Forced to marry the dragon

The first impression

Keila was exhausted from the long journey and wanted nothing more than to lay in a soft bed.

The carriage stopped on the palace's square and she finally got out, stretching her legs as she did. 

She had thought about what the dragon palace would look like but she didn't expect what she saw.

In front of her stood a giant black stone palace with seven towers and a huge oval grounds in the middle of the palace.

Was this place meant for the dragons? She thought as she looked around. A gate opening brought her from her thoughts and a tall man with pepper and salt hair strolled towards her.

He surely looked like royalty with his proud posture and exquisite clothing. He smirked a little when he saw her and stopped a few feet away from her.

"Finally, it is my pleasure to meet you, princess. Welcome to my home." He said the words in a friendly way but she could see he was not friendly at all.

"The pleasure is mine, your highness. Thank you for having me." Keila said with a nice smile lying through her teeth.

"My son surely is a lucky man, you are gorgeous my dear." A wave of uneasiness came over her. He had a smirk on and she couldn't really decipher his intentions. 

"I..., thank you." She fiddled with her fingers.

"I am sorry, but my son isn't here at the moment, he went to fly for a bit but I am positive that he will be back any time now." 

A breath she didn't know she was holding left her lips because she still had some time before meeting him.

"I was hoping for a nice bath and a little sleep anyway, the journey took quite a toll on me." The king frowned a bit but quickly replied.

"Sure my dear, I will have a maid take you to your chambers, there you can rest for a bit until my son comes back. I will send him to you the minute he lands." 

He waved his hand in the direction of the gate and a young woman in a maid's dress came out.

"Thank you, your highness," said Keila and followed the young servant.

As they went through the halls Keila was looking at the paintings on the walls. One of them caught her eye and she abruptly came to a stop. There was a young man standing with a sword by his waist and a scowl on his face. 

He had jet black hair and his eyes were almost as dark as his hair. His tan skin looked smooth and his build was surprising. He looked young but she hasn't seen such broad shoulders before. He was really tall and although his eyes looked cruel, she couldn't help but think he was devilishly handsome.

"Who is that," Keila asked dumbfounded.

"Oh, that's his highness, prince Kronos." The maid replied after a while.

"How old is the painting?" She asked because he looked like an adult already, how old was he anyway?

"About two years, your highness" 

Relieved, she turned to the maid. "Do you know who I am and why I am here?"

"Yes your highness, you are the shifter princess, princess Keila. You are here to marry the prince." The maid said quite confused.

"Good, you can call me Keila, I hate being called princess or your highness, so please just call me by my name." The maid was stunned by the princess before her. She hasn't seen a member of the royal family who didn't want to be called as such. She blinked a few times before nodding her head.

"And what's your name?" Keila smiled at her.

"My name's Victoria your high... Keila"  Victoria corrected herself quickly.

"That is a beautiful name, can I call you that?"

"Of course Keila." She smiled at her.

They came to a door which Victoria opened and let her Lady in. Keila looked around the room and frowned. It was not what she expected, it was a nice room but quite small. She didn't need a big room anyway. Keila shook her head and turned to look at the maid.

"Could you please help me with a bath? I am tired from my journey."

"Of course Keila." Victoria jumped right to work. She filled the tub with hot water and added some herbs so her Lady could relax. She prepared a few fluffy towels and helped Keila out of her dress. The maid was surprised by how smooth and creamy Keila's skin was and thought that the prince was really lucky to have such a beautiful bride.

As she washed Keila's long red hair the princess broke their silence.

"Can I ask you a question?" " Of course"

"What is prince Kronos like?"

Victoria's hands paused in Keila's hair as she thought about what to say. "Well, he's a lot like his father I guess. Doesn't talk much and has a thing for women like all men." She paused for a moment before she added " I don't think he is as cruel as they say, he just never had anyone to show him what kindness is."

"Does he bed a lot of women?" Keila asked shyly.

"Not that I know of. He spends a lot of time at the military camp but when he's in the palace he keeps two or three pleasure servants in his chambers."

Keila frowned at that. Will he keep f*****g other women after the wedding? "Why doesn't he marry one of them?"

"Oh no, the pleasure servants are all barren and usually come from a brothel. They aren't women anyone would marry, let alone a prince." 

"I see,....is three whores a lot?" She asked quite shy about her questions but Victoria didn't seem to mind."I don't think so, the king has over a dozen and the younger prince has about five or six." She shrugged her shoulders. 

"He has a younger brother?" Keila didn't know how many kids the king had.

"Yes, but he and his sister are illegitimate. They are half-siblings to prince Kronos and born out of the marriage so no one really cares. But they live on the other side of the palace." Victoria explained which made the princess curious.

"How old are they?"

Victoria had to think for a few minutes before replying. "Princess Mirana just turned nineteen and prince Hades is nineteen or twenty, I'm not sure right now." 

There was a comfortable silence as Victoria helped Keila get dressed. Just as she was crawling in her bed a loud banging resonated through her chambers. 

Keila couldn't even react before the door was pushed open and prince Kronos marched into the room. He looked just like the painting apart from his hair which was a little longer and he had a slight stubble. 

Kronos stood in the room stunned for a moment by the beauty on the bed. A lot of her creamy skin was visible in the short nightgown she was wearing and her long wavy red hair was still a little wet from her bath but she looked stunning. Her bright green eyes lit up the room and she was staring right at him.

He blinked a few times as he tried to get out of the trance she put him in. 

Keila, seeing the prince hopped out of her bed and bowed down.

"Excuse me, your highness, I was just going to bed. The journey was really tiring and I had no idea you would come to my rooms." Keila blushed at meeting her prince like this. 

"I am afraid my father requested you for dinner so your nap will have to wait," Kronos smirked at seeing Keila blush, she looked so shy and gentle. Suddenly the idea of a wife wasn't so horrible.

He came closer as their chests almost touched. If she would take a deep breath they would definitely touch and she had the urge to do so.

Kronos studied her for a while and his breath hitched in his throat when her eyes met his. She really was exceptionally gorgeous. 

Her lips were almost as red as her hair and he wanted to kiss her but he had to keep a clear mind so he took a step back and frowned at her.

"You should get ready, the maid will take you to the dining room." 

With that, he just left her there breathing heavily. Her legs trembled a little from how scared she was. Wow, he was really tall, she thought as she took a seat on her bed.

Victoria didn't lose a minute, she prepared a dress for her lady and started dressing her 

"He sure is scary," Keila mumbled and Victoria nodded. "Yeah, he's even scarier than his father. The king at least smiles but prince Kronos is usually so tight and frowny. That was the most facial expressions I saw on his face in a while." 

"Do you think he liked me?" Keila was concerned, she couldn't tell what the prince thought.

"I think he thinks you are very pretty," Victoria said smiling. 

"How so?" The princess didn't spend much time with men apart from Raul, who was always a perfect gentleman, so she didn't see the look of lust on his face.

"The look he gave you, men look at women like that when they want them, usually to use them in bed." Keila nodded her head embarrassed by her lack of experience. 

She got dressed in her light, dark green dress that complimented her eyes and put her hair in a messy bun because it was still slightly wet. 

She made her way to the dining room with Victoria's help of course and stopped in the door frame. 

Seven people were seated by a huge mahogany table in a room lit with candles. She saw a resemblance between them. 

It looked like this was the royal family. This was going to be a really long dinner, she thought as she sat on the empty chair next to her prince.