Part 1
***This chapter deals heavily in death, domestic abuse and has mention of rape and sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
The wind carried a slight bite to it as I stepped out into the fresh air. Leaves danced in front of me and I could feel the low rumble in the atmosphere from the thunder in the distance. This, coupled with the silvery gray clouds in the sky, was not an uncommon occurrence in my home realm, but the chill that came with the oncoming blessing only happened in certain parts of the year. Autumn had officially come to the Storm realm.
A slight shiver shot down my spine and I shook my arms a bit to lose it. Gripping my textbook to my chest, I picked my two best friends out of the crowd in front of the university and made my way over to them. Their backs were turned to me and were hunched together, seemingly giggling at whatever it is they held between them. It was probably another dirty comic that DragonGale had smuggled in, and now needed help hiding from their parents.
I walked up quickly but slowed down the closer I got to the twins. Sneaking up between them and peeking over their shoulders to see them looking at a picture of someone- but I couldn’t see who- I slowly pushed my head in between theirs as close as I could without touching them.
“What’s that?” I asked loudly, moving my body out of the way so I didn’t get hit with flailing arms and flying books as they yelped loudly and spun around. I wasn’t good at a lot of things but I did excel at being sneaky and consistently catching them doing things they shouldn’t be doing.
“By the gods, DragonKi-” DragonGale grabbed at her chest, her auburn hair falling down around her face in gorgeous curling tendrils, while I had to hold my book up to protect myself from the hand that DragonGust threw at me. I wiped away tears from the laughter as they both settled themselves down.
“You two are much too easy. Careful, DragonGust, you’re abusing Advanced Latin 405,” I giggled as DragonGust tossed a few more hits in for good measure.
“Advanced Latin 405 abused me enough this quarter, I’d say I deserve more hits,” DragonGust commented with a devilish grin.
“It isn’t Latin’s fault you can’t conjugate a verb properly,” I smiled back. “DragonGale, seriously, what is it you two were looking at?” My friend had just straightened back up from picking her books, and I saw her quickly stow the picture in her Alchemy textbook.
“Oh, it was nothing…” She trailed off, not making eye contact. “You wouldn’t be interested anyway.”
“Please tell me it wasn’t another smutty writing about King Nehariah? He was assassinated over two hundred years ago. It’s weird. It’s morbid. You need to let it go.”
“But legend has it he was so gorgeous even the gods wanted him,” DragonGust pouted.
“It wasn’t that. Seriously, it was nothing. Are you headed to Loch Nan Sepulchris today?” DragonGale asked offhandedly. I narrowed my eyes. She’s hiding something.
“Yes, it is the anniversary,” I commented back slowly, eyeing her and DragonGust, who was glancing back and forth between us and that solidified it for me. I put a concerned expression on my face, looked up at the sky and went “Oh my gods, is that DragonCyclone?!” I squealed in my best impression of the Regency girls we all grew up with.
“WHAT?!” Panic and shock strained DragonGale’s voice as they spun around, their eyes searching for their troublesome younger brother. While they were too busy looking up, I grabbed her book out of her arms and took off running.
There wasn’t a lot I was allowed to do, being raised in the Regency class, and running through the crowd of students in front of the clan’s university wasn’t one of them. But I never was one to follow the status quo, so the rest of our clan was quite used to seeing me dashing around in the fine regalia of the highblood class with my two best friends- also Regency girls- in tow, usually chasing me. My older sister DragonLight could never understand my insistence on freedom. She was made for the Regency and reveled in it. I, on the other hand, always felt like it was drowning me. Much to our uncle’s dismay.
I stopped after gaining a bit of distance on them both and shook the book vigorously from the spine, watching the pages flutter back and forth and after a few seconds I got what I wanted when the paper fell out to the ground and I grabbed it, seeing what it was.
“DragonKi, come one, it isn’t that big of a deal-” DragonGale was panting as they caught up to me and I turned around, mild disgust on my face.
“DragonTempest? Why do you have a picture of my late sister’s husband?” I asked, holding the picture up.
