“But my Elder is dead because of it! How can I not blame myself? It was my foolish actions that led to something so terrible!”
Althaeda shook her head and had Guinevere accompany her to a large lake near the dwelling grounds. She spoke softly and wisely until Guinevere came to understand that she did not need to blame herself for what had happened. Everything her Elder had ever done in life was to take care of her and make her happy. Once Althaeda had succeeded in calming her down, the two of them went to seek counsel with the superior dragon of the clan. They walked to his den where he was sitting on the ledge looking up at the sky. Guinevere recounted the events of the previous night to inform him that her elder had died.
The green dragon gave his condolences before telling her, “Your Elder came to see me before going out to rescue you.”
Guinevere felt her chest tighten. She had to hold back the cry threatening to rip from her throat. Had her Elder known all along what the outcome would be?
“Your Elder left me with parting words. I know you need to hear them, especially those that were specifically requested to be relayed to you.”
“My Elder asked you to speak to me? What was said?”
"It is my duty to keep her safe and give her happiness. Please tell her all I want is for her to be happy however that may be." The green dragon paused and then added, "So now I tell you to heed those words. It is your duty to fulfill such a wish. If you truly want to pay your respects, that is ultimately the best way to do so."
Guinevere bowed her head and cried quietly. Everything in her hurt, physically and emotionally. She was completely overcome with emotion. Her Elder had known what the outcome would be and it had not mattered one bit. Everything was about Guinevere and she knew she owed it to that magnificent life lost to pursue her happiness. She knew it was perfectly okay to go back to Doran and make her life with him as a human. Guinevere finally understood that there was no longer any reason for her to think their destiny was not one that intertwined. Nothing stood in the way of them sharing a life together.
“Guinevere, please know you always have a home here,” the green dragon told her.
She expressed her gratitude and waited in the den until her Elder’s body had been retrieved. The body was buried in the forest right behind the den and Guinevere stood by the grave for hours. She stood silently, looking up at the sky and remembering her life with the Elder. She wondered how she’d gotten so lucky to have such a wonderful dragon take her in and raise her. She bowed her head before the grave and flew back to the den, curling up in the corner for the final time. Althaeda stepped inside.
“Will you be staying here?”
"I'd like to, even if this is your home, Guinevere."
“It is our home, Madam Althaeda. I believe it belongs to you more than it does to me.”
The two of them said their goodbyes and Guinevere soared above the trees once night fell. She wanted to fly freely under the canopy of stars and the moonlight. She wanted to feel the wind flowing around her lithe body. She flapped her gossamer wings and saw the twinkle of the stars through them. She shut her eyes for periods of time and imagined her Elder flying silently beside her. She could almost feel the energy as if she truly were not flying through the night on her own.
“Thank you,” she said before breathing out a stream of fire in her Elder’s honor. She blew a ring, something that had taken her very long to learn how to do.
She flew and flew until it was time to go under the trees, careful to avoid the area where she knew there could be more of the trouble dragons. She broke into a run and relished every moment she had as a dragon before it was time to transform into a human. She felt her gossamer wings swirl around her and land on her skin as clothes, just as they always had. She ran at top speed until it was time to run with caution. She looked up at the sky and knew she would arrive at Doran's land just as the sun began to rise.
“Perfect timing,” she muttered with a smile.
When she saw the edge of town, she veered off to the side to run directly to his land. It was not until his large house, sprawling fields, and small cottage came into view that she slowed down. She was not sure where to go. What would she even say to him? She took a deep breath and took off running. Those decisions would come to her in due time. Her legs took her directly to the cottage. She placed her hand flat on the wooden door and shut her eyes. It felt like this truly could be a second home.
“Elder, you’ve always known what was best for me,” she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
She jumped back when she heard a noise from within the cottage. Then her heart began to race. “That must mean Doran is inside,” she thought with anticipation. She curled her hand into a fist and knocked three times. The door swung open at once and she was pulled into his warm embrace.
“You’re here,” he said in a broken voice.
He cradled her head between his hands and she could see his eyes were tearing up. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers over and over again.
“I love you,” he said, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“I love you,” she told him before kissing him deeply.
He held her tight in his arms as they continued to kiss. Warmth spread through her body and tears flowed freely from both of them. She had never felt joy like this in her life, despite all the pain of losing her Elder. She would not let that be in vain.
“Please tell me you aren’t just here to say goodbye,” he said at long last.
She shook her head and smiled, “I’m not.”
“Guinevere,” he whispered.
“I’m here to stay.”
He beamed and she could see his beautiful eyes light up. He pulled her into his arms and they shared a long, tender kiss. He ran his thumb over her cheek and looked lovingly into her eyes.
“You’re here to stay.”
“Yes.”
“Promise. Promise me you will never leave my side again.”
