The Dragon's Mail Order Mate: A Paranormal Menage Romance (26 page)

The day turned into night when we finally reached my castle, perched on the cliffs that overlooked the beautiful sea.  Oddly enough, no one seemed to be inside the castle.

“How did you know that the castle would be here?” Ryia asked.

I started laughing.  “King Athalos told me that he had a castle for each of us.  When I was to marry, this was my castle.  I assume now it is my castle since I am married.”

I knew it would be the time that my townspeople would allow their lips to gossip and it would filter back to King Athalos.  I wasn’t looking forward to that meeting.  I just knew Rowan and I had better head up to the Dragon Kingdom before that happened.  I didn’t think anything could be much worse than the fact the man that raised you was trying to kill you.

“I want to go with you!” Ryia pointed out.

“Have you not listened to anything I have been saying, dear wife?  It is too dangerous out there for you!”

“Don’t call me your ‘dear wife’!  I already told you that it wasn’t my idea to be married to you!  I also told you that I was a warrior.  I can handle myself, thank you very much!”

I found out very quickly, even though she had a castle now to guard and protect, this wasn’t what Ryia wanted.  I feared I would at least have to lock her in this castle for her to be protected.  I knew that it was a very barbaric stunt to lock up Ryia, but it seemed she would try to escape, otherwise.  It also seemed as if she was incredibly headstrong and didn’t believe at all that her life was at risk.  I tried so hard for her to understand the dangers and the fact that they were real.

During the travel to the castle we had even overheard Terrain and Sadon speaking, and yet that didn’t even change her mind.  I was sure that would at least show her that I was trying to protect her, but it seemed the more information I gave her the more she refused to listen.

Time seemed to be running out for me.  I had barely a week to get to the Dragon Kingdom or else I knew that Terrain and Sadon would find me for sure.  I couldn’t push out the images of what would happen if Rowan and I didn’t make the journey a successful one.

I was also beginning to wonder who the real monster was in this situation.  There had to be a lot more to the prophecy.  King Athalos wasn’t the sweetest person to deal with and all my life, all I could remember was the fact he was hunting dragons and any other kingdom or anyone else that didn’t agree with him.  Maelyss was the king of the dragons, but he was also supposed to be very ruthless as well.  People had stories of Maelyss destroying any campaign that went near the kingdom. 

“Tonight you are worrying about me as your wife, but you won’t recognize me as the warrior that I keep speaking about!  You won’t even give me a chance to prove myself!  Without me, you won’t get into the kingdom!”

I was honestly getting tired of Ryia repeating herself on this subject.  She kept bringing up the fact she had been a warrior.  I understood she felt like a prisoner, but she was now a queen.  She was to protect the kingdom and our castle.

“I think that it is time for us to get some rest.  I am sure one day you will understand that as we celebrate tonight that we are married.  As you look back, you will realize this night was a blessing.  It might be a strange fate that we ended up together, a dragon and a warrior, but we are together now.”

“I doubt we are going to be celebrating anything tonight!  I honestly don’t care about anything at all that you have told me about being your wife!  You have to listen to me when I talk about Maelyss.  My father told me how Maelyss can be vicious.  He spoke of how if Maelyss thinks if you are a traitor or a spy that he will hang you by your feet until you die in the middle of the kingdom.  

“I have been to the Dragon Kingdom before.  The kingdom knows me as Ryia the Warrior.  They don’t know you!  What if they think you are a traitor or a spy?  You will be hung by your feet and killed.”

“I am sure soon enough I will find out if they hang me by my large feet before or after I turn into a dragon.  Don’t you think if I show up they will realize that I am a dragon as well?  I am sure they will realize we are Maelyss’s sons soon enough.  Once they find out, they will have to let us go.”

“Do you really believe that?” Ryia asked as she was taken back by this.

“Why do you act as if without you Maelyss will kill us?  What do I have to do for you to have faith in me?” I asked a bit angrily.

