Page 40 of Brutal Dragon King

They're as equally as concerned as I am, their brows furrowed with tremendous strain as Jaidën walks up to me.

“The Wyrm shouldn't be awake,” he laments, his voice gruff and low.

“It's been asleep for almost three hundred years…” the youngest brother adds when he joins us.

“Perhaps the spell has begun to wear off…” I deliberate. “We must consult with Mother.”

“Our lives and that of the kingdom are at stake,” Jaidën says warily.

“Nothing will go wrong,” I assure my younger brothers, stepping up as the oldest king in the Dynasty. Not while I'm around.

This is exactly why I have to stop daydreaming about the human. I have many more important things to take care of, like this stirring of the Wyrm in Wyrmwood Forest.

If it wakes up, it poses a threat to the realm of Nyxoria, and it will wipe out our existence if we don't tend to it right now.

Becoming determined again, reclaiming my power as the King of The Spine of Nayara, I push out the thoughts of the human and decide that I will never become distracted again. This problem requires my undivided attention.

“Let's go to Wyrmwood,” I tell my brothers and Ryu. “We will inspect the damages on the ground, and decide what to do next.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ryu concedes with a firm bow before straightening up and turning on his heel. He takes a step forward and shifts into his dragon form, then waits for the kings to complete their transformations.

I turn to my brothers to address them. “If the Wyrm is stirring in its resting place, it means that trouble is on the horizon,” I remind them of the oracle's warning when we'd first taken our rightful places as the kings in the Nayara Dynasty's kingdoms. According to her, if we didn't act in time to sire heirs for our kingdoms, the Wyrm would awaken and unleash havoc on the realm.

It would lead to destruction, with its ability to kill dragon shifters without the use of the lethal herb, dragonclaw. Its powers are unknown, suppressed by a curse that cast it to the underground depths of the forest. If it escapes, our doom is imminent.

“We will inspect the damages in Wyrmwood Forest,” I continue, to which my brothers give brief nods in agreement. “And consult with Mother thereafter.”

My eyes flicker to the palace, where Althea Waters has retreated for the day after a brief verbal spat with her that led to her fleeing. A gentle wave of regret threatens to surge through me, but I'm stronger than these weak feelings, and repress this one with hands balling into fists as I turn away and invoke my dragon.

When the shift is complete, my brothers are ready in their dragon forms, and we fly out toward the Wyrmwood Forest to take care of affairs that demand my attention.

This is why I cannot become distracted, even if today proved that the familiar feeling of possessiveness over the human is something I can't quite contain. I'll figure it out, as I always do.

I have no other choice but to keep the human slave at a distance, always reminding myself who she is.

Chapter 13 - Althea

Toying with the dagger, I skim my fingers over the cast-iron handle, watching the way the silver blade glints beneath the sunlight filtering through the window.

Perched on the bed with my knees bent toward my chest, I control my breathing, my cheeks crusted with the tears I spilled after rushing back to the palace in King Haidën's quarters.

He had no right speaking to me that way!

Actually, he had every right to do it, since I'm nothing more than his breeding slave, and he is the king.

Even knowing this, I can't help but be affected by his tone and what he said to me.

He doesn't mind lending out his slaves?

How many sex slaves have there been before me?

Why do I suddenly feel jealous about it?

Gulping to subdue these horrendous feelings, I stare at the dagger I'd sneaked out of the king's bedroom, wrapping one hand over the handle and lifting it. I look like a crazed woman in my reflection in the dressing table mirror, my hair tousled and eyes puffy from crying while I hold the dagger in a position to strike.

I would have killed him on the spot if I had the chance, withstanding the consequences of his brothers being right there.

It's not like their presence stopped him from talking down to me as if I was nothing.

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