Guinevere smiled and pressed her lips to his cheek before saying, “I promise.”
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Kiraz
Courtney Clein
Kiraz
Copyright 2016 by Courtney Clein
First electronic publication: November 2016
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to person, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Warning: Due to mature subject matter, such as explicit sexual situations and coarse language, this story is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older, and all acts of a sexual nature are consensual.
Kiraz
Chapter One: Giss and the Arranged Marriage
Giss frowned, leaning her elbows on the windowsill of her tiny stone-walled bedroom. Above lay a curtain of stars, and below the spirals, towers and banners of her parent’s castle. Dissatisfaction knotted in her stomach as she examined the scattered buildings of noblemen and peasants, spreading out to grain and corn fields in the distance, bordered by the sloping mountains and forests.
There were several reasons for the ball in her gut. First of all, her parents had named her Gissandra. Whilst the others in her family wore perfectly normal monikers, like “Belle”, or “Jasmin”, Giss was landed with one recommended for her by the
family’s resident fairy godmother, because it was considered “lucky”. If that wasn’t enough to make her harbor a boiling resentment from an early age for all the teasing she received from her sisters, brothers, and virtually all the kids encountered in the thousand kingdoms – then, thrown into the deal, came the business of being the fifth princess in her absurdly extended family, and ninth in line to the throne. This fact was followed by the heavy expectation that at some point in her life, she would be married off to one of the princes in the neighboring kingdoms.
This didn’t stick well with Gissandra. So, when she passed her sixteenth birthday without a prospective suitor, her parents and family became mildly worried. When her seventeenth passed, and she had refused in total four noblemen and two princes of impoverished kingdoms, her mother had gradually started tearing out her own hair in despair, and her sisters treated her as if she was an ogre. Then there was that one prince who tried it on with her one drunken night, and she beat that one away with her sword, pants trailing around his ankles. The public humiliation of that event made the prince of Kor’s kingdom cut all ties.
When her eighteenth birthday came, and she had refused a court invitation from the Black Rose Prince, Ardemar, enough was enough. Since Ardemar hailed from the most powerful kingdom in the world, when her family found out about the rejected letter, they flew into livid fury at her impertinence. Even when Giss tried to explain that Ardemar showed all the warning signs of being a heinous tyrant, rumored to be plotting the murder of his family to obtain the throne (and had already caused several prominent deaths), they refused to listen.
So, she tried her best to completely avoid unnecessary contact with her family. However, in the middle of Giss’s study in her tower room, a timid knock came at her door.
“Yes? Who is it?” Giss folded her Theory of Knowledge book, quickly using her hands to comb back short dark hair as one of the castle servants entered, appearing slightly nervous. Giss examined her – a scrawny creature with grease stains on her uniform, obviously one of the kitchen workers.
The servant curtsied. “Your highness. I apologize for this intrusion. Your mother, her majesty, has requested your presence in the throne room. She and your father wish to discuss certain matters with you.”
Giss sighed. “Why can’t they just leave me alone? You would think by now they would have gotten the hint. I don’t want to do things by my family’s silly rules and customs.”
“Your highness!” The servant gasped, shocked. “You shouldn’t speak like that of royalty!”
“Why not? People with noble blood can be just as stupid as those without. I don’t see why I should pretend otherwise.”
The servant went bright red, like a beetroot, and Giss took a mean pleasure in it. She hated the submissive, frightened personalities of the staff, even though she partly understood it. Any servant caught disobeying or uttering treason could be executed. This fact led eventually to why Giss had dismissed any servants assigned to her – because they couldn’t handle what was labelled as her “radical” ways. Two had also been executed by her youngest sisters, who liked to eavesdrop on their conversations, so they could snitch on the juicy details.
Checking herself in the mirror, where dark brown eyes on a freckled, oval face examined for any flaws, Giss tugged at one snarl in her hair, before departing the chambers, the servant leading.
Inside the throne room in the middle of an opulent expanse of tapestries, statues and red carpets, sat her parents, King Patrick and Queen Beatrice Jael. Both wore plain clothes, rather than ceremonial garb, and gave Giss their patented regal stare when she came in, marching right up to the bottom steps that rose to the two throne chairs.
“Hi mother, father. You wanted to talk?”
Her mother winced at the grating tone of Giss’s voice. Her father scowled.
Queen Beatrice began the conversation. “Speak quieter, child, we can hear you just fine. And yes, we wish to speak to you over some… concerns we have.” Beatrice folded her arms. With her blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, she looked every inch a typical queen – and had passed that beauty gene to all her other daughters, except Giss. Her mother also only reached about five feet high, a becoming height for a queen. Giss hit the five foot seven mark, making her often equal to a lot of potential suitor’s heights. Most who courted her disliked being met directly eye to eye, instead of craning their heads upwards in an adorably appropriate way. She took a little too much after her father, in all the wrong directions.