“See this is why we didn’t show you-”
DragonGust was the last to catch up to us, panting heavily and clutching her side. “Lords, DragonKi, how do you run so fast in a corset and full woolen skirt-”
“Seriously, the Order is going to have one hell of a time getting you guys to pass a physical test,” I stood there watching them try to catch their breath- hunching over, pain and misery at the sudden physical exertion on their faces while I stood there laughing in mild amusement despite the latest development.
“We’re going in for Journalism, journalists don’t run,” DragonGale grabbed her book and the picture back from me.
“You both do realize there’s a baseline physical all initiates have to pass, right?”
They both stopped and looked at me with disbelief on their faces. “Did you two seriously sign your recruitment papers without reading everything through?” I rested my weight on my hip while looking at them both. “Why do you think I’ve been training on the bow?”
“Honestly, we thought you were going to try to get an assignment in Athena’s court.”
I smiled at that. “That would be fun, but no, not her. Why are you drooling over a picture of my ex brother-in-law?” I directed the conversation back to the point, not letting them divert me away when they wanted to avoid something.
DragonGale sighed. “Look, we’re sorry, okay? It’s just…”
DragonGust interjected. “He’s a really good looking man, okay?” She looked at me with worry on her face. “We didn’t want to show you because…” she trailed off the longer she stared at me.
“Because…. Because of what day it is?” I started walking down the path that led to the Loch.
“Yeah,” they both sighed simultaneously, both looking at each other with a little shame as they scrambled to follow behind me.
“Yeah, it is a bit odd you’re getting doe eyed over him on the anniversary of my sister’s death but hey, to each her own.”
“Oh come on, DragonKi,” DragonGale pouted. “We’re sorry, okay? Ever since the announcement last week every woman in the realm is drooling over him. This day was bound to come, you knew this.”
“What announcement?”
She cocked her head at me as we all hugged the right side of the path and bowed our heads in respect as an elderly Regency lady walked past us, a young girl in tow. “DragonThunder made the announcement last week. He was looking for his son’s next wife,” she kept her eyes down but she directed her whispered voice to me as we fell back into our formation, her on my left and DragonGust on my right.
Ice hit my stomach as shock set in. “He did, did he?” I forced my voice to sound conversational and level, a skill only learned in the discipline and etiquette classes we were forced to take.
“Well what he said was that this week the new wife would be announced. That’s why all the parents have been marching their daughters by the manor house all week. Except for ours, but believe me when we say that they were furious that we tossed our opportunity to become the wife of the future clan leader to join the ‘worthless tree hugging demon hunters’,” she finger quoted as she spoke, “but we had already signed the papers so there was nothing they could do.”
“I have no idea why your parents and my Uncle refuse to see what a noble path the Guardian Order is. They’re the largest peace and mortalarian organization in the realms. They’re the sole reason the demonic legions haven’t swarmed the dragonic realms and beyond,” It was my turn to divert the conversation. Of course I figured this day would come. He didn’t have to remain single for the rest of his days. Besides, he had a lineage to continue. I guess it was just the shock of the timing that took me by surprise.
“They’re Traditionalists. Women have a place in the home, not out on front lines, unmarried and childless, fighting demons, dark angels, Unseelie or what’s left of The Mother’s children,” we shuddered at the mention of that particular dark goddess, careful not to say her true name.
“Which I don’t get. The Storm Goddess herself is one of the best swords women in the Divine Pantheon. She fought in the last two Divine Wars. They worship her for being such a strong and independent woman yet force their daughters to be sweet, docile and brainless,” I gently smacked my hand against Advanced Latin 405 mindlessly over and over again, trying to get the excess energy the unexpected news generated in my body.
“My mom once said it’s because she’s the Goddess so she can do whatever she wants. Haven’t you gotten your papers yet?”
“No,” I sighed as a heavy weight descended on my stomach. “Hopefully all that bow training will be for something.”
“It will be, we promise. Do you want us to come with you?” DragonGust asked me as we slowed down at the fork in the path, one going left to the Regency homes, and the other right, which went down and led to the Loch.
“No, I think I’ll be okay,” I said as I took a deep breath. “Besides, I know you both need to get home, you have tutoring later this afternoon.”
