The Dragon's Bride Ch. 02

It was a rare thing to surprise Aurixis, but as the Queen's voice rose between them, he found that he was certainly very surprised. He'd expected outright denial after the way the discussion had turned; that the Queen was still considering it said a lot about her and the state of her kingdom. He had heard that Abarra had no standing army, but did they truly only have their city guards in case of emergencies? It would explain her willingness to agree, even after he had destroyed whatever trust had been between them.

It didn't matter, not now. She was considering it.

Aurixis' words were gentle but firm as he said, "Yes. If you choose to join me, no Abarran civilians or soldiers will die in the transfer of power. Your people will be safe, and following our wedding, you will personally see to the management of Abarra and many other Eastern kingdoms. You will not stop being Queen of Abarra; you will simply be the Empress of Draakar, too."

The Queen was silent, and he wondered at the thoughts that raced behind those emotionless, pale eyes, then the redheaded Queen said, "Let me be clear, Emperor. You are a beast, a monster in human form, if I may even say that, and this is no choice you offer me. I do not want to be your Empress; I do not want to be an Empress at all, and the fact that you think that is a lure to me is an insult, instead," Aurixis felt his hackles rise, but he forced himself to remain quiet. The accusations were fair and warranted. He had acted the beast he tried so hard to deny, and he was not the most delicate in his negotiations.

"Queen Deidre--"

"I am not finished, Emperor Aurixis," Queen Deidre said, her eyes sharp as she finally met his gaze once more, braving his glamor to silence him. "You ask me to choose between my life and the life of my people, and you know already what choice I will make because it is no choice at all. I accept, of course, because I must. But you, Emperor Aurixis of Draakar, are the last person I would willingly spend my future with. I believe you are fake, spreading lies and pleasantries to those who want to hear them in order to ease your conquest. But you have won, Emperor Aurixis. There is no more need for the deceits." She fell silent. Despite the warmth of her red hair and the lush green dress, she struck him at that moment as a Queen of Ice and Snow.

It was more than the Queen had said since she had arrived in his tent, and the animosity that glinted off of every bitten word indicated to the Emperor clearly what her opinion was of him; a deserved opinion, he would admit.

Her dig had stung more than he cared to acknowledge, though he dismissed it with a shake of his head. Royalty hardly had the privilege of choosing their spouses, and there were stakes larger than either of them on the line. He had hardly chosen to live his life as a human versus his natural form, but his hand had been forced and he lived with the difficulties that arose from that. Deidre might not wish to be his bride, but by doing so perhaps she would help more than she could imagine.

He could not afford kindness now, not after he had already killed so many in his pursuit of peace.

Aurixis chewed on his thoughts, his jaw working in annoyance under his mask. The stifling thing was annoying in many instances, but now he was certainly glad that the Queen couldn't see his chagrin and irritation with himself. It truly frustrated him how utterly he had ruined any attempts at having a good relationship with Deidre; had he only waited a few more hours then he would have been able to consummate their marriage under more normal circumstances, and she would not hate him as she did now.

There was no point in being nice at the moment, it seemed. They both knew what needed to be done, and this discussion was wasting time.

"You are correct, of course, that I am being perhaps too coy in my words. I will be honest with you, and straightforward." The gentle rasp behind his words was still there, but there was a new harshness that came from forced indifference. "You will marry me, Queen Deidre, as we both know, because you will not subject your people to a meaningless and bloody slaughter due to your own pride. I apologize if you feel these negotiations were a farce."

The Queen's head dipped, and he saw a flaw in her mask for a moment--fury, and fear flashed, then was gone. She turned away, hiding her face from his intense gaze. "How long do I have? When will this wedding occur, Emperor?"

He pushed back from the table, seeing that she was still turned away from him.

"Now," he said, the word surprising him even as it sprung from his tongue, "the wedding will occur immediately." There was no real rush now that he had her agreement, but the spiteful drake in him wondered why bother waiting? Initially, he had planned to give her a few weeks to prepare for the wedding, but no family would join them for their union, and what friends did a Queen and an Emperor have? Their union was no celebration anyways, not for the Queen at least, and he had no need for an elaborate affair.

"Now?" Her voice was stricken, her back stiff and tight. He felt an ugly flash of vindication that he tried to stamp down, knowing that it was the baser side of him responding.

He still spoke to her back, and somehow that angered him more than her outright insults had. "I will move myself and my main guard into your guest quarters in your palace for this evening, and then immediately after we will be wed. You may do whatever you wish for the wedding, but we cannot linger in Abarra. We will consummate the marriage, and then in the morning we must depart from the ports." His words before had been soft, almost gentle, but now he spoke with a cold formality that indicated he saw this all as a business arrangement.

The Queen was still, so still he hardly saw her breathe. He could taste her terror in the air, though, and something else that he couldn't quite place. Anger? Excitement? It was impossible to tell.

"As you wish, Emperor Aurixis. I will arrange for it to occur." She was cold, now, too, and distant to match his indifference, but his experienced eye saw the tightness in her jaw, the sharp jerkiness of her movements. She was furious, frightened, desperate.

On a whim, the black-clad Emperor moved suddenly, stepping around her and turning on his heel until he stood facing her. He didn't touch her, but he wished that he could.

She looked young, naïve. He was many hundreds of years her senior, and he suddenly felt quite like the villain everyone saw him as. Her breaths came shallowly, he counted each sharp inhale, and her face was flushed in the dim candlelight. Her eyes, though, were what drew him. Pale blue, almost grey, with light golden flecks buried deep within.

The Queen looked up at his sudden presence, eyes wide, her mask abandoned. Her delicate lips parted in a slight oh, and she stepped backward a half-step, stumbling in her surprise. His hand reached out instinctively to catch her in case she fell, but the look she regaled upon him was enough to cause him to pause in his attempt.

"Stay away from me, Emperor."

Perhaps he was more serpent than drake, and perhaps she was right to recoil from him.

He had made a mess of their discussions, and now she would certainly hate him, but he couldn't take back what he'd said and done this evening. Between the two of them, he had been the one to blunder. The irreparable damage had come from his appetites, not her deserved anger.

He lowered his head in a slight bow, and said, "I apologize for how I've gone about this, my Queen, I hope that our next interactions will be more pleasant for us." The tension between them was there, heightened, and he stepped back to provide her some space, though he felt instant regret as he did so. "Shall we return you to the palace?" His tone indicated that he, too, would go.

The Queen was silent, then nodded. Her voice was bitter with defeat as she said, "As you wish, Emperor Aurixis. You may use my carriage if you would like. It will prevent issues at the gate."

The Dragon was silent as he turned to the tent's opening, holding open the heavy flap that had been the barrier between himself, the Queen, and their discussion.

Outside, darkness had fallen, the sun entirely hidden behind the dark mass that was his army. Before she passed through, though, the red-headed Queen paused, looking at Aurixis. She had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes, now that they were closer, but he didn't feel as if that put her in a worse position. During their discussion, the Queen had somehow navigated herself into a slight position of power, her cool contempt preventing Aurixis from holding complete control of the situation.

She spoke, her voice a quiet murmur as she said, "As long as you continue to treat this as anything other than a hostile takeover of my kingdom, my city, and my person, I will never respect you or your Empire, Aurixis, Golden One. You leave me little choice in my answer to your proposal, but I loathe cowards, and I believe you might be one. Be better."

Queen Deidre stepped out of the tent and into the darkness, leaving Aurixis in the dim candlelight.