The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 94

HERA

It happened again.

Once more I had closed my eyes in one place and awoke in another.

"Stop pouting at least you were not unconscious this time."

"Still. I am sick to death of having you carry me everywhere like some sort of damsel in distress." "But I enjoy carrying you"

I ignore the way he looks at me when he says the words.

Attentive and focused and very clearly thinking about kissing me.

I clear my throat, an effort to pretend like I am not feeling anything.

"Be that as it may..."

"hmmm hmmm..." He steps closer, blotting out the light of the morning sun reflecting on my face.

As always the effect he has on me and my insides is almost palpable and I swallow gently, refusing to step back.

"Be that as it may, I would...very much... prefer if...what are you doing?"

"Distracting you. Is it working?"

I attempt to calm my racing heart.

Attempt and fail.

"Dragon king...we are outside."

But even as I furiously whisper the words, I make no attempt to move away or still his wandering eager hands and he merely smirks especially when he sees the pulse jumping around in my neck. "Unconscious or not Hera, I intend to keep carrying you... holding you..."

His dips his mouth towards my ear, his breath warm and tingly on the side of my neck

"For a very, very long time. So you had better get used to it."

My insides melt deliciously into one big mess.

But before anything more can happen...

"Everything is ready my King."

This time, we will be only three embarking on the trip to the 4th realm.

The king, Leo and I.

I had awoken fully prepared to argue my case on why I should be allowed to go with them

But before the words were even out my mouth, Midas was asking me to get ready.

In his words. "There is no way in Hades I have leaving you alone."

Always a man of few words and no plans to admit anything, he did not elaborate further but I knew what he meant.

And as much as I detest playing the victim, I am not willingly to be left alone either.

Most especially not now that some shadowy construct with vague eyes and an indistinct face has apparently decided to take an interest in me.

Ironically my own safety had not even been my primary reason for wanting to go.

And despite my knowing that the circumstances surrounding this situation and our departure are less than ideal, I cannot help not feel a tinge of excitement at an opportunity to travel to another realm.

Even in Averia we have heard tales of the splendor and wonder of the realm of Elves and Fairies and the child in me who enjoyed listening to her father's stories and her mother's tales, yearns to see it with her own eyes. Midas turns to the Chief Ryder who had just spoken to him.

"What about my instructions concerning the Dark eleven queen?"

"She has been moved from the cellars and contact with her has been expressly forbidden until our return"

When Midas had mentioned what he planned to do, I did not understand it.

But according to him, despite the cuffs inhibiting her dark magic, Hermani still had her powers of seduction and persuasion and the cellars where too full of people who would sooner give themselves over to the shadows as long as they were promised power. And we could not afford to come home to a castle overrun with worshippers of the darkness.

So he decided to have her moved to a solitary, magic warded part of the castle.

At least until our return where he would make a final decision on what to do with her.

Depending on whether we are able to acquire the antidote to Wolfsbane or not.

I shudder just thinking about what would happen if we can't.

Midas is immortal and Er'gan's magic in his veins would prevent the Wolfsbane from having very strong an effect on him but all his other Ryders, Leo included...

If anything were to happen to them, the dragon king would be unable to bear it.

He would blame himself for being incapable of protecting his people and he would allow the guilt drive him insane.

I cannot allow that to happen to him.

I have asked myself why.

Why every time I look at him, my knees go weak and my heart nearly beats itself out of my ribcage.

Why just the thought of him getting hurt petrifies me enough to make my breath shallow and loud. And I have come to a conclusion.

One that is independent of whatever magical bind ties our souls together.

One that is almost just as unsettling because I did not see it coming in a thousand years.

One I am not quite ready to admit out loud.

So I simply express it by slipping my hand in his as he leads me to his monster of a horse.

By meeting his eyes when I place my hands on his shoulders and allow him hoist me unto the animal.

We ride out the castle gates and down dragon's mount.

But rather than ride out, towards the capital or the Elder forest, Midas tugs on the reins, turning his stead around and heading around the mountain and in the opposite direction.

