The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 50

MIDAS

He has always loved to read.

Loved the smell of old books and the sharp scent of ink on paper.

From the minute he learned the script of the dragon tongue, he read everything and anything.

And by the time he turned nine, to the amazement of all the tutors his father had hired, not only had Midas mastered how to read the ancient books written in dragon tongue but he could read with startling ease books written in the flowing letters of the humans. The harsh sounding, yet beautifully penned words of the Faes' massive, magic tomes, and even the nearly illegible, and incredibly difficult chirography of the angel realm came to him with almost alarming ease.

His brain was like a sponge, soaking up all that information yet ever thirsty for more.

And for a while, it had been enough.

Until he turned 16 and discovered the joys of the outdoors, the wild pleasures of running free.

Nothing, nothing could make his blood rush with near delirious sweetness than riding hard and long and far.

Feeling the hard, powerful muscles of father's midnight Andalusian bunch and tense beneath him as he drove the animal racing through the dragon realm at neck breaking speed.

It was then that his father and he had first begun to argue.

He wanted to be able to go far, see the realm he was to be king of without all the guards and Ryders he father constantly put to watch him and he did not understand why his parents were so reluctant, so afraid to let him be alone.

And since his father would not listen, would not call off his men, Midas was always giving his guards the slip.

Tricking them and escaping.

Sending the entire royal household into fits of panic until he returned, sometimes late at night, untucked and sweaty, sheepishly pulling the horse behind him and trying to sneak back in without his father's notice.

And no matter how much trouble he got into, he would still do all over again the next day.

The wind blowing in his hair and scratching at his face, the smell of the dust and dirt his horse kicked up as it rode through grassy plains and muddy swamps, it gave him energy, helped him temporarily forget all the heaviness that awaited him in his future. And it still did, whenever he could manage to get away that is.

But the times were different now, his responsibilities weightier.

Now, most times when he rode out, it was to settle one matter or the other.

A hundred and fifty years had passed since the time when his only worry had been coming back home in time to avoid his father's stern gaze and giving his mother a heart attack but he still misses it.

Especially on days like this when he has to sit cooped up all day in his study, responding to letters and treaties and proposed alliance between clans and even the neighboring realms.

It is enough to drive a man mad.

"You and I both know it is not just the need to ride that bothers you."

Give it a rest Er'gan.

"Being in the castle means you are closer to her and the bond can sense it, take advantage of it. That is what is really driving you into this petulant state."

"You know you do not always have to point out everything Er'gan. I know my own mind."

"On the contrary dragon king, I do not believe you do."

Midas scowls at no one in particular, his face the very picture of annoyance and it is because he knows the dragon is right.

It has been roughly one week since their binding ceremony.

He has had most of his things moved into the west tower in an effort to keep his distance from her.

But he hates the room because it does not smell like her.

Hates sleeping in the bed because she is not in it with him.

But she sleeps like the dead and sometimes, for the first four nights when he could not fall asleep, when the dreams of guilt and regret made him uneasy, he found himself making his way to her. Pulling her sleeping form into his arms in the middle of the night and holding her until the softness of her cradled against his chest lured him into perfect, peaceful oblivion.

But the tether bond is a cold demanding b***h and it had gotten harder and harder to leave her each morning before she awoke, so he stopped going to her.

And now he has barely seen her in three days.

Not really anyway.

He sees her from a distance.

When she wanders the castle grounds with Henette or Leo or the tutor he has hired to teach her of her duties as queen and the basics of dragon tongue.

He smells her scent everywhere, that delicious aroma of berries and summer, floating in the passages and the corridors long after she has passed through them and when he rides out of the castle, he pretends he does not see her, does not feel her watching him from her window.

And quite frankly he does not know how much of this he can take any more.

A knock on his door pulls him back to the present.

He straightens. "Enter."

He frowns as she walks in, filling his study with the heavy tanginess of her perfumes.

"What are you doing here Minth?"

She bows low, her breasts threatening to spill out of the low cut amber dress. "Your highness."

He ignores her greetings, the mistress his council had forced upon him.

Midas neither likes nor dislikes her.

Of course she is a startlingly beauty, with her full hips and bright green eyes and yes, she has served to warm his bed on certain nights but his feelings for her are quite simple really; simple in the sense that they are non-existent.

He could not have cared less about her even if he tried.

And her presence here, unsolicited in his study is breaking an unspoken rule.

He came to her whenever the fancy took him, not the other way around.

And lately he has been completely uninterested in going to her.

Quite frankly he had almost even forgotten she existed.

"How have you been your highness?"

He watches her approach him cautiously, the deliberate sway of her hips.

"You have not answered my question Minth."

Minth smiles, a gesture that reveals the dimples in her angelic face, her voice low and sweet.

"I have not seen you in a while my lord, I was beginning to get worried."

He raises one eyebrow as she glides closer to his table, reaching it, sliding one finger around the stone edge.

Midas has to give it to her, she has definitely grown more brazen and he would have found it fascinating if he was not so thoroughly annoyed by the fact that she would even dare to do this.

That when the door had opened it had been her and not Hera who was standing behind it.

"Since when did it become your business to worry about me?"

She actually has the wherewithal to look hurt. "You wound me dragon king. Of course I worry about you. I always have and now...with that human around you..."

Midas bristles, his voice changing. "If value your head Minth you will not complete that sentence."

She bares her neck and bows her head in a gesture of remorse. "Forgive me your highness, I mean no offence."

"You are threading on thin ground Minth, state your business and leave."

She pouts and instead of leaving crosses around his table. "You look troubled my Lord."

