Page 47 of Brutal Dragon King

“No!” I bellow, cutting him off because he doesn’t deserve to speak. “It’s my time to speak now!” I slam my free palm on my chest like a mad animal, noticing his eyes flickering with a glint of something unfamiliar.

“Did you give any of them a chance to speak up for themselves?” I spit angrily, suddenly leaning in so he could feel the venom on my tongue. “All those innocent human lives you took! Their blood is on your hands, King Haidën, and this is your day of reckoning!Iam here to take back everything you’ve taken from them!”

The king’s brows furrow, and it’s the only part of him that moves.

“What—”

“The people you’ve killed, you cruel beast!” I bellow in his face, pressing the dagger further into his throat. “They had no voices when you took their innocent lives! And now I will take your life as compensation for all the crimes you committed!”

I stand back, my nostrils flaring as I tighten my grip on the cast-iron handle, ready to make the slash that will end the king’s life. There’s a long second that passes between us in whichwe stare into each other’s eyes, and I feel weakened by the vulnerability of the moment that has me pausing to take a deep breath.

Why do I suddenly feel pity for the cruel dragon king? He isn’t worthy of compassion, not when he’d taken so many lives, innocent lives, with voices that weren’t given the space to be heard.

My parents were of those people he’d taken the lives of, and his crime to them and everyone else is unforgivable. I saw what he did to that man in the courtyard on my first night in the palace, and he wasn’t given the chance to repent or beg for mercy before the king’s sword slashed his throat.

I take a deep breath, pushing aside my body’s natural reaction to the king, clinging to my willpower and drive for revenge. I must avenge all those innocent lives, and the responsibility I feel weighs heavy on my shoulders.

With a snide glint twitching in my eyes, I narrow a pointed glare at the king.

“Just because you are a dragon, it does not mean you get to determine whose life is important and whose is not. You don't own anyone, and your life is in my hands now.” My eyes flicker to his throat, where the dagger is pressed into his flesh, and then back to his eyes glossed over with a dark glint of anger and fear all enmeshed into one.

Now is my moment, and with my fingers wound tightly around the handle, I'm about to make the altering slash that will no doubt kill the king. If I did have any doubts about what the Dragonclaw Dagger was meant for, seeing his shock and horror when he realized what was pressed to his neck confirmed that this was a lethal weapon created for his demise.

But as the decision is made consciously in my mind, and I'm about to make the move, I become paralyzed, frozen to the spot, and unable to move my hand. It feels like an invisible force wraps its tendrils around my wrist, binding me and stopping me from slashing the king's neck.

At the same time, a pulsing throb spreads throughout my belly, signaling for my attention and forcing me to peel my eyes off the dragon king and look down. My neck is the only thing I can move, and as soon as my eyes land on my belly, my eardrums fill with an incessant ringing. My vision blurs, and I can hear my own heartbeat, but as I stare hard at my belly, I hear another, quicker heartbeat pattering and racing with my own.

That's when it hit me—the Queen Mother's visit foreshadowed what was happening inside me. A life is growing inside my womb, a child.

The king's child…

I was about to avenge the death of my parents and take the king's life. But he's the father of the life growing inside me. He'd planted the seed that prevents me from taking its father's life.

I knew that conceiving a child was inevitable; I just wasn't counting on the dragon cub to render me immobile and stop me from exacting my revenge. As the ringing in my eardrums escalates and turns into a deafening screech, a torturous scream rips through my throat, and the force knocks the dagger out of my hand. It clatters on the ground like a metallic, dead-weighted chunk, and a frightened gasp leaves me.

Trembling, I turn my eyes back on the dragon king, who stares at me with a frown, feeling the color draining from my cheeks with the realization that just struck me.

I can't kill the father of my child…ourchild.

I just can't go through with my plan, and now I'm left quivering and shaking uncontrollably in front of the man I almost killed.

Without a word, I grab the robe off the floor and swiftly run to the library door, wanting nothing more than to escape this mess of my own creation. I don't know where I'm going or what I'm doing, but I know that I need to get out of the palace grounds before anyone catches me.

I realize I'm a fugitive on the run as panic starts to set in when I've reached the courtyard. I ignore the fact that I'm practically naked and could be seen fleeing in this condition, in this flurry of mixed emotions. I'm running away with the king's child, the heir to the throne of The Spine of Nayara.

Every time I imagined myself running away, fleeing from the qualms of the Kingdom of The Spine, I always saw myself getting caught. But as I enter the forest on lightning-fast feet, I'm no longer afraid of the outcome.

Somehow, I'm faster than I've ever been, and it's only my intuition that tells me that it's because I'm carrying a dragon cub that I'm able to run at the speed of lightning and leave the palace. It must be that instinct that tells me exactly where to go, which gate to find, and what corners to take to find a secret escape from the palace grounds.

Running in the opposite direction of the village, subconsciously, I know not to go back there. It was never the place for me, and if I go back there, the king will find me.

I don't want to be found. I want to go as far away as possible from King Haidën. Perhaps I'm driven by embarrassment, shame, and guilt, but at least now I have some unexplainable powers that make me faster on my feet. I could go anywhere, as long as it's far away from the dragon king.

Chapter 16 - Haidën

Watching Althea flee the library, my frown deepens, my inner dragon ready to act, but I find that I can't move.

I'm shocked into stillness, only staring after her as she runs out the door and disappears down the hall, her footsteps becoming fainter until only silence remains to leave me mulling over what just happened.

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