We proceed at a brisk pace over the grey rocky terrain covered in tiny stones and shrubs and barely any trees in sight.

I glance at Leo riding by our left.

He and I have not spoken.

Not since the day he saved me from dying.

And even though it may seem like it is because there has been no time, I could have sworn from the way he always avoids my gaze and looks away when I catch him staring at me, that he is avoiding me. "We are here"

Midas pulls the horse to a stop and I look around.

We are in the middle of what would appear to be nowhere.

Behind us, if I squint, I can see the faint outlines of the dragon castle high and imposing, a stone behemoth against a backdrop of a pale pallid sky.

But that is the only thing in sight beyound rocks and rocks and...oh is that...never mind, it's just a rock as well.

He helps me down.

I stumble slightly, grabbing unto the horse to steady myself but he is already walking forward, his head turning this way and that.

He appears to be looking for something, sniffing the air even.

I hear the sounds of his footsteps as he walks across the gravelly floor to come and stand beside me.

"Leo..."

He bows his head and offers a semblance of a smile but he still would not meet my eyes."Your highness."

Chewing nervously on my lip, I look down. "I am sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"I asked you to lie for me. I understand how uncomfortable that must be for you and that is why you are avoiding me."

"That is not why."

I stop and glance at the chief Ryder who is staring straight ahead

"So you are avoiding me. Well if it is not because of that incident, then why?"

He is silent for a long time, watching Midas search for whatever he is looking for and then he turns back to me, staring at me hard.

"Because I want something I am not allowed to have and hiding it is becoming more...tasking than I anticipated"

"What is it that you want?"

No answer.

I open my mouth to ask him again what he means but he shakes his head slightly and the almost pained look in his eyes makes me stop.

I decide not to pressure him and instead turn back to look at Midas.

"What is he searching for?"

"The safest Route."

"You are going to have to tell me a little more than that."

"Portals are centers of very strong magic. Pathways through countless worlds and realms. Even beyond the seven we know. You pick the right one and you can arrive in your desired location in the shortest time possible. Pick a wrong one..." He does not need to complete the sentence.

I already know a little about what it feels like to be lost...stuck in the in-between.

But before I can ask him anything else, lightining, sudden and instantaneous, strikes the ground and I jump back, nearly stumbling into Leo.

The smell of smoke and ash fills the air and then I hear a loud, tearing noise.

Like the sound a seam makes when it is ripped or torn apart.

It seems to be coming from everywhere all at once and as I watch, a large rent appears directly in front of Midas who is standing with his arms outstretched.

It starts from the sky and extends downwards.

Wrinkled, cackling edges pulling apart from each other, the lower one stopping just shy of touching the rocky ground.

It is difficult not to be frightened and immensely fascinated all at the same time.

Midas stands in front of the Portal, and we walk up to stand beside him.

"It has been a while since I opened a portal to the Fairy realm."

"You are not going to get us missing are you?"

He sweeps me off my feet and into his arms.

"You speak too much."

I laugh and turn my head just in time to catch Leo looking away.

The space within the gaping hole in the sky resembles some sort of semi-transparent covering.

Like moving water or glass.

Rippling and swirling with luminescent colours.

Midas' grip on me tightens.

"I am not going to faint again am I?"

"You might. Just hold on tight"

It feels like passing through a veil.

One that is liquid and alive.

There is a sort of pressure in my head. Almost similar to the one I feel when I am about to have a premonition.

Except worse.

A hundred times worse.

It lasts for barely a heartbeat but it feels like forever.

And the minute my feet touch the ground again I begin to dry heave, coughing and hacking, my insides feeling like they have been turned inside out.

He brushes my hair backwards and holds it away from my face while I attempt to cough out my lungs and spit them unto the grass below.

"You did not faint. I am... impressed"

I rasie my head to glare at him through the haze of my tears and tell him that the way u feel now, I would much rather have fainted.

But as I look up my eyes focus behind him and the words die in my throat.

By all the gods...