The Fallen Princess

Four

Princess Zaria stands in the corner of the room, clinging tightly to her brother’s cloak that he placed over her at the door, just before the guards turned him away. She hates this part the most, as she must stand here, waiting to be summoned by her perverted father, to be placed on display as if she were an animal in a zoo.

‘Well, I suppose I am in a zoo of sorts.’ Zaria thinks to herself as she peeks out the open window and considers jumping. However, from this high above ground, she wouldn’t likely survive the fall.

She watches as many of her half-sisters flitter around, in revealing dresses, excited by the whole ordeal. ‘Have they no regard for their self-worth.’ Zaria questions, as she is approached by one of her older half-sisters who taunted her relentlessly as a child. “You won’t gain the attention of any man wearing that.” The red head tells her arrogantly.

“That is my greatest wish.” she retorts, annoyed. “Why do you always insist on being so stubborn little sister.” She pinches Zaria’s chin hard, forcing her to look up into her eyes. “You won’t get away with wearing this tonight,” she smirks, and flicks Zakai’s cloak,

“We have extra special guests to entertain.” she lets go of Zaria’s chin roughly. “So, if you wish to make less of a spectacle of yourself, I suggest you remove it now.” she warns as she turns away. After she’s walked a few paces, Zaria lets out a nervous sigh, ‘it has always worked before, so why wouldn’t it now.’ The princess thinks to herself clinging tightly to her brother's cloak.

She often wore a cloak to dinners so that she could walk unnoticed to the farthest part of the room to be seated near men of little to no political influence, who wouldn’t be searched for long, if they happened to go missing. The curse of looking like her mother was that she had an unearthly, goddess-like beauty that humans desired to possess. The benefit was that she could look at herself in the mirror and not loathe her entire existence. To look like her father would be her personal hell.

At least an hour goes by before the Lewd King introduces his daughters into the room, much like a circus master would start a show. It is humiliating to Zaria that she is regarded as nothing more than a source of entertainment to this crowd of revolting men. She walks in with her head down, towards the farthest seat in the room.

“Zaria! My most exotic and beautiful daughter, come to me for a moment.” The king snaps his fingers and points her out to the guards. Knowing there is nothing she can do, she lets out an exasperated sigh. “Take that robe off her.” He commands, and his men immediately begin pulling it from her body. “I can take it off myself.” She says, smacking the guard's hand away. She removes it gracefully, and she hears little whispers throughout the hall as she hands it to the guard. “Please have it sent to my room.” She requests in a whisper as she hands over the cloak and the mesmerized guard nods.

“Zaria I’d like to introduce you to our special guest tonight.” He gestured towards a handsome young man with broad shoulders, whose well-defined body was evident even in the loose clothes he wore. “This is Prince Callen from the western dragon kingdom of Rekya, treat him well.” The King gestures for her to sit beside this man and taking in the size of him, she doubts that her and her brother combined would be able to even leave a mark on this man.

Princess Zaria kept her head down and took a seat beside the prince, her mind reeling. ‘Even if her and her brother could kill him, they would never get away with it as he was the prince of the Dragons.’ After a few moments, she looked over to reassess his fitness, and her ice eyes were met by the golden eyes of a Dragon. Never having seen a Dragon before, she was not only surprised, but she was instantly reminded of her reoccurring dream and her heart began to race.

“Are you not even going to take a bite?” the prince asks, and she gives him a curt smile. She picks up her fork and while the dragon prince converses with the king, she stirs the food around her plate to make it look like she ate something. After a few minutes pass, she places her fork back down and hears the prince chuckle. “So, the answer is no, then.” He leans close to whisper, and she scoots her chair away from him.

The king notices and slams his fist on the table, making her flinch, and the table grows quiet. He glares at her until she moves her chair back into its rightful position. “Don’t test me.” he spits at her in a low voice. She keeps her head down, afraid of what he might do to her, or worse, her little sisters, if she upsets him further. “I apologize on behalf of my daughter.” The king starts, holding his golden goblet out to be filled with more wine.

“Although her beauty rivals that of a goddess, she has the mannerisms of a beast.” Zaria can feel her father glaring at her. “She just needs to be tamed is all.” He says cruelly, and Zaria stares down at the table, trying her best to control her growing anger. “But if she’s not to your tastes, might I suggest another one of my daughters.”

The king snaps his fingers at the guards, “take her to the dungeons and leave her for a few weeks as pun-” “There’s no need,” Prince Callen cuts off the King and Zaria is surprised when her father makes no mention of it. “I quite like her the way she is.” The prince says smugly, leaning back in the chair and the King laughs. “You’ve chosen well, young prince.” The lewd King tells him, lifting his goblet to the young prince.

