The Dragon's Mail Order Mate: A Paranormal Menage Romance (31 page)

“You look lost in your thoughts,” Rowan pointed out as he looked at me.

I nodded.  “I was just thinking of our mother, Queen Bethany.  I am curious if she loved Maelyss.  The traveler and Marvin made it sound like there was a lot more to the story and that King Athalos wasn’t as innocent as he was portrayed to be.”

For most of my life no one had spoken even about the prophecy that would kill King Athalos.   I wasn’t aware of any prophecy until just recently.  She wrote it all out in the native dragon language that was in a letter.  I was assuming this was to protect the both of us, but it didn’t happen that way.

“What do you think they meant?” Ryia asked.

“I don’t know, perhaps I am looking more into it than I should.  I just feel as if our Queen mother really loved Maelyss.  I feel as if she was forced into the marriage with King Athalos, to tell you the truth.”

“How will we ever find out the truth?  Our mother isn’t here to tell us.”

“Why don’t you look for the answers once we get the Dragon Kingdom?  I am sure you could ask King Maelyss if you can’t find them.  I am sure he can set all of this straight.”

“Where would I begin to search for answers and what would it actually change?  It isn’t even like I know why we had to be in the King Athalos’s kingdom at all since we were dragons!  Besides Rowan’s and my lives are on the line already since Maelyss is supposed to be a vicious man.” I mumbled.

Ryia was silent for several moments.  “Well, we better get moving,” she finally said as she looked over at me.

I began to wonder if we were ever going to make it to the Dragon Kingdom alive or not.   “Are you sure you know where we are going?” Rowan asked.

“Of course I am sure,” she said as she scowled at him.  “You keep forgetting that I have been to the Dragon Kingdom many times before.  We are already late in our travels and we have to get there soon.   Being chased by assassins wasn’t in the original plan.”

I was wishing we could have rested  a little longer.  My head seemed to be throbbing and I felt as if everything was a blur.  It seemed as if Ryia was already angered by the fact that we weren’t traveling.  Perhaps she knew something we didn’t know about these strange woods. 

I began stumbling like a drunk behind them. 

“What is your problem?  You are acting like you are drunk!” my brother screamed as I almost stumbled again and fell on him.

“I have felt very strange since we encountered the bridge.  I am sure it is just an illness and it will go away shortly.”

“I don’t think it is just an illness.” Ryia pointed out.

“Why don’t you think I am sick?”

“I want to help you, but I am unsure how to, since I have a feeling there is more to your ailment than you realize.”

I scanned her face, wondering what she was talking about.  I felt sick ever since that encounter. 

“You two don’t feel sick and confused?”

“No!  Doesn’t that concern you at all that you haven’t seen any of the regular symptoms of an illness?”

I shook my head and was sure that Ryia seemed to have lost her sanity from the time she went to bed to this morning.  It would explain why we had sex, but what else could I be fighting?

“What am I suffering from, then?” I asked.

“You are more likely suffering from a witch’s spell.  We will have to make tracks and get to the Dragon Kingdom.”

I couldn’t help but wonder why she thought this compared to a regular sickness.  I knew we did encounter something magical on that bridge. 
Why didn’t anyone else get sick,
though
?” I thought.

I was beginning to lose my memories, but I didn’t want to alarm her.  I wasn’t even sure once we got to the Dragon Kingdom if I would remember who I was.  I knew I was slipping quite rapidly.  Nearly drowning didn’t help me.

My muscles ached as they threatened not to hold my weight any longer.  I felt as if I was the one who had been under the pile of wood from the bridge, compared to Ryia.  I wasn’t sure how long it would take us to get to the Dragon Kingdom. I just knew that we had to hurry.  I was beginning to sense my life was passing me by.  I stopped and watched her stop us at the top of a cliff. 

“Silence” she whispered.

Her eyes were focused on the dirt trail ahead of us as if she was hunting something once again.  The last time she’d   found my brothers and their campaign hunting us.

