The Dragon And His Witch

TWO

Maurice and Lillian opened the doors to Seraphina's room and outside were three guards waiting on her.

Seraphina looked around herself for the last time as she reminisced all the memories she had lived in these walls.

She thought of how she had scraped her knee against the side of her bedpost when she was seven. She thought of how the small burnt blotch on the wall opposite her was her doing. She thought about all the nights her mother would find her playing hide and seek under her bed with her best friend instead of sleeping. She thought of the endless times her father had told her a story, just because she had been unable to sleep.

And then the memories of her pain captured her as she remembered all the times she had been beaten up in these walls. All the times everything except for her virtue had been stripped off from her body within these walls. All the times she had cried herself to sleep within these walls.

That was when Seraphina finally released a sigh and then turned to look at the guard.

"I'm ready." She told them, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.

They nodded and stepped away from the door as she walked out of the room without glancing back once.

The three guards flanked her as she walked through the moonstone walls of her palace, glimmering under the rays of the rising sun.

The hall was walled with doors to other rooms on one side while it was open to the elements of nature on the other. Arched pillars lined this side of the palace as she could see the vast stretches of her kingdom as she walked to the throne room.

It was still early morning but Seraphina knew that most of her kingdom was already up in order to get one glance at the dragon king and his cavalry.

The Frost kingdom was the largest and most powerful kingdom to exist and it was said that its king breathed blue fires instead of red.

There were other dragon kingdoms as well but they usually never bothered with Elyandria, which was where the witches lived in harmony with the humans.

However, to say that there were witches in Elyandria anymore would be an exaggeration of the fact that the only magic wielders left in her kingdom were healers like Matilda or executioners known to kill a man with only a clear line of sight.

Magic had been gone from the world for five hundred years. The only ones that remained were minimal amounts which never counted to anything.

The magic that Elyandria was once famous for had been erased from the entire world by the three dragon kings.

And Seraphina was supposed to marry one of them today.

She could not believe how fast her life had changed course over the time span of only two years.

After the assassination of her parents, her father's younger brother took the throne because she had been deemed too young for such responsibility.

And it was from that point onwards that her life had turned for the worst.

As Seraphina was led into the throne room, her eyes remained straight ahead of herself but it wasn't difficult to miss the emptiness in her face.

Sitting on the throne that was rightfully her own, was a burly man looking down at her with a wide grin. He had auburn hair like her own but his eyes were stark black instead of the enchanting green of her own orbs. He was dressed in a velvet blue tunic with gold thread work while he wore a silk cape draped with a gold buckle that ran diagonally on his chest. On his head was a crown of sapphires and rubies as he sat on the moonstone crystal throne with his hand casually leaning on its arm and his long legs sprawled in front of him.

His hawk eyes watched her with a cunning pleasure that made her insides churn with discomfort, especially when his eyes lingered on her plump chest or her bare shoulders.

Once she was led directly in front of the stairs leading up to the throne, she stopped and the guards took two steps back from her.

On both her sides, the throne room was filled with people from all the royal houses of her court as they watched her with mixtures of awe and pity.

At the base of the throne, Seraphina watched a man about her own age looking at her with remorse in his eyes. He too was dressed in the colours of their household as his grey eyes lingered on her with regret. His raven-haired head was the only distinction of the fact that he was not blood related to the royal family of the Raventhorns.

But blood related or not, Seraphina knew the man like the back of her hand. She had grown up with him. He was supposed to marry her elder sister and he had always been a brother and best friend to her.

Caspian Horne. Three years older than her and one year older than her now captured sister.

He watched her with unexplainable grief as she bowed deeply in front of the king who had ruined both their lives.

When Seraphina raised back her head, she saw her uncle smiling maliciously at her.

"You have made me extremely proud, niece." The king began, "I always knew that sending you to the Frost Kingdom would be the best bargain for Elyandria. Today, your union with him will tie us with the strongest kingdom in this world, and then there will be no more enemies for us. Tell me, princess Seraphina, how does it feel to be your kingdom's boon?"

Seraphina had the urge to scream, to rip the circlet from her head, and unleash her madness on the man sitting in front of her. She wanted to wipe the smug grin off of his face and off of everyone's faces who worked for him. She wanted to take control of her kingdom like she was meant to.