“You don’t understand anything about Maelyss.  You think just because your mother told you about him, that he will accept you with open arms.  That isn’t how it is in the Dragon Kingdom.”

“Tell me how it is.” I asked.

Ryia shook her head.  “Why bother?  You won’t listen!”

My eyes began to droop as my head hit the pillow of my sleeping chambers.  To be honest, like my new queen, I didn’t like the terms in which I had to go to Maelyss’s kingdom.  I knew that tomorrow Rowan and I would be heading out to get there.  Tonight, all I had was to drift to sleep and remember how thankful I was at the moment.  Even though the king who raised me was the one that was trying to kill me, I was still thankful to have such a strong father all these years. 

The entanglement of the day’s conversation with Ryia seemed to continue to focus on Maelyss, even as I tried to dream.  What was she trying to tell me?  Why did my wife have to be difficult?  Rowan had been the lucky one who had a wife that didn’t argue with him constantly.  Whatever the reason, my dream was of the dragon kingdom, and I kept thinking of what Ryia said before I had fallen asleep. 

Was Maelyss really going to hang Rowan and I by our feet until we died?  The thought seemed to haunt me as I continued to toss and turn.  What if he never knew about us, the way Ryia kept going on?  We would surely die in Maelyss’s hands, but on the other hand, we would die if we didn’t try, thanks to King Athalos.

Sunlight finally woke me the next morning as it appeared in the window and shined in the room.  Ryia, who refused to sleep in the same bed as me, had brought a cot that seemed fit for a chambermaid.

I stared at the sunlight coming in with the beams that glittered as it hit me.  I thought of how my mother told me stories and even sang me to sleep when I was young, but now here I was a man.  I had no child to sing to or even tell stories to.  I had a wife who was completely ungrateful and refused to listen.

I wasn’t even sure how I was going to seduce her so we could carry on the family name.  She refused to even sleep in bed with me, but I knew as time went on, this was something we had to do.  A prince or a princess must be conceived to be able to take care of the kingdom when he or she was old enough.

*

I made my way down the stone grand staircase which led me to find breakfast.  Today was the day that Rowan and I would pack everything we had up and begin our quest from here to the Dragon Kingdom.  After speaking with Ryia last night, I was unsure if we were prepared for this.

“You are up early!” Ryia pointed out.

Her voice made me jump out of my skin since I didn’t even check to see if she was still in her bed.  I was in a hurry to get ready for the quest as well as staring at the sun.

“I have to get ready for the journey to the Dragon Kingdom.  I am sure you understand that it will take Rowan and I a day or two to get there.  I would rather get up early before my father, King Athalos, sends his men to kill us.”

The thought of King Athalos made me glare immediately.  I spoke of his name as if he was the vilest thing on this Earth.  He seemed as if he was too busy killing everything around him to even realize what he had in front of him, which was two amazing sons.

Many times he spoke of how Maelyss, the King of the Dragons, would harvest the souls of the mortal warriors.  He would eat them every morning as the sun came up.  I was a bit terrified to even think about this journey.  There was no other option, though, and I knew it.  I was just hoping the pendants my mother had left behind would protect my brother and me.

“Your brother has already awakened as well.  I am sure he will be coming down any minute.  It seems last night you didn’t sleep very well.  Are you sure you are able to make the journey?  Where are you going to stay when you get there?” Ryia asked.

“I don’t know, Ryia.  I just know I have to go.  There isn’t a choice about me staying or leaving.  I am a dragon and I must be able to curve it or else King Athalos will kill me.  It is either mine or Rowan’s son in who will kill King Athalos according to an old prophecy that I just found out about before I made my journey to marry you.”

“Is that why you married me?” she asked curiously.

“No, I married you because I was supposed to find someone with pure royal blood.  Marvin at the local pub told me about the mail order brides.  He said he had gotten his wife that way and she loved him to pieces.  King Athalos told me I could not collect my kingdom until I married.  I am married and we have collected our kingdom.”

“How can you say that?” she asked.

