The Dragon Prince's Obsession

TEN

"You have brought me more visitors than I like to entertain." He stood as his sister strode into the place he called a kitchen, a displeased scowl on her face. "Hello, Stranger. Would you like some tea?" He asked with a blank face. She turned to him with a fiery glare.

"Adela is my friend, Mikhail. What are you doing with her?” She demanded.

"Watch your tongue, Luce, I am neither excited to see you nor pleased with your tone." He lost all pretence of humour. "Having a collapsed wing does not mean I want you all flying in at your leisure. This party is strictly by invite." Her eyes fell on me again. I turned away from her.

Lucille and I had been friends right from the day I stepped feet into the Dragon Mountains. She found me, she took me home with her and begged her brother for me to stay. The king took one look at her enlarged eyes and declared I could stay. We did not fight, we barely quarrelled and we were to be the best of friends till the day I died. Together we sat and laughed at my silly jokes about mating Blade. If I mated him, I told her, then I would live almost as long as her. In response, she laughed and gave me a hug, sharing my dreams with me.

"Why have you let this place fall apart so? In fact, when will you allow yourself to be integrated back into society?" She demanded. I watched her place her hand on her hips. She spoke to him freer than she could with the Tor Drakis.

"You have to have belonged to something to be integrated back into it," He said, holding her gaze till her hands fell from her waist and her eyes dropped to her shoes. "My home is my business alone. What do you want?"

Like Blaze, Lucille looked around the place, wondering if this dark and dreary place could pass as a home. She decided she had more important things to do than argue with him.

"Are you hurt?" She asked me, taking my hands in hers. I shook my head, fighting to keep my hands in her rather than wrench them away like I wanted to do. "I am sorry about Mikhail." She pulled my stiff body into a hug. "Will you let me take her?" She turned to her brother, twiddling her thumb like she would with the king. I expected him to say no as fast as he had to Blaze.

"Do you want to go with her?" He asked me rather than reply her. My mouth fell open in surprise but not as wide as the siblings’ when I answered.

"No."

"No?" Mikhail's brows met in the middle. Something passed across his red eyes, too quick and too foreign to catch. Lucille's jaw slackened. I crossed my arms on my chest while my heart stung.

"Adela, are you sure?” She faced her brother. “Did you threaten her?”

“I – did not.”

“Adela this is not a place for you. I say this without spite, Mikhail but this dump is not fit to be inhabited. Look at the blackened –“ She shook her head continually while she spoke.

"Enough." His voice raised louder than normal and in the red of his eyes, something like irritation passed through as he pressed his lips together.

"I never looked down on filth, Lucille." I looked at my hands. Dirt caked beneath my nails and my dress had a new tear from all the running around to avoid curses from a few days ago. "I am fine here. Your brother and I are trying to figure out somethings."

"What things?" She crossed her arms on her chest. I looked down at my hands again.

I did not believe most of the things Mikhail said. They could be words spewing from his mouth to gain my trust before he slashed my throat but he did not need my trust. He had no reason to keep me here with him, offering me a roof over my head and food in my stomach without asking for anything but a means to assuage his curiosity in return. He owed me nothing. The Mikhail we all knew would never, ever take a human under his wing as he had with me. He did not need me to trust him before slashing my throat.

"I cannot tell them to you," I answered Lucille, she stepped away as if burned.

"What do you mean, you cannot tell me? We are best friends. We tell each other everything." I shook my head. I shook my head nonstop, fighting back the harsh words at the tip of my tongue.

She had her reasons for keeping her relationship to herself. I would have preferred to know I never stood a chance with Blaze. I would have preferred it if she never encouraged me, if she never teased me with his name but she had. I could do nothing about that but I tried to understand that Blaze could incur the wrath of the king if he heard his sister who he thought of as a child, was involved with his trusted companion. I considered her reason, considering the burden of hiding a relationship, how hard it must be for her but I could not think much about her hardship when looking at her made my heart sting. A certain blindness blocked me from seeing past my emotions, from letting go of the wickedness from someone I called my friend. Her false support was worse than knowing I stood no chance with Blaze.

"No, Lucille. We do not tell each other everything. You can sleep well knowing I am here, there is no need to worry about my wellbeing. Your brother saved me from the witches and I will stay here until we figure out somethings. At least, I know there is no deception here."

