The Dragon's Love

Chapter 3

-Laelia-

They got them …

His words were haunting me, as the young female elf healer stood over my brother. Kayda was at her side helping her, while Libelle and the rest of us looked at him worried. His forehead was glistening from sweat, his skin so pale it looked like snow, and his dark hair sticking to his skin. He was hurt. Badly, yet we could not get any real explanation from him as to what had happened. Suddenly, I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder.

“He didn’t say they were dead,” Liam whispered to me.

“He didn’t say they were alive either,” I gave back.

“Have a little faith?”

“With these people?” I asked. “I lost a son because of them. We lost a father. Now we might lose our brother and me, a husband … tell me, how can I have any faith?”

Liam's eyes only looked at me with even more pity. He saw how I had darkened over the ten days we had been here. It had hurt too much, I didn’t want to continue being hurt, so I had hardened.

“Our healer will take care of your brother,” the queen said.

Her king by her side, standing like a strong pillar. These two only strengthened each other. It was clear that both respect and love flowed between them.

“And we thank you all for what you are doing for him. And us. We would have died without you,” I said.

The king smiled and nodded politely, but I could not miss the concern in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. He had offered to give us shelter, but it did not mean he wanted to be a part of this fight.

“Come. You should get some rest,” Liam said.

I shook my head.

“No. I want to be here. I want to wait.”

“Laelia …”

I shook his hand off my shoulder and took a step forward.

“I want to be here when he wakes up.”

“You can’t forget to take care of yourself. Samuel is tough. He will fight through this.”

“I know, and I will be the first one he sees when he wakes up.”

Liam sighed. He hated how I distanced myself from everyone. How I focused on the fire burning in my veins, rather than spending what time I had left with them, but I could not let go. I was angry. I wanted to pay them back for what they had done to me and my family.

“Okay, but I will come to check on you,” Liam warned me.

I just nodded, and then people started to leave. Only Libelle and Kayda stayed and the healer, called Amoya. She was nice. Gentle, and her smile calmed you. I sat down on the other side of Samuel’s bed and brushed some of his sweaty hair away while looking him over.

“You will be okay,” I whispered. “You always come back stronger.”

-Ashes-

Chains hung from my wrists, secured to the wall behind me. My body hurt. My face was swollen. Things had not gone as planned. The place I had known like the back of my hand had changed. More guards than I could count roamed the many hallways. Secret passages had now been locked or guarded so well, that you could not go anywhere without my brothers noticing. We had barely made it through the many walls, dressed in worn-down capes, before we had been found out. My brothers wanted me dead, but it did not mean they wouldn’t let me suffer first.

I had no idea where they had taken Laelia’s brothers. All I knew, was one had escaped. Samuel. He had refused to be taken down, even though they cut him everywhere. Even though five guards jumped him as he bled from arms and legs. He was a tough one. Like a bear, he roared, and he fought. In the end, he was able to get to a horse and get out of there, while we had all already been chained, as we saw him ride towards the gates, followed by three guards. How had it ended so badly, so quickly? And where the f*ck was Tylon? Had they killed him? Had they taken away my brother in arms?

Suddenly, the heavy metal door, leading into my dark and suffocating cell, opened, and in came two huge shadows, followed by a third. I looked up slightly, so I could look between the stands of dark ash-like hair that fell down in front of my eyes.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the great Ashes, now chained like a dog,” Blaze said.

I didn’t comment. I just looked down at my dirty and bloody hands that I could not clean.

“Not so mighty now, are you?”

I remained quiet, and Blaze did not like it. He walked over to me, grabbed the collar of my ripped shirt, and punched me in the face.

“Calm yourself, Blaze. He is already chained and defeated. Soon he will lose his head,” Sirrush said.

Always the rational one. Always the one in control. He never let the darkness or the fire in him take over. Blaze, on the other hand. He let the fire control and he loved it. It burned everyone around him, and he found pleasure in seeing the flames consume them.

“Can you not see he still thinks we are beneath him? It is why he will not say anything. Not even look at us. We are kings now. Not him.”

“You will never be king,” I said, before spitting out blood.

It landed in front of them, and I saw the fire rise in his eyes. Sirrush placed a hand on his chest, calming him.

“You will die Ashes. The crown, the South, and the North are ours. Don’t you see we are already kings?” he asked calmly.

It had always annoyed me how controlled he seemed, but I knew better. I knew a storm was raging inside of him like it was in all of us.

“Even if you cut off my head. Even if you burn me until I am nothing but ash, as I did Halia, the crown still isn’t yours. The South and the North will not follow you, because they already have a queen.”

“The princess?” Sirrush asked almost mockingly.

I looked up at him, smiled a smug smile, and nodded.

“Yes. Laelia. They will follow her.”

“She cannot touch us. We will make the people bow to us, and see she is not their ruler. She is nothing but a small princess.”

“You don’t know her as I do,” I said. “She is as fierce as the northern wind. She will not bow. Neither will her people.”

The third person I still could not see, that was hiding behind my brothers, shifted uneasily as we spoke of Laelia. Who was he? I wondered.

“She is but one woman. She will not stand in our way.”

“We will see.”

“Are you scared of some woman?” Sirrush asked mockingly.

“Me? No, but you should be.”

“Really?”

I nodded.

“Laelia is different. She is someone people look up to. She is a force, a belief, maybe even a goddess, in some people’s eyes. She makes people love her without really trying. She makes them hope. Even if you kill me, they will look at her. They will always follow her.”

It was clear even to me, the admiration in my voice. I truly did admire her. I had for the first time she looked at me. She was different. Strong and fierce, but also gentle and kind. She was not touched by darkness like we were but was shining with light and beauty. She was someone people believed in, and that was why my father wanted me to marry her. Now I was more than happy that I had. She made me believe too. She made me see I could be better, that I did not have to walk on a lone path. She would walk it with me.

“You are a fool in love,” Sirrush said. “And you will die as one.”

Blaze smiled beside him, crossing his arms, before they turned to leave. The light from the hallways outside shone inside, and that’s when I finally saw who had entered with them.

“James?” I asked.

He only turned shortly to look at me. Half his face was covered in darkness, and his eyes burned me with hate.

“You thought chains would hold me. You thought taking my family and turning me into a slave would break me. I do not break. I am a northerner, and I am their king,” he said.

My brothers had already left. Not hearing his dark words. I wondered if they were all really working together. My brothers called them kings of the South and North, but James had called himself king of the North. Who was working with whom?

“Your brothers,” I said before he could leave. “Are they alive?”

He only glanced over his shoulder, before he walked out into the hallway, closing the heavy metal door, making it echo in my cell. I was once again left to the darkness and my thoughts, but it did not matter. My mind was always filled with thoughts of her, warming me, comforting me. I had never really feared death. I still didn’t, but I did have a regret. Not seeing her again. Not feeling her close to me and never tasting her sweet taste. Those things I would miss, as much as I would miss her kindness and the light shining from her.