“I have sent him a letter from a reputable priest stating that we have wed on our journey back to our kingdom.  I am sure as Rowan and I leave, he will send men up here.  I do hope that you can be safe.”

“Since you won’t listen to me, promise you will be careful on your journey to the Dragon Kingdom.  You don’t really know who you can trust and you can’t trust.  The world is very strange.” Ryia pressed her lips tightly as she looked to me.

I could tell she still had displeasure, since I refused to allow her to go on this quest.  She was now a queen and she should start acting like one.  Although it sounded simple in my mind, I still carried pangs of guilt knowing she would be a prisoner as a queen guarding the castle.  I was in some way no different than the father who had sold her.

“If you run into trouble on your journey, cry to the wind.  I will be there,” she whispered.

In many ways, my new wife and I were different.  When it came to journeys, however, we seemed to agree this one was dangerous.  There was nothing I could do to get out of this one.  I had been on journeys before, but this one seemed much different.  Being hung by your toes by Maelyss was minor compared to King Athalos.  I knew that it was incredibly dangerous and Ryia refused to let me forget it.

The door swung open and I saw my brother, Rowan, barge into the kitchen.  He looked tired, but he found a way to smile when he spotted me.

“Soon enough this journey will be over and I will be back to my castle, where I belong.  I am tired of how this quest has taken over our lives.  I am sure there is going to be something much different in the future.”

The roads to the Dragon Kingdom were quite rough terrain.  You could only go there certain times of the year due to the fact you wouldn’t be able to access the road with avalanches or mudslides. 

I stared at my brother for several minutes.  I had already taken the opportunity to pack my bags and I was ready.  I could tell, though, that Rowan was still afraid of what this journey might bring.  It had been on everyone’s mind since we heard Terrain and Sadon’s conversation.

“Have a good trip!” Rowan’s wife called out as she smiled at us. 

“We will try!  I am sure I will try to send some sort of messages back.”

It was Rowan talking to his wife that made me realize this was the very last time I would walk around in my own castle until I returned.  I wouldn’t be allowed back unless I could prove I wasn’t a dragon.  I wasn’t sure that even then, King Athalos wouldn’t try to kill me.

“Have you heard from our mother?” Rowan asked.

“I haven’t heard a single word about her.  I am sure Marvin is still searching for her.  You have to admit that Marvin has never let us down,” I pointed out.

“You are right, Merek.  It just seems so long without hearing a word about her that I fear for the worst.”

I looked down at the sacks that we were about to load onto the horses.  There among my bags was a smaller one.

“What’s the small bag for?” I asked looking up.

“I am going too….” Ryia stopped as she bit her lip.  She knew that she had already said too much.  She had been fighting with me tooth and nail to go and each time I rejected the idea.

“What part of 'You are not going to the Dragon Kingdom with me' do you not understand?”  I screamed.

“I don’t understand the fact that you won’t let me go as your warrior,” Ryia pointed out.

I groaned.  “Ryia, this isn’t your fight.  I don’t need my other brothers, the assassin guild or even King Athalos himself coming after you,” I said as I tried hard to walk fast out the castle and through the courtyard where the stables were located.

Although I was practically running, Ryia matched my steps as she darted after me.

“Then this is it?  I helped you get this far and even silenced you when I heard your brothers so they didn’t ambush us and this is the way you thank me?  Do you really think you can do this all on your own, Merek?  I hope you realize that you need a warrior like me on this quest! 

“This journey on which you are embarking isn’t a breeze.  You need someone who knows the conditions, the area, and the culture. If you don’t, then you will surely be sought as vulnerable, perhaps even more vulnerable than you usually are.”

“I am sorry, Ryia!  I don’t want to be the king who has to explain to his kingdom and your father that the reason you ended up dead is because you decided to be a warrior.  This isn’t a normal quest.  I understand the odds are stacked against me.  I knew that way before I was told that I must go on this journey.”“I think you are making the wrong decision!  I should be able to go since I am a warrior!”