His Prologue- The Hot-headed King
1167 Words
[Zane's pov]
I want children. They’re my greatest desire. My greatest want. To have a spawn of my own. To train, to raise, and to be treated better than I was treated as a child. My brother was the only one who made growing up as one of the last valteros worth it. Rylan is now the father to two beautiful children. I know he’s going to raise them even better than he raised me and our younger brother.
I want that. I want a child more than anything. I need that for myself. I can’t begin to express how full my heart gets when I envision my future. I love my nephew and niece. But they are not my own. At the end of the day, they’re Rylan’s children.
Not mine.
And I so badly want my own. I don’t even care about having a woman. Love is not that important. I wouldn’t chase it away if it came naturally, but I would trade falling in love, mates, and a million things just to have a child of my own. With little horns like mine. With eyes that remind me of a youth that I will guard with my life.
Mine was stolen from me by someone who was supposed to be family. But I won’t let her win. I won’t let the nightmares control me.
Having a child is almost like proving to myself that I can do it better. That I am not as broken as I’ve come to believe. That I can give a little one all the things I lost.
Which is why I’m here, amongst my elder council, getting berated for the woman I chose to get me this great desire of mine.
“A thief? Are you- My king, I don’t want to insult your judgment but having your child with someone who is... not only beneath you but a wolf for that matter can only end up poorly. For the love of.... all that is right. Please, please consider a woman from wyndora. They’re not solerians, and they’re dragons. Not a ... somebody say something!” one of my main elders exclaimed his disagreement with my choice.
I cast a look over to the others.
They were nodding.
“We understand your decision to not want a strong commitment with a woman but to have your firstborn with a thief would be like mocking your own people. Spitting on your hard work.” another said.
“She doesn’t deserve you, my king. Don’t do this. Select another woman. There are hundreds, thousands. This is not the right path to choose.”
I growled, silencing them.
“Listen, I am not actually marrying this girl. In the right sense of the word. She’s held by a contract. She gets nothing but a fat wad of cash. That’s it. Thief or not. I think having a child that is half-wolf would be a great idea. There’s nothing wrong with that. And before you begin, I am not trying to copy my older brother.” I also don’t want to admit that I never sat down to ask myself why I wanted to have a child with this thief. My gut is just pushing me in that direction. And I trust my gut instincts more than my own brain.
I’m not a thinker. I’m a doer. I just see something, and if I want it, I won’t let myself be talked out of it. I’ve always been hot-headed. People don’t like that, but I’m not for people. I’m for solerians. My people. Dracones mei.
[Latin for ‘my dragons’.]
The elders pondered on my words, trying to dissect every bit of it. And they were choosing their responses carefully. I’m not going to go on a rampage and kill those who oppose me, but I’m the easiest to piss off. Some people will end up wounded beyond recovery.
“Okay, then why don’t we have a very small ceremony? Your family only, and we don’t inform the public. In fact, she won’t ever be shown to the public until the birth of the child. And even then, all you’ll say is that you went the surrogate route. How’s that? I care about your image amongst your people. Tibi confidimus, rex meus. Sed c*m cautela procedere debemus.”
[Translation: We trust you, my king. But we must proceed with caution.]
I exhaled. I know they only have my best interest in mind.
“Alright. We’ll have a small ceremony only my family, and a few of you there to see it happen. I will not agree to keep her private. I’m not a monster, she deserves that much.”
“No offense, rex meus. But that woman deserves nothing more than what she’s getting from the contract. May I push forward for us to revist this after the ceremony? And once again when the baby is on the way?”
the elders murmured, I caught on that they agreed with this smart-mouthed elder. I nodded. I can at least agree with that. I won’t fight with my people over some woman.
I’m trying not to be offensive. But I really don’t care about her personally. She’s pretty boring on the eyes but I’m looking forward to being a father. Her test results should come in soon enough. Right before the small ceremony.
I can even skip the ceremony and go straight to just signing the contract, and doing the deed. Then our arrangement will strain until the child is born.
I could attempt to bond with this woman.... what if my child grows up curious about their second parent? What do I say then?
Ugh, I better look out for a wife too since I’m making all these piss-poor reckless decisions.
The meeting continued with the elders happily diving into other issues that pertained to only soleria. I gave them my full attention, and once things were wrapped up, I made my way to my solo castle.
My brothers and I share a big castle in the heart of Draconia, but we have our private ones in our respective parts. In case things get a bit late, we can always stay in the fraction we call our home.
Mine is Soleria, the home of the angriest, most vicious dragons. As their king, I need to do things right.
So I won’t disappoint the people who look up to me.
This is going to be fine. What can go wrong with me partly marrying this wolf? And if I do try to work things out with her, the marriage can be real. And maybe my kid won’t have to ask me why they don’t have a mother like their cousins.
I rubbed my face. Everything needs to go according to my plan or I lose my freaking mind.
But things are looking up. Nothing can go wrong, I whisper to myself. My stomach tightens, creating a sense that everything is about to go awry.
- Writer
