Sold To The Dragon Princes: The Novel

by Daniella Wright

  The one thing I will say is this. Since being captured by the prince of Balteria, I've found my life conditions drastically improving, but at the slight cost of my soul. Instead of using the darkness to cocoon me, I'm instead employing it as my go to feeling, as I imagine the different sorts of things we can do to Tannic together. I still desire my freedom, of course. Not just the freedom to roam around the markets, though that's a blessing in itself, or the freedom to talk to Lucille and Kalina about the dragons, and to bitch about them – but to actually find a way to contact my parents. To let them know I'm alive.

  I think it will bring them relief. They will likely be looking for me even now, hoping against hope that I'm alive, and not murdered.

  That's my goal, and I feel I'm more likely able to work up to it with Kostya, as he respects me a lot more than Kallen ever did. Sure, I'm still here for a rather heavy purpose, but it's one I can cope with, and I find time to smile and to enjoy what I have.

  I like I can now walk out into the city, explore the nooks and crannies of a world that seems a step back into another era. There's no technology, or at least, the kind that allows me to access the internet. There's electricity for light, for cooking, and to ensure every household has warm water, but other than that, it's quite a frugal lifestyle. Market stall owners hold a lot of items, from the bizarre to the sensible, such as pickled goat hoof or well designed clothes.

  One shop, which seems incredibly popular, is a book and game shop, and the shifters in there are constantly working on new board games, or obtaining them from the human world below.

  Shifters who have travelled around the world come back to them to report what's going on, though Balteria is only really interested in what other dragon shifters are doing. They don't have time for the lesser shifters, and they couldn't give a shit who is prime minister or president of where. Apparently some humans have tried approaching them to recruit for wars, but they've refused every offer.

  When I'm not breathing the fresh mountain air, or exploring the small woodland enclosed within the mountain basin, and the cold lakes where the shifters cultivate fish to live, using heated piping underneath the waters to keep them warm enough for life – I'm in the palace.

  Over the two months since I first arrived and put Tannic through a rather torturous introductory session, things have been taking a rather different pace. Lucille and Kalina seem to be the ones offering me a kind of support network in this time. I'm not really sure why they've decided to talk to me, though I appreciate it all the same. Lucille seems to be the lighter hearted one, which I suppose suits her fabulously blonde hair and light complexion. Kalina, with an olive skin tint, acts more cynical and is prone to cracking sarcastic lines, though she's entertaining in her own way.

  We've even played board games, and it's now getting to the point where we have a weekly board game session. Right now, we're playing a game called Call of Cthulhu: Arkham Horror. It's complicated and the rules tend to go over my head a bit, but Kostya helps guide us through the sessions. We play with our characters, the investigators, and try to stop the old Gods from waking up and destroying Arkham. As long as we don't get lost in time and space, hospitalized or devoured. That sort of thing.

  I must say, I get addicted to the vibe that we share, of gathering together to play some complex game and to laugh and joke amongst ourselves.

  Kostya greatly enjoys my company, and he's often taken me aside just to talk about some of the views he has on his society, and his viper nest of a family.

  I don't mind listening to him. I like him, honestly, though I think anyone at this point would have been better than Kallen. It bothers me in a way I still don't know if Kallen is alive or dead, because I'd like him to be dead.

  That way, he won't cause any more suffering to the girls he plans to take.

  When I've not been hanging out with Kostya, Lucille or Kalina, I've had talks with Tannic. Tannic doesn't spend all his time lying in Kostya's chambers, waiting to be taken. When he's not there for the bondage session, he functions rather normally. He acts as normal as he can to his family, even though I can see the dislike upon their faces.

  He's not so popular with anyone here, and I think I'm starting to understand just how much he fucked up. The jilted lovers he slept with are particularly venomous. I've seen one of them throw a rock at him on the street, and when he was in dragon form, a vibrant burgundy color, he got assaulted by a red dragon, obviously from Kostya's side of the family tree, but not someone I've personally come into contact with.

