Chapter 4
Lola
“What took you so long?” Mother hissed as I dropped the full basket of freshly picked stone on the table.
“The water was high,” I lied. “I needed to go farther, up to the cave.”
She cast me a dirty look as she grabbed the handle to move it to a different table; the one she’d been working on, up until I showed back up.
“Why is your hair in such a mess? I made sure you were perfect and here you go, trying to embarrass me once again.”
It was hard to hold my eyes from rolling in annoyance, but the knowledge that she’d probably strike me if I did made it somewhat manageable. If only I could also refrain from talking back…
“Maybe you shouldn’t have sent me to pick up stones then. Not that you’d know, but it’s hard work detaching the small pieces from their cluster.”
She turned abruptly, her hand lifted in the air as I took a quick step back, eyes wide but jaw locked, anticipating the blow. She held herself in check though, clenching her teeth and her fist to stop her motion.
“You’re lucky Amyntas just arrived and I don’t want to introduce you with a bruise, you foolish girl!
Your father is really upset that you weren’t here to welcome him.
I suggest you hurry up and arrange the nest on your head—no, you know what?
I’ll do it myself, you’re incapable of making yourself look attractive. ”
I gritted my teeth as she put extra effort into making an entirely different hairstyle than what she initially sent me out with the first time, styling my auburn hair into an elaborate braid and weaving white opals and onyx stones along the strands.
My head felt heavy. I didn’t like it.
“Much better,” she said, admiring her work and circling me like an assessing predator. “Now he won’t even consider choosing the other one he’s set to meet in a couple of weeks.”
I struggled to swallow through the anxious knot expanding in my too dry throat. I doubted I’d even be able to speak when I’d come face to face with my cursed destiny.
“I’ll call for Aghen, he’ll escort you to your future husband and make sure you don’t wander off.”
Her insinuation was one hundred percent accurate. I was a flight risk. In fact, I’d wanted to run away from here the second I told Dimitri I needed to go back to my clan. The second I told him I was supposed to get married to the Dragon clan’s leader in a year.
“Married?” Dimitri had gritted out. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“You can’t get married to him,” he stated, shaking his head, eyes not leaving mine. “You’re my mate. I’m not leaving your side.”
I scoffed, standing up from the edge of the luminous water to walk backward to the crack in the wall.
“And what do you suggest? Making a scene? I can’t exactly go meet him and say ‘by the way, this is my mate. Can he join us? Don’t worry, I’ll still give you your heir, but maybe you won’t mind this gigantic ass man sharing our bed, can I?
You and I just met! I don’t trust you more than I do him. ”
Lies. That little voice in my head was difficult to ignore. My soul trusted him more than it trusted me.
“There won’t be any heir,” he growled, standing up as well to follow me. “Not if I can prevent it.”
“You won’t be able to do anything about all this. Unless you plan on killing every single Dragon and each of my family members, this is happening.”
He prowled closer to me, faster than I could retreat, and grabbed my forearm before I could escape through the opening in the stone.
“Wait, do you want this marriage to happen?” he had asked seriously, although I could see a spark of anger in his deep blue eyes.
“Of course I don’t! You think I’m happy being sold off to the Dragon clan?”
“Well, you’re being awfully reluctant to call it off.”
“I don’t have a choice!” I yelled, my voice echoing in the dimly lit cave. “Refusing might anger the Dragons and start a fucking war!”
“We could—”
“Look,” I interrupted sharply. “I have to go back up there. He’ll probably be here soon, and I still have to pick up the stones my mother sent me to fetch.”
Dimitri frowned, and didn’t let go of my arm.
“So we’re just going to go our separate ways and ignore the whole mate thing?”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay and get to know him. I wanted to escape with that man I didn’t even know.
“Can I at least help you with your task?” he had asked, voice lower. “And talk?”
I had searched his face, my eyes darting between his before my shoulders slumped with a sigh.
“Okay. But stay close to the edge of the cliff so people won’t see you.”
Now, more than ever, I wished I said to Hell with all this and ran away with him.
My heart was beating fast as Aghen entered our home, eyes instantly finding me sitting at the table while our mother hummed and cleaned the stones behind me.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, giving me his hand to help me stand. My nod was slow and I followed, looping my arm with his.
We stayed silent until the door closed behind us and as the people waiting outside stared at us, arranged in some sort of line leading out of our village, where the Dragons must have set camp.
“What did mother tell you?” he asked, whispering so as not to be heard by the people bowing as we passed.
“The usual. I’m an ugly disappointment, I upset Father and my new husband by not welcoming him myself…Nothing I wasn’t expecting.”
He cleared his throat. “She lied. Amyntas was actually glad you weren’t there because he wanted to rest and settle the camp before the introduction.”
“Should we go back home then?” I asked, casting glances to the bystanders. “Maybe he’d like even more time for himself, I don’t mind waiting for a few more days. Or weeks. Or if he could fuck back off where he came from, that’d be great too.”
