found the royal scepter missing from its place in the king's study.

The castle dissolved into wide spread panic, everyone searching everywhere.

And where else was it found than inside the bags of the lowly village girl who Minth swore was no true relative of hers but some wicked soul who had come to blackmail her and when she would not give in, had stolen the King's scepter. Her sister had cried and shouted and proclaimed her innocence.

But it was her word against that of the King's mistress. Who would believe her?

So Minth gave her two options; Be brought to trial before the dragon king when he returned and risk spending a long time in the castle's goal or run far... far away, never showing her face anywhere in the capital again. There was only really one option and Minth had never seen her sister ever again.

That was just one of the many battles Minth has had to fight to keep her position and her life of ease.

Fights she had met head on, teeth bared.

Fights she had won.

And it is this realization that serves to calm her down and slow her breathing.

Enough for her to stand at the gates with all the other castle's inhabitants and watch them walk past her without lunging at the King's wife and clawing the harpy's eyes out.

It was what had allowed her to sit in the great hall while everyone celebrated the marriage of that wretch to their king.

Her wine and food tasting like ashes in her mouth; it was what had allowed her to think clearly enough to begin coming up with a suitable solution.

If the king's wife insisted on occupying a position that rightfully belong to Minth then she would make it so unbearable for her, that the b***h would have no choice but to run far...far away.

Just like her sister had done.

So when the King and his bride went up for the bedding ceremony, Minth pushed her blinding jealousy and rage to the bottom of her mind and set about the beginnings of her plan.

It had not been too difficult a task to replace to replace servants and castle workers who felt the same way as she did.

The people of the dragon realm may not know exactly what happened to the former King and queen and why Midas had made it his life's mission to wage war on the human kingdom of Averia, but Minth did. And so did all of the castle's inhabitants.

Most of who have been working within its walls for a very... very long time.

So they may not hate her as much as Minth did but they disliked the human girl well enough.

And that was all Minth needed.

A few choice words and carefully timed sighs and touches.

The cracks in her voice that showed just how concerned and worried she was for the king and his well being and they were on her side.

They would treat the new queen so terribly that she would have no choice but to leave the dragon's castle for good.

A spoilt, little princess like that would surely not be able to stand being so thoroughly slighted and mistreated.

And should she perhaps decide to report their slights and actions against her to the king, the servants would band together and deny everything. There was nothing the dragon King hated more than a liar.

It would only serve to be her undoing.

Yes...it was a wonderful plan.

Minth would have laughed, laughed long and laughed hard if she wasn't suddenly so damn sleepy.

As she runs over the details of her plans, her eyes finally began to drift shut.

Calming thoughts of the success of her plans and the queen's crushed face, lure her into a state of dreamy, peaceful bliss.

It would work. Minth is sure of it.

And if by any chance it did not...well, Minth would get rid of her herself.

After all, the dragon's castle is a very large structure. Very large and very old.

Accidents were bound to happen all the time.

The dumb b***h would never even know what hit her.