The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 74

HERA

Burning hot yet freezing cold.

That is how I feel all at once.

From the moment I step out of the darkened hut till the moment my legs give way beneath me, I keep quaking and shivering.

I can feel wet beads of sweat rolling down my back yet my body keeps shaking, my teeth chattering.

I want it to stop, because I know it will only make him worry.

I try to make it stop but I am unable to.

My mind is still reeling from all the things I had seen, but my body...my body is exhausted and so she gives up first.

But because I am still conscious, even after I feel my eyes drift close and my knees give out, I can still sense them.

I can hear their startled gasps when I start to fall, can feel his arms surround me in the same instant, catching me and keeping me from crumbling to the floor... can hear his heartbeat when he holds me close, cradling my feeble body to his chest.

I want to open my eyes so that I can tell him that I am okay but my body suddenly feels much too heavy and she refuses to obey me.

My mind is finally getting tired and I am beginning to lose consciousness, their voices start to fade in and out and I have to struggle to keep the sounds separate to understand who is speaking, what they are saying. "Take her home"

Midas

"And you, my Lord?"

Leo...?

"I cannot return to the castle just yet. I have to remain here, to sort things out."

There is reluctance in his voice but I barely hear it.

He is sending me away.

I try to protest but nothing comes out. I imagine Leo reaching out, his arms open, ready to take me from the king.

But rather than let me go, I feel Midas' arms tighten around me, pulling me closer for one infinitely brief moment. Then he lets go.

"I shall take her and return at once."

"No...stay with her. I will be able to focus better if I know that you are with her."

"As you wish my King."

No...

I try to fight, swimming with all my might against the impending blackness threatening to cloud my mind and suck me in.

Again and again I try to open my eyes and tell him that he does not need to worry, that I wish to stay by his side but I am weaker than I think and the current is stronger than I am.

The last thing I remember is the sensation of being lifted and placed in the arms of someone.

Someone who is not him.

I have never really wondered what happens to a person's mind when they faint, lose consciousness.

Does the mind drift somewhere, into worlds unknown or worlds imagined like it does when we are asleep and dreaming?

Or do we float outside of our bodies, watching things happen yet unable to do anything until it is time or we are ready to go back.

I should know, considering the sheer, almost impressive amount of fainting and near death experiences I have had since the day I was first carried- also unconscious-into the dragon realm. But I never remember anything.

It just feels like one moment my eyes are open and I am in one place and then I simply blink and when next time I open them, I am in another.

Feeling all at once like no time and all the time in the world has passed.

That is why I have come to the conclusion that when we lose consciousness, for whatever period of time it lasts, I believe we simply cease to exist.

And it is up to the Fates to decide whether to let us blink back into existence or not.

Apparently they must have chosen once again to let me come back.

And for the first time, I am grateful that they did.

Once more, my mind awakens before my body.

And although I am unable to move immediately, I can feel the sun on my face, can smell the blue mountain roses growing outside my window and the silky coolness of the soft sheets that usually line my bed in the castle. So even without opening my eyes I know that I must be back home and in my room.

It is almost funny how now, when I think of home, it is no longer Averia but the dragon castle that first comes into my head.

Although truth be told, I am getting quite sick of being brought in here unconscious every other day.

That is when I realize that the mattress on my left is dipping slightly to the side

There is someone else in the room, someone sitting beside me and a large, gloved hand, wrapped around mine.

I smile softly and turn up my palm so that I am gripping the hand tighter.

In return I get a squeeze, gentle and firm around my fingers and tiny bubbles of happiness fill my chest.

He must have changed his mind and decided to come back with me.

I swallow, trying to talk but the only thing that comes out is a whimper.

The body sitting beside me moves closer.

"Oh thank the gods, you are awake."

Relief thickens his voice, making it rough around the edges.

I frown slightly.

I must still be confused because he sounds like...

"Leo?"

He sighs loudly but there is a tiny smile on his lips.

"You look so disappointed your highness. I am almost offended."

I blink stupidly at his tired handsome face, rough with stubble and at the pale grey eyes that watch me attentively, roaming over every inch of my face, making sure I am okay.

I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, an attempt to get rid of the woolly dryness in my mouth.

"Where is he?"