"Whatever troubles me is not your business."

She moves behind her chair. "At least let me help you...relieve some of that tension."

Her hand slides down his shoulders to his chest, the full softness of her b****t pushing against the back of his head. "Of what use am I as your mistress if I cannot even help you do that." Yes, of what use indeed.

Midas sighs.

He does not want her here, in his study or around him, touching him.

But maybe it would help, help him stop thinking about her if he gave his body to another.

Minth can sense his resistance ebbing slowly and she lowers her head, kisses the side of his neck and Midas has to fight the urge to shudder in disgust.

Now that he has had Hera, has tasted the heights to which she could bring him, he wants nothing else.

No one else.

And this...the woman nibbling at his earlobe, kissing him...is not enough to make him forget.

He doubts anything will.

Midas shrugs off Minth's hand, shifts his body out of her reach.

"Is...is something the matter my king, am I doing it wrong?"

Before Midas can answer and tell her to get out, another knock comes on his door.

Oh for Hades sake why in all the realms is his study no longer off limits to everyone?

"Who is it?" There is no hiding the annoyance in his voice.

"It is I my Lord."

Midas could have sighed in relief. "Yes Leo, come in."

The Chief Ryder opens the door. "Your highness."

Midas nods at him before turning to Minth. "As you can see, I have a lot of things to attend to. It would be in your best interest to leave now." The woman stutters, her eyes wet and shiny. "B...but."

Midas is neither fooled nor interested. "Minth you have but a few moments before I remember that you came here without my permission." The door closes behind her.

Leo raises a questioning brow. "Did I interrupt something?"

Midas shakes his head.

"Nothing worth discussing. What is it?"

"The Ryders from Adarin and Rardath are here with the daily report."

The king studies his friend. "And..."

"And apparently the troubles between the two clans have begun again."

Midas pushes open the doors to the throne room with more force than is necessary, sending them flying back on their hinges.

He starts speaking before he even gets to his seat at the far end of the room.

"What do you mean 'started' again?"

The Ryders assembled before him bow and the captain of the small band of soldiers steps forward.

"The pranks my lord and provocations; missing animals, stolen goods, destroyed properties in both clans."

"And none of you happened to catch the culprits in the acts or crossing across the border between the two clans?"

"No your grace."

Midas' eyes narrow dangerously. "You mean to say they managed to get past you and do all this without a single one of you seeing them?"

The captain a strong willed man confident in his abilities and not one to crack under pressure snaps to attention. "My men and I were at our posts the entire day my Lord. Not a single one of us slept, we barely even blinked. No one could have gotten past us without our knowing."

"So what you are telling me captain, is that it is ghosts who are behind these acts or that perhaps the dragonkin of Rardath and Adarin have learnt the art of invisibility or vanishing into thin air?"

The man says nothing.

And then a Ryder makes to step forward but stops at the last minute, his head bowed, eyes darting nervously like he is afraid or unsure if he can speak.

Midas tilts his head, notices him. "You...yes you. Step forward."

The man shuffles to the front, standing beside his captain and bowing low.

"My king."

"You have something to say. Out with it."

Midas watches as the solider glances nervously at his captain as if seeking permission to overstep his rank and the man simply shrugs in response.

The Ryder steels himself, speaking without glancing directly at the king.

"Last night, while we were preparing to return, I had gone into the bushes to...relieve myself. Then I heard the scuffle of feet, soft against the ground but loud in the silence of darkness and when I looked up, I saw a flash of white, a person dashing from the edge of Rardath's encampments and into the forest beyond."

The man swallows, his voice shaky. "I tried to follow...but I had to put my armor back on...and it was dark... I wasn't fast enough..."

As he recounts his tale, it is obvious he is afraid they might blame him for losing what could potentially be the only clue in this strange situation."

"Breathe Ryder. No one is accusing you of anything. So did you eventually manage to go after the fleeing figure?"

"Yes my king."

"And did you catch them?"

"N...no..."

"See them?"

"No my Lord."

"Not even a glimpse?"

The Ryder shakes his head and Midas has to stop from growling at him.

"Then pray tell soldier, why exactly are you standing here?"

The man reaches into his armor and pulls out a tiny piece of cloth. "I...I did replace this, caught on the edge of a thorny branch. It must have gotten torn off in their haste to escape." "Bring it to me."

Leo walks down the steps and brings the piece to Midas.

It is a tiny scarp of material, barely the width of Midas' palm.

The color of dried leaves and so light it felt like it is barely even there.

Midas' eyes narrow.

Only one set of creatures made clothes this light and effortless.

He lifts it to nose and his dragon stirs.

"I smell black magic dragon king."

It is as I feared.

Midas frowns but says nothing out loud to his Ryders.

He dismisses his Ryders and Leo, always attuned to his king's mood, turns to him. "You are frowning. What is it?"

Midas' jaw clenches, his eyes momentarily flashing red. "The cloth is steeped in dark magic."

The chief Ryder is frowning now as well.

"But why would they be in the clans of Rardath and Adarin?"

Midas scoffs. "No wonder none of us have felt the effects of breaking the blood bond. The bastards broke it first."

It must also be why it had been so easy to defeat them.

But what in all the realms are those blasted dark elves up to?

Why, after all this time are they suddenly now interested in causing chaos?

Why Adarin and Rardath?

Leo straightens. "What will you have me do?"

Midas stares straight ahead, his gaze unflinching.

"It would appear Leo, that I might be forced to pay the queen of the dark elves a visit in the Elder forest much sooner than I originally intended."