The sound of breaking twigs seemed to paralyze us.  The weight that broke the twigs seemed to be heavier than a forest critter.

“Are you sure they are out here?” a voice asked as it echoed through the forest as a dark figure came into view.

Ryia quickly pushed us behind a tree.

To her, this seemed pretty normal, having to out-think people, but why wouldn’t it, she was a warrior.  She had gone to the battlefield just like Rowan and I both had.  The only problem was the fact that this time we were battling our brothers.  We had never had to face something like this.  Our Queen mother often told us never to start a war between our brothers.  We were supposed to unite, but King Athalos seemed to be dividing us over the prophecy.

  Rowan and I exchanged glances as we saw that among the figures were our brothers Terrain and Sadon.  I guess our question had been answered.  If any of us had turned into the dragons, at least two of our brothers would hunt me down to kill me.  It wasn’t like we would be able to fly out of the thick jungle without them seeing us, although I was thinking about it since I was so weak.

Our Queen Mother would be incredibly ashamed knowing that these two buffoons had been trying to kill us since they were ordered to by King Athalos.  We seemed to do everything together, but now that didn’t matter as Terrain and Sadon were hunting us as if we were savaged animals.

“How long do you think this will take to find them?  We have wasted a lot of time already trying to pinpoint where they are.  It seems as if wasting all this time is allowing them to get ahead,” Terrain mumbled.

“Oh stop it!  I am sure we will find them before they reach the Dragon Kingdom.  Those monsters must be killed.  I am surprised that our brother, Prince Merek, wed Ryia, the renowned warrior.” Sadon stated.

“You told me that no one would marry them since they turned into monsters!” Terrain argued.

“Stop it!” demanded the shadowy man who first saw us arguing.

My heart began skipping as I spotted him.  I became incredibly anxious, wondering what would happen to us if we were caught.

“Your father should have solved this years ago,” the man was quick to add.

“What are you talking about?” Sadon asked.

“Soon after Merek was born, your father should have realized something was wrong with him.  He had many medical conditions that seemed to pop up that no one understood.  He first thought that a witch had placed a curse on him. 

It wasn’t until recently did he realize that Merek and Rowan were part dragons.  No warlock or witch could change that, not even me.  Merek had things happening to him that only happened to young dragons while they battle between a human form and a dragon form. 

Now all we need to do is track them down and dispose of them.  I am sure that is why your father has put this campaign together because he will not tolerate for any of that dragon nonsense.  If he could somehow burn them or shame them to show that they could never hurt anyone in the kingdom he would have already done so.

But it is the only due to time that we catch up to them.  Merek is slowly falling ill as his body is fading.  He seems weak and his memories are beginning to become lost.  I don’t think we will have to worry about him much longer.  Who knows, as he is on the verge of insanity, he might actually lose his mind and kill himself!”

“The only problem with that idea is the fact that Merek is a fighter.  He also has befriended every wizard and witch in the kingdoms.  Don’t you think someone would help him?” Terrain argued. I can’t believe that for so many years the four of grew up together and we never figured out sooner that there were dragons among us.”

“I still can’t believe our mother decided to have an affair with Maelyss.  I am sure it was no coincidence.  Perhaps our Queen Mother was told to destroy her husband in such a way.  How else would you describe their paths crossing?” Sadon piped in changing the subject.

“I am not surprised that Father would want them killed.  He has told the guild to kill them if they see either of the Princes, but now he has hired me since the guild failed miserably once again.  It is my duty to make sure that neither of them returns at all.” the shadowy man replied.

I felt my face flush since I was still appalled that my two brothers could even think about killing Rowan or myself.  I wanted to go down there and set them straight or even make them realize we were family.  I couldn’t and I knew that. 

I also knew the shadowy figure was right.  I was becoming weak and confused.  I knew if I didn’t get help soon, I would die out here.  I was growing scared that now the guild knew about the situation as well as the shadowy man. 

