The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 62

HERA

Miserable?

I stand staring at the closed door, my mouth gaping up and closed like some sort of fish out of water.

He locks me up, tells my only friend not to speak to me and yet I am the one making him miserable?

Where in all the realms does he get off saying that?

How is he miserable when I'm the one who is locked up in a tower like some sort of captive princess from a fairy story?

I walk slowly to my bed, sitting down on it because suddenly I feel very tired.

All thoughts of hunger however, are driven completely from my mind as I play those words over and over again.

Is it possible that he is not doing all of this simply because he can?

That locking me up here is hurting him almost as much as it is me.

"No..No..." I shake the thought away before it can take hold, squashing the tiny flame of hope trying to flare up in my chest.

I tell myself not to think too much about it, not to read any silly meanings into Leo's words.

For all I know this is all part of his plan to get me to talk and he has merely asked his chief Ryder to say those words in other to try and guilt trip me into giving in. Just like sleeping with me had all been part of a plan too.

Well, fool me once dragon king...

But still, my heart is stubborn and she refuses to let go.

Choosing instead to plague me with doubts and what ifs.

Stirring the fireplace of my mind and fanning the flames of hope until they flickered and spluttered into life.

He had mentioned warnings from the kingmakers; those three wrinkled men who made the hairs of my neck stand on end with their gravelly voice and unseeing eyes.

What if he is only doing this because he really does feel like I might be planning and hiding something that would have devastating consequences on his realm?

If that is the case, he would be right.

But not for the reason he thinks.

I groan loudly, falling backwards on my bed, arms spread out by my sides.

Gods above, why is this so hard?

Hating him, plotting my revenge against him and his people... it all suddenly seems so much harder than it was before I first step foot in this castle.

But even as I ask the question, I know the answer.

Everything would have been so much easier, if he had never come to take me out of that cellar, if he had not saved me more times than I could count, if we had never touched. Something has changed and I do not even know what it is.

And a part of me, the part that feels guilty for not... hating him enough, wishes it would just go away.

So I can do what I need to do without all this confusing thoughts.

But the other part of me.

The part that stirs when he looks at me, the part that likes the sound of his laugh and the low possessive growl he makes deep in his throat moments before he kisses me, the part that had fluttered and filled with warmth when he told me he would always come for

me.

That part wants to explore what this 'something' might be.

The heights to which it could take us.

Because somehow it just knows that as terrifying as this attraction between us is, it could also easily be the most incredible thing that has ever as happened to me.

But then his words from this afternoon come back to me like a cold steel knife, slicing and searing through my chest.

"And if I said yes?"

He could not even be bothered to look me in the eyes even as he admitted that all that has happened between us was nothing more than a plan to get me to trust him so I would reveal all my secrets to him. I scoff but its filled more with hurt than anything else.

It may have meant the world to me, may have set my blood burning with a need and desire I did not even know was possible, but to him...to him it had been nothing more than a means to an end.

Just thinking about it is painful.

So I stop.

It is high time I focused all my attention on the one thing that had brought me into his realm in the first place; replaceing out his weakness.

I eat quickly, barely even tasting the food in my mouth.

Shoveling one spoonful after the other, merely going through the motions of satisfying my grumbling stomach.

Distracted, I end up biting my tongue, so hard that tears spring to my eyes even as the metallic taste of blood coats my tongue.

I tell myself that is why I am crying.

That is has nothing to do with him.

For some reason believing this, accepting that I mean nothing to him is hard to do.

Because for all it's worth I had seen the way he looked at me.

At breakfast...as we walked down the capital's cobbled streets...when I kissed him...

My mother used to tell me that I was much too trusting.

Always ready to believe the best about people.

Well, this just goes to show just how completely foolish I am.

I will not make the same mistake again.

I can hardly sit still.

It feels like forever, waiting for the midnight bell so I can go back to working on the lock.

My legs keep bouncing on the floor even as I chew on my bottom lip nervously.

I have changed my clothes into one of my night dresses, a short skimpy red thing which in all honestly is hardly appropriate for sneaking around the castle at night.

But I doubt there is any attire appropriate enough for that.

The bells finally ring out for the twelfth time that night and I exhale quietly, my ears perked up, listening.

The castle feels dead, utterly silent and a peak through my heavy drapes reveal that all the lights outside the castle are out.

I knock on my door, calling out gently.

No one answers.

Maybe the gods are finally on my side once again.

It takes me a lot of whispered swearing and not so silent curses but finally I hear the quiet click I have been working so hard for.

I decide that it is my new favorite sound.

Then I think about the way he says my name.

Fine...second favorite.

I wipe my sweaty palm against my thighs and with one last shaky breath, pull the doors open.

There is no one in sight.

The hallway is empty, dark and I have to carry a small candle holder in one hand even as I creep bare foot down the stairs of my tower.

The candle casts a ghostly pale orange circle of light but the moon is full and shining quiet brightly.

So much so that I almost do not even need the candle to see where to place my feet.

But I hold unto it tightly anyway.

The stones are cold beneath my feet as I creep through the passage that links my tower to the rest of the castle.

I try to choose what I hope is the shortest route to his study but in the darkness of the night, all the turns and passages are starting to look the same. Skies...

what if I ended up getting lost and spending the entire night wandering the castle grounds aimlessly like some sort of vengeful spirit?

The route I have chosen takes me past a small open courtyard to my left that leads out into a little in garden.

But just as I pass by it, a gust of wind blows, stirring my hair and extinguishing my light.

Plunging me into semi-darkness and instant confusion.

I resist the urge to panic even as a tiny squeal leaves my mouth.

Suddenly the quiet emptiness is starting to feel more sinister than it was moments ago.

The silence malevolent, crushing.

Its okay Hera...stay calm...

There is bound to be some sort of match box lying around in his study.

I force myself to exhale.

"You just need to get there first and you'll be completely..."

"Need to get where first?"

I think it is fair to say that my soul quite nearly leaves my body.

I throw my candle holder in the air, ready to scream bloody murder but then long fingers clamp over my mouth and another arm wraps around my middle, pulling my against a large and warm solid wall of pure muscle. He leans in, his breath against my ear a far contrast to the chilly wind blowing in from the garden to my left and it sends goose bumps running down my arms.

"I do not think screaming is a good idea. Unless of course you're looking to get caught."

I recognize the voice and my blood runs cold.