As expected, he ignores the question and instead asks one of his own.

"How do you feel?"

I feel exhausted, drained even, but as the seconds pass, I can sense myself getting stronger and I realize they must have made me drink a healing elixir while I was...sleeping. And by the time I open my mouth to speak again, my voice is thankfully beginning to return back to normal and starting to sound less like I might secretly be a frog. "Where is he?"

Leo sighs again. "You are not going to let this go are you?"

I simply stare at him in response but he gets the message.

He seems to realize that he is still holding my hand because I notice him glance at our joined fingers but he does not let go.

Instead he strokes the centre of my palm with his thumb, soothing circular motions and I know he is about to stay something I will not like.

"He stayed behind."

I groan in annoyance and move to get up. "I knew it..."

Firm hands on my shoulder push me back down and hold me in place. "What do you think you are doing?"

"We have to go back."

"No we do not."

"Yes. We do and stop looking at me like that, like I have somehow grown an extra head in my sleep."

"Do not take this the wrong way your grace but are you insane?"

I cough slightly. "Kind of difficult not to take that the wrong way Leo."

"You can barely sit up much less walk and as much as I enjoy holding you I do not think that would be a very wise decision."

I struggle to rise but it is no use, he is much too strong and something tells me he isn't even applying any force whatsoever.

"But there could be more traps...he could still be in danger. I need to..."

"Remain here until you can get up without shaking."

"But..."

"No buts your grace." His hands remain on my shoulders and he leans in, holding my gaze. "He will be fine."

"You don't know that."

"You are right, I do not. But what I do know is that the king would have me drawn and quartered if I let you leave this room in the state you are in."

I hate to admit it but I know he is right. I am in no state to be of help to anyone.

Yet it does not stop me from wondering or from worrying.

I fold my arms across my chest which is hard to do not to mention looks ridiculous when you are being pinned down to a bed by a man twice your size with piercing grey eyes and a scar above his right eye. "Stop pouting."

"I am not pouting."

I do not think he believes me.

"Can I at least sit up?"

"Do you promise not to try and run?"

"Why, worried the tiny human might give you the slip?"

He scoffs, a glint of amusement and something else in the way he smirks down at me. "You can try your grace. You would fail but you can try."

I roll my eyes, resisting the urge to laugh. "Well in that case you have nothing to worry about. Besides you said it yourself, I can barely even walk."

"Let me help you."

"I do not need..."

But he does not let me finish.

His hand slips beneath my back silencing my protests and I grab unto his arm to steady and pull myself up.

The action brings my face closer to his and I swear I hear him inhale softly.

But soon I am sitting up and he is moving away, the moment passing so quickly I become sure I imagined it.

I open my mouth to ask something else about Midas but he beats me to it.

"Why did you do it?"

I look away and ask "Why did I do what?" even though I know perfectly well what he is talking about.

"Why did you go in there? You could have died."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic Leo. I would not have died. The spell was cast against a dragon Ryder, specifically the king. Perhaps they did not factor in the human slave girl tagging along." He considers my words and then frowns. "Still..."

I wave his worries away "Did you really think I would risk my life that way for anyone of you...please. Why are you smiling...stop it."

But he doesn't stop. "You're lying."

"I am not."

I am.

When I had realized that I had to go in there, I had my suspicions that the spell that had been cast had been made specifically with a dragon Ryder in mind but I had not been entirely sure. I had gone in there knowing there was a very strong possibility that I might not make it out alive.

But I have no plans of telling either one of them that.

Leo however keeps looking at me like he might know, his gaze steady and unflinching.

There is something in the way his eyes have darkened slightly that makes it hard for me to hold his gaze and I glance away nervously, pressing my lips together.

"Why are you looking at me that way?"

He frowns slightly, his face unreadable, heavy with an emotion I do not quite understand.

He looks like he might be fighting the urge to do something, the way he swallows hard, his throat bobbing up and down with the force of the motion.

Then after a few moments of uncertain hesitation, he lifts one hand and gently cups my face in his palm, thumb stroking the skin of my cheek. Once...twice...

"I am glad you are okay."

Hiding my surprise as best as I can, I bite my lip and offer him a tiny smile.

"Me too Leo...Me too."