They both rolled their eyes at the reminder. “You know I begged them to cancel the violin lessons? We aren’t going to need them anymore, but my mother still insists,” DragonGale whined as she flipped her red auburn hair behind her shoulder absentmindedly. I smiled, kissed them both on the cheek and told them I would see them tomorrow as I turned down the path to the right. Both of them were quintessential dragonic ladies- tall, slender, with long shiny hair, perfect pale skin and bright blue eyes. DragonGust was slightly taller, which is how I told them apart. They both already had multiple marriage requests that their father kept declining, stating he was waiting till they both came of age and they would have a say in them. Jokes on him, they signed up for the military a month before their twentieth birthday, which shot their marriage prospects to shit. The Order was considered extremely unladylike to join to many of our Traditionalist parents, for the same reasons they spoke about earlier. The status quo had remained relatively unchanged for two hundred years after the death of the dragonic king and our alliance with the Spiritual Senate influenced dragonic culture. It wasn’t until about fifteen years ago that a historian found an old diary written by King Nehariah that detailed the woman he was in love with- strong, powerful, wild and free but also beautiful, gentle and feminine- that my generation started changing the conversation surrounding everything lady-like, not just in the Storm Realm but in the rest of the Dragonic realms as well. The girls my age decided against the old time rules of our parents and wanted independence, freedom, to be strong, powerful, wild and free- just like the mysterious female our King was so enamored with but never married. That was the picture of womanhood my generation looked to, and our parents- who were raised steeped in the culturally influenced world of the Senate- scoffed at.
Yes, me and my fellow girls wanted to kick ass and look pretty while doing it. And we were, enlisting in the Order and the Dragonic Legion, going to the Universities and overrunning the classes and specializations that were historically all held and learned by men. We were keeping our own bank account records, fixing our own homes and defending our own honor, and good goddess did the old people HATE it.
I followed this cultural revolution with glee and much reproach from my Uncle. My older sister, DragonLight, on the other hand, was the perfect representation of the Regency- gentle, demure, well read but not too studied, never losing her temper or raising her voice, keeping her hair and makeup perfect at all times, always knowing what to say, how to say it, even down to laughing at the perfect volume and timbre. It was a no-brainer that DragonThunder would select her to marry his son, and my Uncle knew that, positioning her in the perfect position to impress the clan head. Uncle was practically foaming at the mouth to get his oldest niece to marry into the ruling family, being that he was stuck with us after our parents died when we were children. He was our only surviving family, and social pressures meant he had to take us in, otherwise we would have been sent to the orphanage post haste. So for one of us to repay his kindness by getting us connected to the ruling class, especially when myself- the younger troublemaker- was being myself, that was good enough for him.
And then my sister died.
It was a family secret that she had a mysterious illness that caused her weakness. I was told she was born frail, and no one ever thought she would reach adulthood. She was constantly cold, constantly feeling dizzy and weak, and she would have spells where she couldn’t even get out of bed. I remember the day that DragonThunder came to our house, railing against our uncle for lying to him, because he was promised a strong female that could produce heirs, and she couldn’t even get out of bed that day. I was told to stay in my room during the argument, and I was always curious as to how DragonTempest reacted finding out his new wife had something wrong with her. Whatever he thought or did, I never found out. He looked like a ghost at the funeral- pale, distant, dead eyes and barely responsive. He remained distant ever since, only going out when he was obligated to and keeping to himself the rest of the time. News of her illness did naturally come out about two days before she died after collapsing at a diplomacy event between the storm and fire realms, so naturally, the rumors ran rampant through the Regency houses like a lightning storm. Some say she died because he got her pregnant and her body couldn’t handle it. Others say he was so angry at being lied to that it drove him to physical violence. Neither one I believed. I forced myself to accept it was the stress of the position, to keep myself sane and help myself grieve.
Part of me did feel for him. Eleven months of marriage and he’s a widower. Even though it was arranged and neither one had much time to get to know the other before the wedding, I could see he was growing to love her, and her him.
