Chapter 1 #2
I might be able to breathe underwater, but no one else can.
I learnt that when... I close my eyes and shake my head.
No, I can’t think of what happened. I press forward, finally sliding into my room and shutting the door behind me, pressing the back of my head against it.
My safe place. There, at the bottom of my bed, is the only thing that’s piqued my interest and the only thing I want to learn about.
When I was a kid, I found it in the water.
A purple, shining dragon egg that should not exist. Even now it shines, just like the day I found it.
But dragon eggs are pretty much unseen without their parents around, and no one can hatch them.
I have no idea why it came to me. Why, most importantly, it doesn’t hatch.
Dragons are almost myths to me and my friends.
We know our parents rode them and then they went off to have their lives, their own families.
My mother and my father often speak of their connection to their dragons in their minds.
They can hear them sometimes, even now, but I wish to see one more than just an egg.
I walk towards it, placing my hands on the scales, feeling its coolness. My mother once said that she felt a dragon egg should be warm. She doesn’t understand why mine is so cold or purple, and why no magic can help it hatch. “Admiring your stolen treasure?”
I’m still staring at the egg when a man steps out of the shadows of the balcony.
He’s huge, with wide shoulders that strain against his shirt and thick legs planted wide.
Powerful. He is in all black, except for a long purple cloak that falls from his shoulders down to the floor.
He’s littered with weapons, everything from a glistening purple sword to many, many daggers clipped around his waist. His hair is shaved on one side; the other side, dark black locks fall across his forehead, and his face looks as if it were carved out by the gods themselves.
A scar runs over his bottom lip, which has a looped piercing around the bottom of it, as he looks me up and down.
There is a paleness, a stillness that makes me wonder if he is a vampyre, but there are no normal signs.
His eyes aren’t the right colour for one — they are as purple as his cloak.
His hair is too dark for one. “Who in the name of dragons are you?”
“Let me guess, you’re some pretty princess of this world?” He drags his eyes over me. Assessing. Something flickers in them. I guess at this moment, I do look like a helpless princess in a gown and crown.
“A queen.” I slide in front of the egg to protect it and quickly grab a dagger hidden under my bed.
One thing my father taught me is how to defend myself, and my mother taught me how to hide weapons wherever I might need them.
I hold the dagger out between us. “And you need to leave my room before I make you bleed all over my rug.”
“Hmm.” He barks out a deep laugh, and I shiver as the sound echoes in my ears.
He takes a step forward, never even glancing at the dagger.
I have a feeling I’m a duck out of water compared to this man.
“I can’t do that and I don’t intend to waste my blood on your rug.
They’re going to want to know who you are because they’ve been looking for that egg for a long time. They hired me to come and find it.”
“Who are they?” I only have to keep him here a little longer. My father will know someone uninvited is in the castle the moment he senses my fear.
“The dragons.” He walks towards me, quickly closing the space. “Though they’ve abandoned this world and they are furious, thief.”
Even with his intense stare, I don’t lower my dagger for a second. “Why do you keep saying this world?”
“You’ll see.” He is close enough now that one more step and my dagger will be in his chest.
“I won’t, because you’ll be bleeding out on my floor in five seconds flat.” I snarl. “You walked into the wrong castle.”
He runs his tongue over his bottom lip. “That’s doubtful.
You’re tiny… in a weighted dress, and even that crown looks mighty heavy on your head.
I’m pretty sure a perfect, pretty little queen like you is going to have no chance against me.
If you’re waiting for someone to come and save you, like your father perhaps, that isn’t happening. My magic has this room locked down.”
There’s such arrogance in his voice, such conviction. He honestly feels like no one can beat him. I can hear it in his tone. I grip my dagger tighter as a little panic fills my chest. “Try it, asshole.”
He smirks before he moves. He moves fast — as fast as a vampyre can.
I just about trace him before he’s in front of me.
A dagger’s somehow in his hand that I didn’t even see him pull out.
I barely manage to fend off his blow as he goes for my throat.
I don’t know whether he’s going to actually kill me for a single second, and in that second, all I want to do is plead for him to let me live.
I barely manage to push him off and I spin, the stupid dress catching on my feet.
Because he’s right, this dress is a hindrance.
That mistake is all he needs. He grabs me again, his hand wrapping around my throat, and he pushes me straight into the wall.
His other hand grabs my dagger and slams it above my head with a bang.
Someone had to hear that. Someone has to come.
He doesn’t hurt me, not exactly. But it’s clear I can’t move, not as I struggle in his arms. He smiles, revealing two sharp canine teeth, and he leans into me. “What’s your name?”
“Fuck you!” I shout back.
“Maybe we can get to that.” He looks me up and down in a way that makes my cheeks burn. “But first, what’s your name?”
Something makes me want to tell him and I clench my teeth. “Wrenley. Queen of the Dawn Dynasty, and you will die for hurting me. They will rip you to pieces.” I bite out.
“I’d like to see them try.” He smirks. “And this will hurt. I have a feeling I will enjoy every single drop of you, Wren.”
I go to scream, but I can’t. Something wraps around my mouth, and I realise it’s purple, almost like a mist, like my father’s shadows but different, brighter almost. I struggle in his grip as he moves his hand from my neck, arching my chin up, right before he sinks his teeth into my neck.
A silent scream echoes from my mouth, and he groans, drinking deep, and blissfully I pass out into an unwelcoming darkness.
.. where I realise he is going to take me, and I might never see my home again.