The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 68

MIDAS

The first thing Midas had learned from the day he became king, was to keep his emotions and his feelings buried far beneath the surface.

If the shepherd panics, the sheep will scatter and if the sheep scatter...they all die.

The world could be falling around his ears and the dragon king knew he could keep his outward appearance perfectly calm.

So he absorbs the news from the cowering Ryder without batting as much as an eyelid.

His face remaining stoic and impassive, giving absolutely nothing of the thousands of thoughts and possible strategies for averting this disaster that are even now running through his head. He turns towards the Ryder.

"Where lies the body of the boy now?"

"It remains in the hut where he was found. The door has been sealed and the captain instructed that no one is to go in before your arrival"

"Good. You may go soldier, prepare to ride out with the others. Leo..."

"Everything is ready your grace. We simply await your orders."

Midas nods, brisk and sharp. "Good. We must leave at once."

He heads towards his horse, the massive tail of the black beast swinging eagerly as if in anticipation.

If that were the case, then the animal was alone in its eagerness.

He attempts to mount, his feet in the stirrup then he stops.

He could have sworn...

"Midas... Midas!!"

His head spins around and up so fast it nearly falls off his neck.

"Hera."

Framed by the window, hair blowing in the heavy wind like fluttering tongues of fire.

Midas' frowns, a question on his heart and on his lips.

He does not like the position she is in, sitting on the edge of the wide window, her body nearly hanging out of it.

"Hera, what in Hades are you doing?"

He did not shout the question and she is too far away to have heard him.

But she leans even further out the window anyway. "Midas! Oh thank the gods I..."

The words die in her mouth, lost to the air and Midas heart stops.

He sees it happen almost before it does and everything slows down, the noise around him seeming to fade...as if coming through a tunnel...a tunnel far, far away.

Moments later, Midas will wonder how it happened but suddenly a strong wind blows and unsettles the tiny human perched on the slippery stones of the tower and she loses her balance. He sees the way she flails, her fingers grabbing desperately at the walls, looking for something to hold unto to.

But there is nothing to hold on, to stop her and she plummets, falling at an unearthly speed, thousands of feet to what is no doubt certain death at the foot of the tower.

Her scream loud and piercing slices through the fog around Midas' head.

He does not even register the pain as his wings break out through his skin, ripping two holes in his shirt and on either side of his swords.

He is not even aware of when he takes off, his body moving on instinct but Midas moves faster than he has ever moved in his entire life. It is a close call.

Incredibly so and he is almost too late.

But he catches her.

Snatching her in the air, inches before she can reach the ground and shatter every bone in her fragile human body.

Her grip around his neck is tight, painful even as he holds her shaking form in his arms.

But she is not the only one shaking.

Midas' entire body is trembling.

He is livid...rage coursing through ever part of his very being.

He floats them down and drops her gently on her feet.

His eyes close for a moment as he struggles ineffectively to slow his heartbeat.

He refuses to think about how close he had come to losing her and how for the first time in his long reign as king, Midas had felt bone crippling fear. What this means is even harder to wade through...much more complicated so he chooses the easier option.

Anger.

"By all the gods Hera are you f*****g Insane?!!"

His voice is a roar and from the corner of his eyes he can see his Ryder flinch slightly but not her.

She reaches for him, one hand cradling his cheek. "Midas..."

Her touch calms him and he is not ready to be calm, not yet, so he moves out of reach.

If he had not been so angry perhaps he might have noticed that when her eyes meet his, the fear he sees in them is not for her, it is for him. "Midas...I have to tell you something."

Midas does not know what it is but he is too enraged to pay any real attention to her words.

"And you thought the best way to do so was by trying to kill yourself?"

"I fell."

"Yes, because you were being incredibly stupid."

He can see the words sting and he wants to take them back.

But not now, later when he has calmed down, heavens knows when that will be.

"Go back inside Hera."

"Midas if you would just listen..."

"I cannot deal with this right now."

He is not listening, does not even want to. He points at two guards.

"You and you, take the queen back into the castle and for Hades sake keep her away from anymore windows."

He begins to walk away, back towards his horse and waiting Ryders.

She tries to go after him but the guards hold her back.

"Midas! Midas!!....wait"

But the king is already halfway to his horse and is much too angry to even hear her.

"God dammit will you just listen?! You can't go...please...let go off me!"

He mounts his horse and prepares to leave.

Then he hears a grunt and two yells come from behind him.

He turns around just in time to see her break free from the two guards who had been holding her, leaving them grunting in pain.

And then she runs around to stand in front of his horse, arms outstretched.

"What in all the realms do you think you are doing?"

"Stopping you from leaving."

He finally stops.

"Hera, move out of my way. I do not have time for this"

But she simply stands there glowering at him, chest heaving and red in the face, her hair going every which way.

An absolute, breathtaking, beautiful mess.

"You can't go."

"What?"

"I had a dream. Do not go...please."

Her voice cracks and Midas can see that she is struggling to hold it all together.

And he wants nothing more than to go to her, but for all he knows Adarin has already grown weary of waiting for his king and is even at this moment charging on Rardath's men. "Wait dragon king...listen."

Er'gan.

Midas frowns.

He might be losing precious time but he is no fool, he knows she is here to warn him about some sort of danger but he also knows he has no choice.

If he wants to prevent a full scale battle, he needs to leave now.

He sighs. "I have to go Hera."

"But...but if you go, you will not return."

"It does not matter. My people need me."

She exhales shakily and her face falls but then, just as quickly, it snaps up again and Midas can tell from the look in her eye that he is not going to be overjoyed at whatever she is going to say next. He is not wrong.

"Since you won't stop, then I am coming with you."

"Over my dead body and in case that is not clear enough I am immortal so that means f*****g never."

Her eyes narrow and flash that shade of defiant blue he is growing much too attached to.

"You can either take me with you now dragon king, or the minute you leave, I will replace some way out of this castle and ride out after you by myself. You choose."