At the same time, I promised myself I wouldn’t be forced into a marriage with someone I didn’t know. I refused to have my uncle marry me off for political and monetary gain like her, even though she got extremely lucky. Her marriage to DragonTempest was rare, an anomaly and the minority- there were so many more stories of women getting trapped in loveless marriages to men who saw them as items and not as people, and I would not go down that path either.
The wind blew again and broke me out of my musings as I continued down the path. I took a deep breath and smelled the oncoming storm in the air. A blessing, it was referred to, in my clan. Reminders of our Goddess’s love and protection. I looked up into the canopy of the tall green trees on either side of the path bending in the wind and paused, looking around me. This particular walking path had granite pavers in the deep gray color that the storm realm was famous for, and in this particular section, the designer had placed slabs of obsidian that stood a good ten feet tall and were so polished you could see your reflection in them on either side of the path leading down to the Loch. I took another breath and paused, catching a glimpse of myself in the black mirror.
I was always average at best, by dragonic standards. Shorter than most, some early onset laugh lines and texture in the face from not protecting my skin from the sun, average brown hair that I had grown out to my waist that always seemed to frizz up no matter what I tried to do with it and I didn’t have the lithe slender body that the culture demanded, but rather my bust and hips were wider than they should be, causing many a seamstress- and my Uncle, for that matter- to make backhanded comments growing up, along with the girls and their mothers in the Regency. Many comments about whether or not I was a full blooded dragon, mainly, but the rumors never came to much, as my Uncle used his influence and money to silence them. My only saving grace was my eyes. While everyone in the clan had the normal shades of brown, blue, or purple, I was one of the rare ones that had gray. And not the gray that was actually murky blue, no, actual gray. The gray of an oncoming storm, someone once said to me. The exact color of my mother’s eyes, I was told. So many people told me I was a dead ringer for her, but unfortunately, I was cursed with my fathers mouth and temper.
I guess the goddess figured two perfect ladies in the same family would become a problem.
I pulled at the woolen fabric of my dress, made in the traditional style of the storm clan. High collar, long flared sleeves, and a full shirt made in the traditional tartan colors of my family- green, gray and silver- I reminded myself to hold my shoulders back and not to slouch as I continued my walk down to the Loch, following the gentle sounds of waves on the shoreline.
The path opened up and the trees parted for the shimmering waters of Loch Nan Sepulchra, or The Lake of the Graves, as it translated out of the storm dragon dialect. In our culture, our funeral rights detailed the body being placed on a wooden raft, setting it alight then pushing it out into the lake, which was fed by a waterfall from the Sea of Storms- a giant sea in the center most part of the realm, in which a perpetual storm was constantly brewing- which was a gift from our goddess as a reminder of who we chose to follow and who blesses us with our powers. Our ashes become one with the loch and when the water evaporates and joins the storm, which gifts all storm dragons with our powers, so do the dearly departed. We are reminded that the people who walked before us are still with us every time we hear the rumble in the distance, or feel the lightning in our hands, or whenever we transform into our true dragon forms. In our culture, death is just a pause, just another stop on the magnificent wheel of life, so we shouldn’t be afraid of it, but be excited that one day our descendants will call upon us every time they use their powers.
So on, and so forth. The wheel keeps turning, never ceasing.
I started down the winding and descending path to the beginning of the loch. The calm dark gray waters lapped against the shore as I made my way to the cart filled with flower wreaths of all sorts of bright happy colors. Most of which are in the different traditional colors of the families, but there were some others, so everyone could get one that represented their loved one the best way.
The lady was the same lady that was there day in and day out, and already knew me, because I was here every week for the past year. There were others walking by the shoreline, working class, merchant class and Regency all here, together, for the same reason. One of the only places you will ever see all the different types walking side by side, comforting one another, as equals.
I set my Latin text down to pull my coin purse out of my sleeve as the flower lady reached behind her and pulled out a wreath made of yellow roses for me. She didn’t even have to ask, that’s how regular I was.
“Good afternoon, ma’am. I almost got worried, I didn’t see any yellow on your cart today,” I said, politely making conversation, handing her the two gold donation for the wreath. I didn’t have to pay that much, I just chose to. The money goes towards maintaining the loch, and now that all of my family except for an uncle was in it, I felt obligated.
