Lyra's POV
Everything was just unbearable to a fault. They are acting so nice. But here I am, bandaged up, confused. Heavy-headed, left in confusion and utterly disgusted by the man outside. Serving root stew, more like root poison, typical dragon food was poison to wolves. Talk more of humans.
Or maybe it was their way of pacifying everyone, through food I just couldn't prove it, and now my wolf had left me. I had no other ability for that reason. I hated it. I hated everything. I had never felt like tearing up more than now as I stormed into the passageway.
It wasn't up to three hours. Maryam said I should come back, but there was nothing I needed more than solitude.
It was suffocating being here.
Moon goddess I have never asked for any favor from you that you have not given me. Why did you bring me here? Why did you bring me to enemy territory? Reaching for the door, I barged in and then slammed it.
My back sagged against the door, my palm clasping my face. I was in so much pain.
I had never been in so much pain in my entire life. Everywhere just seemed like a trap, even within myself. And then this sudden bond—it changes everything.
If after the encounter Lord Draziel wants me to stay as a slave in the palace, then he must want to keep an eye on me. His motive was unclear, but a part of me coudln't help be question if he felt the same thing I felt.
"Goddess. I have given you a sacrifice every full moon. If I can't leave here, just kill me if you are going to take me to the enemy territory. If you are going to let Lanister win…"
Letting the tears fall freely down my eyes. I let the pain wash over me for as long as it wanted until there was nothing more to give, and my body was just on the floor, and hiccups had the best of me.
Maybe.
Just maybe I might have slept in between those times of crying and praying because the moment my eyes opened, I met several pairs of legs standing in the room.
My heart skipped, scurrying backward. I met the likes of three human female, young and vibrant. I would have considered them breeders but they were dressed in the same clothes Maryam had given me earlier.
"Who?" I stuttered trying to recollect my thoughts as I wiped my eyes, ridding myself of every trace of pain I might have allowed myself to feel in their absence.
"Who are you? Why are you in my room?" I asked again.
"We are your co-workers, dear." One of them said, taking a step forward, but I stepped backward, not letting them close the gap, my eyes wandering back to the door. I didn't lock it.
"Are you okay? You are that new girl the lord wanted to work, right? instead of being bred." Another said, and then one of them leaned across, whispering something into her eyes, and I saw her smile and blush.
If I had my wolf, I would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation, but for some weird reason, I couldn't even tell what they were saying. But the way they smiled, I knew it was because of what happened between me and Lord Draziel.
"Oh dear, you have been through a lot. Come to the bed, it's time for the workers to eat, you know." She walked closer, stretching her hands, but it was as though she held a dagger to my neck.
"I don't want to eat, I don't like the food here."
They weren't aware of who I was. If the humans knew I was a shapeshifter, they would throw looks of disgust at me and beg their God to kill me, and if they were dragons, they would kill me themselves.
Not heeding their advice, I sat on the floor, legs crossed.
"Oh dear, the food here is so nice, you know. It's the best, here everyone eats like lords, and we have everything we want. Everyone is tended to. I promise, even your mother's cooking won't beat the chefs here. And as a mother, I promise you that." She tries to walk over again. I moved back.
My mother … She would rather hang by a silver rod than cook for me.
"I don't care just leave me alone. I don't like the food. Why don't you go serve the dragons like they have demanded you do?" I said, then walked out of the room, pushing away from them and back to the corridors.
I would die starving rather than eat that food-infested madness they serve everyone here. It was as though the moment they served everyone food, they forgot they were praying for the ships to capsize before they got to the dragon capital. Even Alisha was infested by their faked kindness. All of a sudden the dragons were nice people.
But I bet the moment I show her the human village, she would get her sense back. The humans still thought they were safe with these people until they figured out the hope of a better life and freedom is a burial ground for them.
Walking further away from the room, I had decided to explore the little glass walls. Everything was made with thick glass. The path is so narrow. It seemed as though we were entrapped in a diamond. There were so many paths in this place. It was easy to get lost.
You could almost see yourself on the floor and wall, but if there was one thing the dragons had excelled in, it was creating glass thicker than brick walls.
Just like their personality, only those who didn't know them would ever be deceived by their beauty. Their long, luscious hair. The fire-breathing dragons had the most ethereal look of all the breeds of dragons in the entire realm.
Before they had become so corrupt and divided, they were said to have the looks that could burn anyone who looked at them. Their hair is so thick, like lava, flowing down their back, and their skin is as shiny and smooth as glass.
They still were.
My thoughts drift back to the current Lord.
Draziel. I had seen his picture, but nothing prepared me for who I saw on the bed that night. He wasn't old or bad-looking; he had the same ethereal beauty the Lord Kealith had, just stronger and sharper.
I couldn't tell what he was saying, but I could see the distress in his face. His hair flowed on his face, and I tried to fathom what was going on or how a man so cruel could express so much distress even in his sleep before I was pinned to the wall with scales piercing through my skin.
My belly bubbled. Followed by helpless curiosity to see him again. And the addictive scent of quenched fire his body expelled. The closest I was with him has been the closest I ever got to death, and yet all I could think of was when?
When will I be cursed to see him again? A suppressed part of me imagined if we would be close again. I would be in denial to think I walked out of that room with the same way I walked in.
I hated him. Everything about dragons was just bad but now. I was bound to one. And it changed everything.
"Ohh lord, Kealith." A sly moan caught my attention, I stopped, capturing the rhythm of what I assumed to be stroking and moaning. Someone was having sex close by.
shit.