But none of that would do her any good. She knew what was at stake here. So all she did was smile innocently at the man she loathed the most and nodded her head. "I am very grateful for the opportunity to help my kingdom, your Majesty." And then she bowed once more.

The king smiled at her satisfactorily before he stood up from the throne.

"Alright then, let us go to the temple before your future husband arrives." He announced, descending from the throne as Caspian waited until the king was a step ahead of him before joining him. The king's men took positions behind him, standing a few steps behind Caspian who was the king's personal knight.

The king then walked to where Seraphina was standing and examined her appearance up close.

She felt like throwing up when his face got that sinister smile as he gazed at her skin. But there was nothing she could say about it so she remained quiet.

"We have come a long way, you and I." He whispered lowly and she was certain that no one but Caspian could probably hear them.

She met the king's deep black eyes as she nodded her head, "yes we have, uncle Krogan." She whispered, using his full name to clearly disobey him in some manner, perhaps to irk him enough to kill her right at the moment. But to her disappointment, Krogon only smiled.

He raised his hand to softly cup her cheek and she knew that to the people watching them, it was a harmless touch between an uncle and his favorite niece. But she knew the horrors of his touch. Better than anyone else.

So she could not help the shudder of terror that ran through her body and he smirked seeing that.

"All your training will finally come to fruition." Krogon murmured, softly tucking a hair strand behind her ear before bringing his face closer, "however, I do hope that he kills you after taking you away from her. I don't believe your mortal body can handle any more pain than it has already been subjected to."

At that, Seraphina briefly closed her eyes. The utter sadness of her situation was something that had gnawed away at her heart, a long time ago. But today, as she was about to leave her kingdom behind, she realized how truly horrendous her life had been.

She felt like shedding tears for herself all over again but nothing came out. There were no more emotions left inside her. Only a never ending ache had clogged her heart and so, she only nodded her head slowly and stood quiet.

Krogon then stepped back and with a delighted grin on his face before he offered her arm for her to take. Seraphina obediently wrapped her hand around his elbow as they walked out of the throne room with the king's men guarding them at all times.

Seraphina could feel Caspian's gaze on her every once in a while, but as she climbed up the stairs of the moonstone palace that were to lead to the temple among the clouds, all she could think about was that her sacrifice would be worth it.

Krogon had captured her elder sister to make sure that Seraphina would follow all his commands and his last wish was for her to agree to the wedding.

He had promised that he would release her sister, Alondra, and that was all that mattered to her.

As Seraphina climbed the last steps, she was met by the flat roof of the moonstone palace which had two stone pillars in the middle. On them, were scriptures engraved for their gods who had long left them.

Everywhere her eyes went, all she could see was the widespread kingdom below and the endless horizon above.

Occasionally, the clouds would gently graze her skin, as if telling her that it would all be over soon. The moonstone beneath her feet shimmered in the dancing rays of the sun and just when she stood placing her hand on the marble banisters, her eyes caught the three figures in the sky from the north.

The close family and priestesses gathering around her began to murmur in slow voices as the figures appeared to be getting closer.

Dragons.

Three of them.

Two white and one darker than the night sky.

But Seraphina instantly knew who was to be her husband.

He was the one flying in the middle while the other two flanked him. His skin was midnight black and as they got closer she saw his violet eyes focused on her. In the sun, his scales appeared almost turquoise at their edges and he looked so mighty that everyone around her could only gasp in awe when the three of them circled the roof once before finally landing in the middle.

Suddenly, the large roof of the palace seemed like a foot wide in the presence of three majestic dragons.

Seraphina watched with curiosity as the dragons stood watching them all for a few moments.

Their horns were larger than her arm as they curled together over their head. Their talons were about the size of her palm as she examined them with slight amazement at the fact that the floor did not c***k-up by their weight.

The black one was the largest of them all, spreading his wings high in the air proudly. His violet eyes were focused on her and only her and she knew that he was well aware of who she was.

She guessed that the other two were either his emissaries or his guards. Both had blue eyes and they looked to be watching around for any threat to their king.

She did not know how long it took for Krogon to break out of his trance before he clapped his hands eagerly.

"I extend my heartiest welcome to you, my King." He said bowing deeply and everyone followed his act.

Except for Seraphina.