Aghen tensed next to me as we kept walking.
I was glad the weather was so nice and it hadn’t rained for a while, or hundreds of people would have been watching me walk—and probably fall—in the mud, only to arrive to my future husband dirty.
My mother would have had a fit and somehow blamed it on me.
Maybe it would have been better, to be fair.
Amyntas’ vanity might have decided I was not good enough and left me alone.
“Do you want me to explain to you how this is going to go?” Aghen asked.
“I’ve seen these ceremonies before,” I reminded him.
“I’m being put on display for him to check out the goods, and then we’ll meet again at dinner, a whole table just for ourselves while the rest of the clan can watch us interact from their own tables farther away.
” I rolled my eyes as I turned my head to look at my brother. “I’m not looking forward to it.”
“It’s not how it’s going to happen here,” Aghen said, now looking straight ahead where a makeshift camp started to appear. “You’re to give him a tour.”
“Why me?” I groaned. “Mother and Father’s other wives are supposed to do that.”
My twin shook his head. “Not today. Amyntas requested that his Maiden do the tour. Then you’ll escort him to the dining hall and stay with him until dinner is over.”
The idea of being stuck with him for the whole late afternoon and evening made me flinch. Maybe it wasn’t too late to flee. Maybe Dimitri was still near the cave and he’d help me escape.
“Ania,” Aghen said.
My head felt heavy, eyes unfocused, breath short.
I can’t do this, I thought.
“Ania, you can’t stop here, we need to keep walking.”
“I can’t,” I croaked. “I—I don’t want this. I don’t want to—”
“I know,” he said, pulling me to resume our slow pace. “I have a plan. Just listen to me and stop spiraling.”
A plan. Aghen had a plan. My brother was going to get me out of this.
“Breaking the arrangement will only cause trouble. You can’t break it yourself, or we’ll all pay the price. We don’t want to start a war.”
I didn’t see how this information—one I already knew—was a plan.
“What if I find my mate before we’re to be married?” I asked, hope flaring. Maybe Amyntas had a tender heart? It would be cruel to force mates to split, right?
But Aghen shook his head softly. “We can’t count on that. It’s not common to find one’s mate and even if you do, Amyntas probably won’t care. Best case scenario is he allows your mate to come with you and let you be together once he has what he wants, but we can’t bet on it.”
“What if I mysteriously lose my virginity in the upcoming year?” I continued. “I won’t be pure, he won’t—”
“That would be seen as a grave offense. An insult. You can’t go around sleeping with other people when you’re promised to marry someone. It would bring shame to our family, and he might roast you on the spot.”
I rolled my eyes. At least, I wouldn’t have to go with him. My mother and father could also burn, I didn’t care.
“Ania, you need to listen to me carefully,” Aghen said, pulling me slightly closer to him.
“The only way you can get out of this situation is if Amyntas changes his mind on his own. If he somehow decides that even though you have stronger genes that the other Maiden considered, you’re not worth the trouble. ”
I looked at him as we slowed down, close enough to the makeshift camp that I could see the shape of my father standing close to a group of men with sparse scales on their forearms.
“You need to up your brat abilities to the highest levels, Ania. Make him dislike you enough that his stomach churns at the thought of spending even five minutes with you.”
We were close enough that I could actually see all their faces now. Amyntas was not hard to spot among his soldiers: taller, broader, small scales on his cheekbones. His monolid slitted opal eyes were focused on me as we walked impossibly closer and an uncomfortable shiver went up my spine.
“That’s the only way,” Aghen continued. “I’ll try and talk you down too, but you need to make him dislike you. You need to make sure that when he meets the other Maiden in two weeks, he won’t even think twice about choosing her.”
We stopped in front of them, my heart pounding violently in my chest.
The man standing before me was handsome, but terrifying.
Black iridescent scales covered his forearms and were scattered on his cheekbones and up his neck.
His slitted eyes reflected the light in the strangest way.
The non-scaly part of his skin was tanned and his long black hair half tied behind his head.
“Here they are,” my father crooned with a smile. “You’ve met my son a couple of times, and here’s his twin sister, Anastasia. Isn’t she the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
Amyntas looked at my brother, his expression unreadable, before returning his focus on me with a slight nod.
“I’ve never seen twins before,” the Dragon leader said, ignoring my father’s remark. “They don’t look that much alike.”
My eyes darted to Aghen who stood ramrod straight next to me, eyes focused on our guest and his two soldiers just behind him.
“Let’s get this tour over with, shall we?” Amyntas said, slapping my father’s shoulder a couple of times before taking a step toward me.
My breath hitched in my throat as his hand closed around my wrist, pulling me with him in the village’s direction.
My wide panicked eyes met Aghen’s, his gaze locked on the spot where Amyntas was touching me, brows furrowed.
I stumbled behind the Dragon, hoping my father, brother, or anyone would step in and call it off.
But no one did.
Although, I could feel goosebumps erupting along my spine, as if someone was watching but remained unseen.