“Now that it’s been decided, I would like to thank you for the wonderful dinner, Great King.” The prince says standing, holding his hand out to me, and I take it begrudgingly before he continues “and I request permission to escort your daughter back to my room.” The prince’s golden eyes capture her own, and he gently kisses the back of her hand. Zaria looks away disgusted, and the prince pulls her from her chair and into his chest, holding her there.

“It was a grueling trip here, and I am exceptionally tired.” The dragon prince says with a devious grin. Zaria can’t take it any longer and pinches the prince as hard as she can, and he only holds her tighter to his chest in response. “I see,” the King says, nodding, understanding the prince's intentions. “Please, go and get some rest.” he tells the prince cheerfully then issues Zaria one last warning “Zaria,” he calls her name, and the prince loosens his hold so that she can look his way. “Kindly Escort our guest of honor to his room.”

She would like nothing more than to rip out her father's beating heart and crush it beneath her fingers, but instead she replies, “Yes your Majesty.” between clenched teeth and bows her head obediently. “She is my gift to you.” The King says and Zaria could no longer remain silent. “I am no-” is all that escapes her lips before the prince lifts her in his arms and presses her head tight against his chest silencing her as he walks out.

As soon as the ornately carved wooden doors close, Zaria pushes away from the prince, repulsed by the notion of being gifted to someone and, to her great surprise, he willingly lets go, dropping her onto the hard stone floor like a sack of flour. He waits until she picks herself up from the ground, to start walking and doesn't utter the first word as they make their way through the castle corridors.

Zaria catches sight of her brother lurking in the shadows and hopes the prince has not seen the same.

“So, you are PRINCE of the DRAGONS.” she announces to make certain her brother hears and catches on. She tries to wave her brother away, without the prince noticing, but he looks over to her and smirks. “What are you doing?” He asks stopping and she is not completely stupid. She is aware he already suspects something but is unwilling to admit it for her brother's sake.

“Nothing.” She replies all too quickly with a forced smile and he continues walking. She could not have imagined she would have been singled out in this way tonight. ‘I should have feigned illness one last time and pleaded with the whoremonger not to send my sister in my stead.’ The princess thinks to herself, trying to quickly come up with a solution to the situation she is in. ‘Every time this happened before she has been able to either slip away or kill the men that insisted on her company, but they were all of low status and this was a Prince.’ She racked her brain to come up with an escape plan.

“So, you are an elf?” The prince asks “Half,” the princess responds. Attempting to keep his attention on her rather than her brother. “Hmmm, you don’t seem to enjoy your father’s dinner parties,” he teases, and his golden eyes flash over to the princess waiting for a reaction, but she seems preoccupied, so he turns his focus to the individual stalking behind them.

“The ‘King’s” she annunciates, as she does not care for people referring to that man as her father, “parties are only enjoyable for those who are regarded as people. Not for those who are gifted to another like an object.” Her anger seeps into her response and the dragon prince chuckles, “I see.” He says amused, then pulls a knife from his boot and whips it behind them. Realizing the prince's intended target, Zaria uses her light to knock it off its course.

In the chaos, her brother lurches forward, grabbing Zaria’s arm to try and steal her away. However, the prince snatches her back and punches Zakai so hard his head ricochets off the wall, and he slides to the hard stone floor. Zaria struggles free from the prince's grasp and runs over to protect her brother's unconscious body. “If you wish to harm him, you will have to kill me first.” She says, and Prince Callen laughs, “I must say Princess, you’re rather bold to have your lover follow us from the shadows, then protect him with your life even after he fails to save you.”

“He is my brother; he only wishes to keep me safe.” She clarifies, and the prince steps towards her, “I don’t care.” he says, grabbing her by her hair. He pulls her into an adjacent room and slams the door shut behind them. “I had no intention of hurting you little elf, or of lying with you, but now that you attempted to take my life, I will take yours.” He growls and places a blade on Princess Zaria’s neck.

“I wasn’t stupid enough to make an attempt on your life, dear prince” She mocks, “but do what you must.” The princess says pointedly. He looks at her with amusement dancing in his eyes. “Do you wish to die?” He asks, smirking. Most would be pleading with him for their life right now, but Zaria doesn’t respond. “I will do you a favor and leave your brother alive as long as he surrenders, but I will be killing your filthy human Father before I return home” he sneers.

“Then you have my eternal gratitude.” she says, closing her eyes, preparing for death as she feels the prince's sword cut into her neck, but he lets her go at the last minute, laughing. “You’re quite amusing little elf.” He tells her before he hits the princess in the back of her neck, and she loses consciousness.