The guild was where all King Athalos’ assassins were located and this shadowy man seemed to be a warlock of some sort.  They blended in so well, that their victims didn’t even realize that they were coming.  The only think saving us was that Ryia knew they were coming.

The men at the guild were less than friendly.  King Athalos once had my brother and I join him when he went to the guild.  We met an assassin who was incredibly silent and smooth but made him appear as if he was always there and in the same breath, he was never there at all.  King Athalos told us that night how the assassin had done his job within minutes.  No one saw him and no one knew who had sent anyone to kill the person. 

I knew that King Athalos was pleased with the work.  He told me that someday we would be using a person like that to eliminate any challenges in my own kingdom.

I couldn’t recall the full memory of why King Athalos had sent the assassin, but I knew that he wanted him dead for a reason.  I was pretty sure that it had to do with the prophecy or dragons.  That was the most common reason why Father had people killed.  It seemed as if anyone who didn’t agree with the prophecy or how he was killing all the dragons, he would kill them.  He couldn’t have anyone trying to be rebellious.  He was afraid of people like that since it would only take one rebel and a good shot with an arrow to kill him. 

I did know that he would stay long enough in these towns and villages to make sure that the assassin did his job and he would leave unaffected.   I was going to have to ask Rowan if he remembered who was going to be killed, but for the moment we had to stay silent. 

I could hear my heart pumping against my shirt.  I was just hoping that none of them heard the fear that I seemed to be was giving off.  I was sure everyone could hear the loud thumping of my heart.

We stayed quiet long enough to watch the group pass by without noticing we were in the valley just below the hill watching them.  Our two brothers were indeed out to hunt us and we now needed to make a better plan to get to Maelyss’s kingdom, but also protect our wives.

I knew what had to be done and took them to our castles to make sure there was no way that our brothers could find them.  It seemed to be that our lives were in the palms of our brothers’ hands and if we didn’t hide the fact we had wives, they too would be killed.

Ryia seemed as if she could read my mind, since she suddenly shot me a look as she searched my eyes.  It didn’t seem to ease any of my anxiety or settle any of the confusion that was filling me. 

None of us spoke a word as we continued to move on.  It seemed as the further we walked away from our brothers, the more their haunting conversation came into my mind.  I couldn’t keep them from hunting us.

My worse fear had come true.  They found out that I was married to Ryia.   I didn’t need her to be hung in the center of the kingdom as an example or King Athalos to send an assassin to kill her.  He would be just that cruel since he hated dragons and that was what Rowan and I were.

Mysterious glances from Ryia continued as if she knew what I was thinking.  I looked at her trying to figure out if she could read my mind or not, so I began to think of this morning when her hot body was next to mine.

“You are very silent,” she finally spoke when we were a safe distance away. 

“I don’t know what to say.  How can you justify the fact that King Athalos, my father, had sent my two brothers to kill the three of us?  I don’t think there is a way to justify what I am feeling.  The shadowy figure of the man is right.  I am falling ill and I feel weak.  What if I do go insane and kill myself?  You are my wife and I am supposed to protect you from anything yet I allowed them to hunt you just like they are hunting us.”

If it wasn’t so far away, I would have sent her back to the castle.  She looked at me a bit longer as if she already knew what I was thinking about taking her to our castle and leaving her there while Rowan and I ventured to Maelyss’s kingdom.

“I refuse to stay at our castle.  I am your Queen and I will battle by your side.  Besides it is too far away to get there now.  The only way to do it is flying and you are too weak and it would also be risky,” she finally said.

I was losing this fight.  There is no way I would take her along.  Our journey had become quite dangerous.  I had fallen madly in love with her, even when she hated me.  We started making love to one another and I knew I would never look at her the same. I love her.  “I know you don’t agree with me, but as your husband, I am supposed to protect you,” I said.