"What do you mean?" Her eyes narrowed to slits. I pursed my lips much to her displeasure. "There is no deception in our home." She paused at that, her eyes briefly jerking to the ground before they met mine again. "Has something happened?"

"Nothing has happened –"

"Lucille, she wants to stay with me. Why is this so difficult to believe?" He ground out, the red of his eyes deepening in offense.

He behaved like he did not understand why anyone would be doubt my willingness to stay in a wasteland with blackened wall, dusty floors and webs of spiders with someone who took the pleasure in the things he did.

"Mikhail, I have to understand what is going on here. She is my friend, my human friend. You hate humans!" She emphasized, her hands flying up in the way they did when she got confused.

“If you know her so well, you can claim to know her as well as your favourite piece of gold?” She nodded without pause.

“I know her like I know my hoard, like I know my first collection and like I know the back of my palms. What does that have to do with anything?" She grinned at me, almost bragging. She knew me so well but did not know how much it would hurt me to be deceived the way she did to me. Or maybe she did not care for my feelings in this aspect.

"If you knew her like you knew these things, you would know that this one –" He jabbed a finger in my direction, "- is not human."

Her reaction did not differ from mine the first time he accused me of being anything but human. She had an incredulous look on her face. Her gaze clouded over and she pressed her palms against her cheeks as if stifling a laugh. His eyes darkened.

"What is she then?" She asked, taking her hands off her cheeks to reveal reddened cheeks.

"If you knew, then maybe I would let her go now."

"You cannot keep her hostage, Mikhail. The minute I tell Missy that you have her, you best believe your queen will burst in here to rescue her with the aid of a certain black dragon."

"I am angered enough by your presence. I will not hesitate to throw you out if you continue to get on my nerves. The human stays, you leave."

Asides human, what else could I be? I felt stupid thinking of this but his believe was strong enough to make another person believe but it gave little weight to his words. I felt giddy at the prospect of being something else. After years in the Dragon Mountains, I dreamt of turning into a beast or flying one.

Being different in a place where people did not appreciate my difference, where they went out of their way to let me know they did not want a thing like me, made me wish for a lot of things. A bit of difference would not hurt.

It seemed a short while with the Prince had tainted my senses.

"You want to stay here?" Lucille asked. "You are sure of this?" I nodded.

"Just for a while, let me be." Her eyes shuttered off. "Maybe I will find my way back by the end of today or maybe I will be dead but I wish to stay here."

"Adela, are you upset that I left you with the witches? Is that the reason you are acting this way?” I shook my head but she pushed on. "I never meant to. I woke up in the castle with no knowledge of how I got home. I apologize if I offended you or if it feels like I have betrayed you by –"

"No, Lucille. You have betrayed me but it is not about that. I am trying to understand, to put myself in your shoes and wonder why you would do such a thing to me. I know your brother would not take kindly to you being with Blaze but you could have told me. I would have kept your secret with my life. Better still, you should not have encouraged me. You should never had encouraged my feelings for him knowing –" Her eyes widened, fear like I did not know she could feel enveloped her body, making her freeze. She covered her mouth with her hand, almost shoving a hand into her mouth.

"How do you know?" She whispered. I glanced at her brother. Her eyes jumped to him. "How do you know?"

"I have a brain that works and eyes that see. You do not have as much stealth as you think,” Mikhail said with no trace of remorse.

"Nico?"

"If he knew, do you think your lover would still be able to function?" Our cheeks heated. "I hate people with no spine. He should be ready to fight for you and you should be able to speak for yourself, but all that barely concerns me. What does is that you are still here. If he comes looking for you, I will have to kill you both for bringing him here." He jerked his head to his sister and then me with no humour on his lips.

"Adela, I am sorry but you must tell no one." I made a zipping sign across my lips. "We will discuss this in the castle but I believe it is not enough to have you stay here. Have you even had anything for breakfast yet? Come, I will –" She took my hand in hers and though she looked small, I did not have the strength to wrench out of her grip.

"Lucille, I will be fine but just for a while, let me be."

She paused, gazing at me and then Mikhail. "Very well. I will return tomorrow." She fled before Mikhail got his rebuttal out.

He sank back into his seat without looking at me. "I cannot decide which of is the crazy one here."