“Good afternoon, sweetheart. You came just in time, this is the last yellow rose I got.”
“Really? It isn’t that popular of a color, I didn’t think.”
“Well I only got two on this shipment and someone a little while earlier bought the other one, and I knew you were on your way, being the end of the week, so I hid this one just for you, dear,” She was an elderly storm dragon, her face full of wisdom and wrinkles and her long silvery hair was pulled back into a braid as she smiled and winked at me.
I felt myself go into a genuine smile despite myself for the first time in a while as I stashed my purse and picked up the wreath and my book. “Thank you so much, ma’am, you are an absolute angel,” I bid her farewell and got back onto the winding path around the loch.
It was honestly one of my favorite places to be. My Uncle would take us down here once a year in the springtime for the anniversary of our parents passing, and I never complained. It was quiet here, calmer, and the air was different. Being in a realm where the lead elemental was Storm, the air was always filled with a feeling of electricity, but here, near the final resting place of all storm dragons, there was a restfulness in the atmosphere. Maybe it was the full, dense forest of green and brown that surrounded the entire loch, maybe it was the gray clouds that circled overhead that were perpetually there due to being so close to the realms Storm, maybe it was the waves that rhythmically lapped continuously, whatever it was, it silenced my mind and my soul.
I kept walking past the crowds that generally gathered at the beginning of the loch, choosing to continue down the path for more seclusion. The path winded around the entirety of the loch, all thirty three hundred acres of it, and the trails were framed with all sorts of different plants and shrubs to admire that the local wildlife also lived in. The farther I walked, the less people were around me, till I was alone with just the sounds of the lake, the wildlife in the forest and the wreath swishing against my skirt. After about an hour of walking, I found my favorite dock that I like to walk out on and, leaving Advanced Latin 405 on the stone pillar at the entrance to the dock, I curved my way down onto the water.
My heels clicked on the wood and it shifted gently as I eased my way out. Once I was out at the edge I forced myself to be still, and after some patience, the dock stilled as well. Looking around the water, I saw a rainbow of other wreaths left by my fellow mourners, all gently moving and bobbing with the current. The wind blew again, tossing some leaves into the water alongside the wreaths as some of them spun in a dance of sorts with the wind.
I took a breath and leaned down, gently placing the circle of yellow roses in the water and pushing it out to join its fellows. “I came back, as promised,” I whispered to the air. “I still haven’t gotten my papers for the Order. But once I do I promise I’ll come back to visit you, you know I will,” I tried to joke to push down the sorrow in my chest, hearing my Uncle in my head telling me that feeling sad about it is pointless, that we just need to accept it and move on. I sniffed and wiped away a tear trying to fall, pushing the pain back down. “Uncle is the same, although here lately he’s been distracted with work, so he doesn’t pay me much mind. I know you said I had to be strong against him but I don’t know if I can continue. I know you said running away to the Order won’t fix the problems but it’s the only thing I can do now that you’re gone,” I felt two tears fall despite myself. “My birthday was last week. It’s the only way I can protect myself now.”
The wreath spun lazily and bobbed on a wave, as if it could hear me, as I’m sure it did, because I quickly noticed my voice had raised in volume with that last confession. “I miss you. Every day, soror,” I whispered, bringing the volume back down, my voice catching in my throat. I coughed to clear it and forcefully brushed the tears away again and as I moved my head, something bright caught my line of vision.
Another wreath of bright yellow.
My heart skipped a beat but I took a breath. DragonLight wasn’t the only one who liked the bright warm color of yellow, I told myself. I shook my head slightly and looked up at some movement on the shoreline across from me and froze.
Tall build, strong shoulders, long dark brown hair tied back, dressed in a tartan kilt of blue, purple and black, the colors of the Royal House of the StrahmDratens. My former brother-in-law, kneeling by the water on the opposite shoreline’s dock, with eyes locked onto me.
