The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon
Chapter 22

MIRA

Gods, what is going on even? He is going to kill me!

His grasp on my neck is so strong, I try to pull his hand away, but Ryden Dargen is not even flinching at that.

“Please!”, I hiss in my already hoarse voice and, trying, to struggle, accidentally kick the sheets off. The man’s eyes fall on my body and he eases his grip, letting me breathe at least a little bit and I greedily gasp for air.

“You angered me, Mira!”, Ryden says finally, now his thumb stroking my neck soothingly.

“W-why, lord Dargen?”, I bring myself to ask although I am not sure I want to know.

“What you just said…”, he moves his hand to grab my chin and force me to look at him, “It’s absolutely unacceptable!”

“W-what did I say?”, I mumble, “I don’t remember…”

He stays quiet for a while and then I literary feel that he smirks, even though I don’t see it.

“Good”, he is now brushing his palm over my cheek, “It doesn’t matter anymore. I overreacted a bit, Mira…”

Overreacted? A bit? The man is insane! He almost killed me!

I carefully slip my fingers under my pillow and feel the cold metal of my daggers. It’s not the time to use them now and I doubt that they would help against a gerdian lord who possesses dark magic, but just knowing that they are there helps me to keep calm in this absolutely crazy kind of situation.

My eyes adjust to the darkness and I can finally see Ryden’s face. His eyes are traveling up and down my body and I am just happy that I decided to put the dressing gown on top of my very provocative nightdress.

“I think it’s time for us to get to know each other better, Mira”, he says, pulling the belt and untying my silky gown, moving it away and leaving me lying down in front of him with only a thin layer of lace covering my most precious parts.

“L-lord Dargen,” I try to crawl to the very back of the bed, away from him, “If you would like to know me better, we can talk tomorrow morning…or evening… or…”

“Oh, we will talk as much as you like, Mira”, he chuckles, starting to unbutton his shirt, “But first thing first. I’ve been thinking about you these past few days. And now that my annoying cousin is out of the picture…”

“Your cousin?”, I ask, trying to pull a sheet onto myself.

“Derrien Derwood – the control freak who imprisoned you here,” Ryden is done with his shirt and throws it to the ground next to us, “Don’t worry, once he loses interest for a woman it’s final. He wouldn’t bother us anymore.”

Somehow I just wish he does bother us again! The sooner the better! Preferably even now!

The man sits back at the edge of my bed and grabs me by my waist to pull me closer. I try to push him away, but he only pins my hands on both sides of me.

“What is the problem again?”, he growls at me.

I notice how the room suddenly has become darker. It looks as if it is filled with black smoke. I guess this is how Ryden’s magic looks like. There is absolutely no way out for me…

“I…I…”, stuttering doesn’t help, I need to come up with something.

“You what, Mira?!” the gerdian starts to look annoyed.

“I am not ready!”, I say the first thing on my mind, “I’ve never… I mean, I was kind of hoping that something like this would happen only after I am married…”

He looks at me startled, “You’ve never… You mean to tell me that Derrien hasn’t even tasted you?”

“Of course not!”, I say firmly, “No one has!”

A smirk spreads across Dargen’s handsome face, “Mira, you are making me very happy today!”

He lets go of my hands and brushes his thumb over my lips, making them part.

“W-would you let me go?”, I ask him hopefully and he breaks down, laughing hard.

“Of course not!”, he slides his hand to my neck, “I’d make you mine before everyone else can! I’ll be honest with you, Mira, there is something about you… I have already tried a few of the Selection girls and they all seemed … bland… But with you, it already feels different and I haven’t even started…”

With that, he slowly gets on top of me, now holding me in place with his body weight.

“Please,” I sob, “Let me go!”

“Calm down, Mira!”, he whispers while kissing my cheeks, my earlobe, my neck, “In just a few minutes you will be begging me for more!”

“I highly doubt that!”, a familiar voice breaks through this horror.

Dargen shrugs and shifts away from me to look at the intruder. Lord Derrien Derwood is standing in my bedroom’s doorway with his hands crossed at his chest, wearing nothing but pants… That looks suspiciously similar to the ones he had on in my dream!

But why is he here exactly? He said that he wants nothing to do with me anymore!

“What the actual f**k are you doing here, Derwood?”, Ryden snaps at his cousin.

“The emperor wants to see you”, Derrien answers indifferently, not changing his position.

“I’ll go when I am done here”, I try to sit up, but Dargen’s hand is on my neck again, squeezing it harshly, “Can’t you see I am busy?”

“I see, busy taking a girl against her will because you know that she would never spread her legs for you willingly”, Derrien chuckles, “Pathetic as ever.”

“She didn’t spread her legs for you either!”, Ryden smirks, “Is that why you took away your protection? Your ego couldn’t handle a girl that doesn’t fall to your feet like everyone else?”

“No”, he answers slowly, “I lost my interest in her. She is one of those things that shine bright but on the inside, there is nothing… interesting. Or worthy of my time. So maybe she would be suitable for you after all. Two empty shells…”

I have a lump in my throat at his words. I don’t even know why… But his words hit me more than Dargen’s hand that almost strangles me…

“You are bluffing”, Ryden chuckles.

“Believe in what you want”, his cousin rolls his eyes showing just how really bored he is with the whole situation, “The emperor waits for you now. And the longer he waits the bigger the county he takes away from you will be…”

“s**t”, Dargen throws me back to the bed and bends to pick up his shirt, throwing it on quickly, “I’ll see you at tomorrow’s event, Mira. And we’ll continue where we stopped.”

He caresses my cheek as if he wasn’t almost killing me just a moment ago. And then dark smoke consumes him and he is gone.

I sit up, rubbing my neck and closing my dressing gown, waiting for lord Derwood to leave. He and his cousin are the last two people I want to see right now!

However, he seems to have other ideas. He confidently walks to my bed and I shrug at the thought that everything would repeat… He sits next to me and takes my chin into his calloused hand, turning it to one side and then the other. And then carefully touching my neck with his fingers.

“Does it hurt?”, he asks coldly.

“I’ll survive”, I turn away from him and hear him sign deeply.

“That’s not what I asked, Mira!”

“I am absolutely fine, lord Derwood!”

“Amazing!”, I feel dark flames rise right next to me and turn to see what happened. On my bedside table, a small jar of black glass appeared. Derrien takes it and quickly opens. It smells like mint and some other herbs I don’t know… He takes the ointment on his fingers and starts rubbing it onto my neck. I look at him in surprise, but he doesn’t react in any way continuing with his task.

“W-why are you doing this?”, I ask and feel him flinch just for a fraction of a second.

“I do that so that you don’t have bruises tomorrow and don’t scare other girls to death”, he says and I just feel how my eyes are almost full of tears…

“And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”, I say bitterly, “Some empty shell scaring perfect full-fledged brides!”

“Since when what I say bothers you so much? Are you suddenly jealous, little mage?”, he chuckles.

“Are you?”, I raise my brow challenging him, “Or your emperor really has insomnia and doesn’t sleep at 3 o’clock past midnight?”

Tiny specs of magic flash in his eyes.

He doesn’t say anything and starts rubbing the ointment more harshly, his hand most definitely gets lower than needed, almost massaging my breast.

“He didn’t hurt me there”, I mumble.

“Better be safe than sorry”, he smirks…