“Is this still concerning prince Ardemar? I’ve already explained my reasons to you. Several times.”
The lack of respect made her mother cringe more, before she gathered herself together, and placed on her royal mask. “No. It is not about him. It’s about… your general ineligibility to the nobles in our kingdom, and those of neighboring realms. You must realize it is of great import to forge alliances. Marrying is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a woman.”
Giss rolled her eyes.
“Maybe so, which is why I don’t want to be married to someone I don’t like. All the suitors that have come, I haven’t enjoyed them.”
“But why not? Some were incredibly fetching. Dashing, even. Some are from reputed kingdoms of great honor. Some have been wealthy nobleman. I would say you have had an amazing selection of young bachelors to choose from. Prince Ardemar was just the cream of the crop.”
“It’s not about where they come from or what they own, mother!” Giss said, exasperated. “It’s about whether there’s a brain stuffed in their heads, rather than fancy gold thread and fairly decent sword-fighting skills. There’s also the slight issue of not marrying an evil tyrant tainted by a really obvious evil fairy godmother curse.”
“I think,” her father cut across, leaning in his chair, “That you will continue rejecting the opportunities that come, regardless. Your excuses aside, your sisters have all married up. They’re all perfectly happy. You, however, don’t seem to be happy by anything.”
“My sisters aren’t exactly the sharpest sticks in the shed either, father. They’re mean, petty, and addicted to status. They would marry a horse if it was rich enough.”
At this statement, her parents exchanged glances. “Who have you persuaded to teach you their unconventional ways this time, child?”
Giss cursed inwardly. Her use of words had given her away to her mother, as surely as a hound on the trail of a fox. Reluctantly, she admitted, “The court philosopher. I thought it would be more interesting than learning about embroidery or the half a dozen different ways to curtsy.”
“He will be fired,” her mother said, in a tired voice. “Giss, you must stop doing these radical things. You are a princess. Act like one.”
“Technically, I am. Acting like one. Since I’m a princess.” Giss stood defiantly, anger bubbling inside. Most teachers she had reined in over the years had been found out and dismissed, if they taught something unrelated to princess affairs. That left the carpenter, sword master, blacksmith, court lawyer, swimming instructor, banker, pastry chef, and now the philosopher out of range. At least this time, she had hung onto her tutor for a good two months.
“You can try to be clever, but you frustrate us. Really. You have been given freedom to choose, but you flaunt your ways and disrespect your family. Enough is enough. So, here’s what is going to happen,” her mother said, with venom dripping, “You no longer have a choice. We have found another prince willing to court you. You will marry him in three weeks. He’s from the smaller neighboring kingdom, Tynewall. They’re new and desperately seeking to establish allies, as their borders lead into giant and ogre country. They have access to tin mines, so this match up will be a great benefit to both kingdoms.”
Giss opened her mouth, then shut it, struggling to control her fury. “So,” she said between clenched teeth, glaring into the icy blue eyes of her mother, “This how you choose to handle the situation?” She then turned her disapproval on her father.
“You didn�
�t make this easy for us,” he implored. “Please understand. We want what is best for the kingdom and our people. You – your antics shake up the court. People mock you in the streets. People hate you. There are young girls who want to claw out your eyes for even daring to turn down prince Ardemar – including your sisters. This is to save your dignity, to prove you are not a black sheep in our family.”
No. You mean your dignity, because I don’t care about mine. Giss flexed her fingers, before balling them into two fists. “What is this prince’s name?”
Her mother appeared relieved at the question. “Prince Horace. He’s a good lad. He’s third in line to his throne, so quite close to the source of power. There’s no reason why you may not be queen of that kingdom someday. I think you will approve of this one, if you give it some time.”
“Perhaps.” Giss’s voice came out dead, hollow. The muscles in her face had temporarily stopped working. “I guess I will have to work hard at making him hate me.”
And, before her parents had a chance to protest, to scold or call her silly, Giss whirled, a throwback to true dramatic princess fashion, and sped out of the throne room, muting any calls that came from behind.
Chapter Two: Studying for Escape.
Giss had a plan. Not a brilliant one, by any means, but enough of one that might save her from being hitched up prematurely to a prince.
Prince Horace visited a total of four times before their due marriage date, and each expression had left her more doubtful than hopeful at the notion of marriage. Not only did he appear as the iconic depiction of a handsome prince, blonde haired and blue-eyed with a perpetually whimsical expression, he also seemed completely in thrall to his family’s wishes. She hadn’t quite resorted to dumping buckets of icy water over his head, or searched for frog curses, but she was getting there.
Romance: The Campus Player: A College Romance Page 86