I felt my heart slam in my chest as I was gripped with something. Fear, anger, shock, whatever it was, I couldn’t move. But as he slowly started to stand, the wind picked up stronger than before, bringing a much deeper chill that startled me awake long enough to quickly avert my gaze and scamper back down the dock onto the path. Grabbing my book and whispering a quick promise to return to the loch, I hurried back up the paved walk. I dared a glance back and I saw him looking out at the two wreaths then looking back to myself. Knowing his eyes were on me made me spin back around and trot as fast as I could back to the entrance and to the road to my Uncle’s house.
I had only met him up close once, at the engagement party the night before the wedding, when both sides came together for one big private party before the main event. She had introduced him to me as her little sister and, being the traditional man he was raised as, bowed his head to me and took the hand I offered, laying a quick kiss on the back and telling me it was an honor to meet me and to join our family. I almost forgot to smile and thank him and return the compliment. I remember telling DragonLight she was lucky, most girls got married off to men twice their age, but at least this one was still young and had all his teeth. She laughed at my comment, fully immersed in the happiness of the day and not hearing the slight bite of jealousy in my tone at all. Every single woman in the clan had noticed what a great catch he would be, because not only was he a great looking representation of the storm dragon man, but he was also reportedly charismatic and his parents had raised him traditional but also extremely respectful, and based on the stories I had heard of his mother, I believe every word of that rumor. He was the first man I had looked at in a way more than family or friendship, and the feelings my body got when he laid that kiss were enough to scare me. I was quite different from the other girls my age; I had never been interested in being a wife, and doing the things that married couples do that the girls all whispered about when their parents weren’t looking. I preferred studying Latin and Dragonic history, which got me the weird label, but I didn’t mind. The conversations some of these girls had about what happened in the marital chambers never excited me but rather scared me. DragonTempest was the first one that put my mind in such a place, and sometimes I allowed myself there, in the darkest of night, when I knew Uncle was asleep and I wouldn’t be disturbed.
I didn’t know why it would be such a shock to see him there today, laying a memorial wreath of yellow roses in the water, on the anniversary of his wife’s death. Of course he would be there, and I was touched he would, given that he was ready to move on already. Maybe today was his final goodbye, I thought to myself as I dashed down the main thoroughfare. The sounds of the oncoming blessing were getting stronger and droplets were starting to fall. By the time I raced through the wrought iron fence in front of my Uncle’s three story manor house, it had started picking up and I had just enough time to dash through the front door before it started to pour.
“Goodness, my lady, there you are,” my Uncle’s doorman, Dante, gasped as I burst through the large oak wood door, slamming it behind me. I leaned up against it, catching my breath and laughing a bit at catching him off guard.
“Oh, you know me, I was off on another adventure,” I laughed, tossing my textbook at a nearby table.
“You’re Uncle is home,” he spoke quickly before I kept going, and I froze, a new fear crippling me.
“For how long?” I panicked, racing to the mirror to fix myself.
“Just this mid day. He told me to send you straight to him when you got home. He’s in his study, my lady,” the older man bowed his head in respect, but spoke gently. He’s worked for my family ever since I was a child. He, like the rest of the staff, has heard everything that has happened in these walls, but also like the rest of the staff, is completely powerless to do anything, so he does what he can, by quietly informing me of his movements and making sure my ladies have what they need. I combed through my windblown hair and brushed the stray droplets from the wool with shaky hands.
I turned back to him. “How do I look?” I asked, trying to keep the tremble down.
He reached up and brushed a stray lock into place. “Like the hurricane. Beautiful and dangerous,” he said and I smiled through the worry. “Don’t fret, he’s in an extremely good mood.”
“Oh, that’s good,” I took a breath and, steadying myself, made my way up the staircase, knowing that his moods are famous for switching rapidly.
My Uncle’s house was built specific to his wishes, with all the rich stained and carved wood and beautiful colorful tapestries, a physical demonstration of his status. Old world, old money, old blood.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the study, a room I rarely went in. A moment later a staff member opened the door and I walked inside.
“Good afternoon, Uncle, I am glad you have returned safely,” I spoke on the level and calmly, reaching to my etiquette class as the staff excused themselves.
