The Mateless Dragon King

New Recruits

Valen's POV

After eating the lunch that Edric had the kitchens bring to the empty council chamber, we made our way to the training grounds. I was eager to pair up with someone and spar--I needed physical exertion after my tedious day so far.

As we arrived, General Kael already had the King’s Guard assembled and waiting in disciplined lines. The King’s Guard was an elite force of the military, personally selected and trained by Kael and his father, Lord Thaler, before him. Although Kael was half my age, he was one of the closest friends I had besides my brothers. Just like his father, Kael balanced duty and friendship well in our relationship.

Kael was Lord Thaler’s only child and was rigorously trained and groomed by his father to become a top military commander, and he didn’t disappoint anyone. Appearance wise, he was almost a carbon copy of his father, except his eyes were a soft brown like his mother’s.

Although Kael's appearance and personality were similar to his father's, the two men never got along. Being in the same room as them was tense enough that it even made me uncomfortable sometimes. The main source of their tensions were that Kael was over one hundred years old now and had not entered the Trials yet. Not many families had shifter legacies to uphold, but the Lykos family was one that did.

As I approached, Kael and all the guards saluted as a synchronized unit.

'How many times do you think Kael makes them practice that?' Vehiron pondered.

'Can you imagine the punishments he gives to those who are not perfect?' I laughed internally, remembering how many times Lord Thaler imposed punishments on me during training.

'You know, you could get payback on the old man now. You're king; you could command him to run fifty laps for looking at you the wrong way.'

'You know I would never abuse my power like that.' I reminded Vehiron,

'It was a joke.'

“Hello Kael,” I said as I approached, ignoring Vehiron. Kael pursed his lips in disapproval, but I knew he wouldn't say anything to correct the use of his name without rank. He preferred to maintain professionalism during training, though. It felt like everyone around me was obsessed with formalities except me.

“Your Majesties,” he bowed as he greeted us. "We have recruits joining us today. They have passed all the required tests to join our ranks. They just need to pass your test today in order to become an official King’s Guard.”

I grinned menacingly as my eyes swept over the guard's ranks. Testing recruits was always a good time.

'It’s just fun to smash things,' Vehiron piped in. 'Although people aren’t things. But smashing people is actually kinda fun too.'

Why did the Gods give me such a ridiculous dragon?

Kael turned his back to the guards and spoke in a hushed tone so only myself, Vehiron, and Edric could hear him, “A human made it through preliminary training this year, Your Majesties.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, looking back at the soldiers. I noticed one sporting an impressive black eye that wasn’t healed yet. This must be human, because Caelorian had enhanced healing compared to humans and shifter healing was better than both races. Shifters very rarely bruise because our bodies are able to repair tissue before a bruise can formed. Caelorian could bruise, but it would be gone only a few hours later.

I strolled over and stood before the man. He saluted me when I stopped and faced him.

He was tall for a human, and well-built, standing at around 6' 2" with dark brown hair and green eyes. I could tell from his stature that he must be a good fighter, regardless of being a human.

"How did you get the black eye?” I asked him.

“I didn’t counter an attack fast enough, my King,” he responded.

'Well, isn’t he mouthy?' Vehiron chuckled, amused.

“Did you get it during training?”

“No, my King.” I frowned at his short reply.

“What did you do for someone to hit you outside of training?”

Before he could respond, I heard another guard whisper “he was born,” under his breath.

My gaze snapped to the man who spoke out of turn. Even most other shifters wouldn’t have been able to hear it, he was far enough away, but Vehiron and I were King for a reason. I held my hand up to tell the human to not answer my question and moved my way over to the Caelorian who spoke.

When I approached him, he saluted, but I could hear his heart racing. I could feel Vehiron stirring inside me, his predatory instincts awakening at the smell of fear. I reigned him in quickly. Although Vehiron joked around a lot, when his instincts took hold, he was as fierce as any dragon king before him.

'Fiercer. You never believe me when I say I am the best.' I chuckled at his response, glad to hear him joking, which meant his instincts were more under control now.

"What is your name?" I asked.

“Aiden.” I raised one eyebrow at his lack of respect for not acknowledging one of my titles when he responded. As much as I hated formalities, Vehiron and I did not tolerate disrespect.

“You are a recruit?”

"Yes I am,” he puffed up his chest and continued, “I was the best fighter in hand-to-hand combat training.”

“Is that so?”

He grinned and nodded eagerly.

“Well then, would you like to fight me first or last today?”

“Fight you, Your Majesty?” His expression turned from cocky to confused to panicked.

'Oh, so he does know how to use honorifics.' Vehiron said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Yes. That is the final test to join the King's Guard."

“Oh, I thought you would watch us fight and choose the victor.” Vehiron bared his teeth in my mind at his response, bristling to beat this man into the ground. So much for him being under control--dragons do not deal well with disrespect, and he felt this man had just called us weak.

"Why wouldn't I fight?" I asked him.

"Well, you are the king." I raised my eyebrows at his response.

'This man seems to know a lot about being a king, for someone who isn't a king.' I could feel Vehiron coming forward. I needed to get this man to stop talking so we could hit someone.

“No, each recruit will fight me today, hand-to-hand combat even. And you get the honor of going first.”

I walked away to the sparring rings to prepare myself to fight, Edric faithfully following.

“Let me ensure extra healers are on staff today, I will be right back,” Edric rushed away towards the training ground’s medical tent. I think he knew what kind of mood I was in after that conversation.

I took my shirt off as I entered a sparring ring. With how close Vehiron was to coming forward just a few seconds ago, I knew the chance of a partial shift during training was likely. I didn't want Vehiron to tear my shirt if he partially shifted, since I still had to meet Mother after this.

After a few minutes, Aiden, Kael, the human, and the three other recruits approached me. Aiden had taken his shirt off, as well, in preparation for fighting first. Kael handed me a list of names.

"This is the order you will fight the recruits, your Majesty. I already let them know what order they are fighting in, so you will be able to spar each one back-to-back.” I saw Aiden’s name was crossed out lower on the list and scribbled at the top of the list. I forgot to ask the human his name, so I wasn’t sure when we would fight.

The rest of the King’s Guard was paring up and sounds of sparring and the metallic smell of blood from the occasional hit or kick that met its mark filled the air. Kael saluted and walked away to do his rounds. The four men I would spar after Aiden moved out of the sparring circle, as Aiden and I faced each other and started fighting.

Aiden was a good fighter, but was full of himself. He started the match lunging at me, thinking he had a chance against me. Maybe he thought I was just a pretty face that needed protection from my King’s Guard.

'Your face is pretty, but we don't need protection.' Vehiron was on edge, ready to fight as well.

I threw him to the ground and circled him like a predator circling his prey. While waiting for him to get up, I asked, “What is the first rule?”

“Work together as a team,” he responded as he reset his feet into a fighting stance.

“Correct.” I landed a kick on his knee, knocking him to the ground again.

I stepped back to let him get up again, asking another question that all soldiers should know. I continued asking him questions, while beating him to the ground, and then waiting for him to get back up. He actually did very well against me, landing a couple punches of his own.

“I submit,” he finally said once one of my kicks made a huge cracking sound. A healer rushed over to help him to the medical tent after I nodded, accepting his defeat.

'Hopefully he never thinks that we are too weak to fight ever again.' Vehiron wanted to push forward during this fight, but I convinced him not to, citing that this man didn't deserve the honor of being beaten by a dragon.

I then looked up at the four other men, ready for my next fight.