“Of course I would, my dear, who else would lead this family?” His voice was deep and unbothered as he turned from his bookshelf to look at me. My Uncle DragonStrohma, the patriarch of the family and Head of Finance for the Storm Clan, built with classic storm dragon features with broad shoulders, strong cheekbones and the long dark hair that started at a widows peak and fell down around his shoulders, official green and gray tartan kilt around his chest, stepped back behind his desk and placed a leather bound book on the top. I bit my tongue at the offhand comment.
“Dante said you wanted to see me as soon as I came home.”
“Yes, I did. What took you so long? You get out of school at one and it’s almost five.”
“Um, I went to Loch Nan Sepulchra, Uncle, because of what today is.”
“You’re still doing that? I understand everyone grieves differently, my dear, but in this family we are stronger than that. Your father was the same way, letting his emotions get the better of him all the time,” he didn’t even look at me as he opened up the tome and I noticed it was more financial registers.
“Yes, Uncle,” I chose not to press the issue.
He sighed, flipping through the pages. “Well, I have good news. It is quite ironic that today is what it is, because I have finally been able to rectify the situation, and you will help me do just that.”
“I will? How so, Uncle?”
“By finishing the job that your sister was too weak to finish.”
Ice hit my blood. “What do you mean?”
He paused to take a breath and pick up his glass filled with the amber liquid of what was most likely storm scotch. “I have arranged for you to marry DragonTempest.”
My mouth and throat went dry as my entire body locked up in shock. I shook my head for a few seconds, processing what he had just said before bursting out, “But, but you promised!”
“Promises have to be compromised all the time-”
“I told you I didn’t want an arranged marriage and you told me you wouldn’t put me in one!”
“And that was before your sister died without producing an heir for DragonTempest.”
“But I’m enlisting! I’ve been talking to the Order, I can’t get married now,” And there I went, playing my trump card. He can’t marry me off, I’m enlisting. It’s my final protection.
“Yes, I took the liberty of rescinding your intent to enlist paperwork,” He commented with a bit of a bite in his tone, pulling out an envelope with an official stamp on it as I felt the rest of my blood leave my face and hands. “This came today for you,” I grabbed at it and tore it open. “You should be thanking me, I stopped you from making a huge mistake and throwing your whole life away.”
My hands shook as I read the words telling me they were sorry I was rescinding my intent and wishing me well in future endeavors. There was no way I could fix this.
“So that’s all I am? I’m being reduced to a baby farm because he couldn’t knock her up?” I shrieked as I threw the letter back onto his desk. He slammed his glass down and I jumped, immediately knowing I had made a huge mistake.
“I saved you, niece, from becoming cannon fodder. From becoming a laughing stock and an embarrassment,” He stalked around the desk, following me as I backed away from him. “Do you seriously think you could survive in the Order? They would have chewed you up and spat you back out on the front lines to be torn apart by demonic legions!” His voice kept getting louder the closer he got to me. I bumped into a wall table and in a panic reached out behind me for anything I could put in front of me to use as a buffer. “And that’s only if you were very, very lucky! It would be much more likely that they would notice you were Regency, kidnap you and toss you into the slave trade, to be raped repeatedly by the demonic lords until you either died from it or they tossed you out when they got bored of you! And then what would you do? Come crawling back to me asking for help like you two did when you were children?” He slammed his fists to the wall next to me and I cowered.
“Please, please Uncle, don’t do this,” I cried, my body freezing, holding my hands and arms to my face.
“Don’t do what?” He screamed, grabbing my wrists and ripping them away before grabbing me by the throat. “You are mine, from the moment your worthless parents died, you have been mine,” He forced me to look at him, hissing in my face.
“I’m sorry, Uncle, forgive me please, please don’t hurt me, please don’t do this,” I begged him, tears streaming down my face, clawing at his hand and arm, trying to pry his fingers off. It didn’t even phase him, he just pulled me up off the ground by my neck as I continued to gasp for air, black dots starting to appear at the edge of my vision.
“Don’t you understand? I can do whatever the hell I want with you!” And with that, he threw me across the room with enough force to run me into a table, knocking over a vase to the ground. It smashed onto the wood floor at the same time I fell onto my back, rolling over to my stomach and curling up in a ball, trying to breath through the sobs.
“And if I want to marry you to the future clan leader, to reestablish some semblance of respect for this family, then I will fucking do it! Do you understand yet?” He stomped over, leaning over me so all I saw was him, screaming in rage.
“Yes, Uncle, yes I understand,” I sobbed, my throat burning as I ducked my head again into my chest, trying my best to bring my legs up as tight as I could, wrapping my arms around the back of my head and neck.
For a second there was no sound at all except the sounds of his boots on the hardwood as he walked back to his desk and the rain pounding into the windows. I stole a glance up as I saw him reach for his drink again and down the whole glass as a flash of lightning streaked across the room, illuminating him in a terrifying way. He took a deep breath, straightening his kilt, smoothing his hands over his hair and chest as he turned to face me. “Do you see what you do to me?” He asked, almost pleading, as I uncurled myself on the floor, making sure his rage had passed. I slowly got myself to sit as I heard him dig around with something metallic before hearing the click of his lighter. I looked up at him taking a drag off a nightshade cigarette, the sweet aromatic scent filling the study as thunder trembled the house. “Why can’t you just be a good girl like your sister and do what I tell you?” He started to walk towards me and I cowered again.
“I’m sorry, Uncle, I’ll do whatever you want,” I rasped, still crying, as I pushed myself off the floor and used the table to pull myself up.
“Stop crying, you’re stronger than that,” He bit out his comment with a tinge of annoyance as I ran my hands over my face. “And you’re also bleeding,” He sighed as I looked down at my hands at the bits of glass buried in them, probably from getting up off the floor. He walked over to where he kept his liquor and grabbed the whiskey decanter. I kept my eyes down as he told me to hold my hands out and he proceeded to pick out the bits of glass sticking out of my palms.
“We have dinner with DragonThunder and his son at exactly seven sharp tonight. You have two hours to get yourself put together,” He took the whiskey decanter and poured the amber liquid over my hands, not caring at all at my gasp of pain or the wincing. He set it back down to put a towel in my hands and I grasped it tightly to stop the bleeding, never looking back up at him. “I would start getting ready now.”
I nodded and quickly started to leave before I heard him clear his throat. I stopped and turned back around, looking up at him pouring himself another drink, holding the bloody towel tightly in my hands. “I apologize, Uncle, may I be excused to go start to get ready?” I asked, forcing my voice to be calm and level.
“You may. And my niece?” I paused and looked back at him. “Wear something with a high collar. I don’t want him or his son to accuse me of damaging goods,” he tossed the drink back and turned away from me, officially excusing me from the room.
I scurried to my room, blowing past the staff and my ladies who were waiting in my sitting room, to run into my bedroom and slam the door and proceed to ball my eyes out on my bed.
My whole life had just been shot to shambles within a fifteen minute period. The Order was out. Running away was still an option, but where would I go? I couldn’t do anything to support myself. I could be a governess but how would I stay anonymous doing that? He would find me eventually and drag me back to force me into the role my sister left open.
After a little while I picked myself up and moved over to my vanity, sitting down in front of the mirror to take stock at what I looked like. My eyes were red and swollen, there was blood smeared across my face from when I brushed my tears away, and he was right- there were already blue and purple bruises forming across my throat. High collar dress it was, then.
I looked at my door and kept still for a second, listening closely, and when I was satisfied my ladies weren’t about to come busting through the door, I opened the center drawer and pulled the bottom out to reveal the false bottom underneath. There I pulled out the only remaining photo I had of my sister.
In dragonic culture it was customary to get rid of all the pictures of the deceased loved one, and my Uncle did just that, so I only had this one picture and also one of my parents on their wedding day which I also kept in here. It was considered odd and strange to keep them, which I never understood, but I kept them locked up because people didn’t like it all the same.
I held the picture up of my sister, with her long beautiful blonde hair and bright blue eyes as more lightning flashed in my dark room. I heard her in my head, on her wedding night as she went to live with him for good, telling me to be strong, to trust her. She would always protect me, I just had to trust her and remain strong.
I took a shaky breath. I promised her I would, but I had to do what I had to do to survive. Which meant getting ready for dinner with her former and my future husband.