  Tannic seems to be having a rather bad time of things, and I find it difficult to pity him.

  I did bump into him once when I was returning from the market, and he actually asked me to stop.

  “Hey. Ria.”

  I try to keep my expression absolutely neutral as I turn to face him, despite the curious stares of everyone else. “Yes?”

  “I just wanted to say – thank you for what you're doing with Kostya.”

  This takes me by surprise. “What?”

  The muscular shifter appears a little embarrassed as he ploughs on. I don't think he's a bad person, honestly, but he has poor judgement, and he's never denied the cheating. “Kostya usually is a lot more aloof. Hard to get to know well. But I notice around you that he's being more open, more talkative. Whatever you're doing to him, you have quite the effect.”

  Really? Of course, I don't know much about Kostya before I met him, when he helped yank me away from that accursed wolf village in the middle of nowhere, taking me to a place I could at least pinpoint on a map if I had one. I'm a little surprised at Tannic's praise, mostly because I don't think he would like me. Not after what I've done to him and made him go through in tandem with Kostya.

  “Tannic, aren't you jealous of me? I expect you full well to not like me.”

  He runs a huge hand through his bleached blonde hair, his face crinkling in thought. Then, it clouds over slightly, even as we match paces to walk down the cobbled street together.

  “At first,” he says, “No. In fact, even the thought of being with a woman made me... less than happy. I don't know why I'm wired that way. So yes, I did feel pangs of jealously, even as I... enjoyed it.” He hesitates a moment, his eyes momentarily holding mine. “But, given what I've done to Kostya, I don't have a right to feel that way.”

  “Why?” I ask. “Why did you cheat on him? You must have known it was wrong. Don't give me some bullshit excuse that you couldn't control your urges. If you love someone enough, you will.” The words spit out of me, and I surprise myself at the vehemence of them. Somewhere, it seems in the back of my head, I've been drawn into the dynamics of these two. In spite of everything that's happened. I like Kostya. Sure, I think he's acting extreme with how he's treating Tannic, but I also suspect he's doing it because he did love Tannic. Which is a weird theory, but it makes sense for me. He doesn't want to lose Tannic, but he's furious with what's happened. The only possible way he might ever learn to forgive the shifter is by an extended pact. A commitment of sorts. Being someone's personal sex slave for a year is a pretty hefty commitment from a prince.

  I wonder if Kostya tires of the act, as well. Of needing to tap into his darkness so often, to force himself into that guise of hate. I think it must be exhausting to keep hating someone you loved, and who still remains a huge part of your life.

  Love is strange, I guess.

  Tannic gives me a surly shrug, and when I glare at him, he then gives me an admonished look. “I didn't want to commit.”

  I laugh. “Seriously? That's your reason?”

  Tannic squeezes his eyes shut for a second. “I know it sounds stupid, but I just didn't want to get tied down to one person. I mean, it's expected of us that we fool around, you know, sow our wild oats as it were. The fact I... got where I got with Kostya was difficult. It wasn't supposed to happen.”

  “So. You cheated on him because you thought it was impossible to fall in love with someone so early? That's so fucked up. Are you even
hearing yourself right now?”

  The blonde shifter shakes his head, obviously disliking the way I'm talking to him, and of the curious stares he's getting from passerbys.

  “It seemed like a good excuse at the time.”

  “Yeah, well, it's not. But... at least you're trying to make up for your mistakes,” I admit grudgingly. “It's not going to be a good ride for you, though. Kostya's furious. I think he really loved you. You fucked up big time. I think you're lucky he's even giving you a chance, though obviously it might be more fun if you're not being torn apart every single time you guys clash together.”

  A tendon twitches in Tannic's neck, and his hands clench into meaty fists. “Perhaps. I just hope... I hope he'll remember what we used to be. I've had plenty of time to remember. But I think... maybe someone like you might be good for us both. You can mediate. You can be soft, and kind, I think.”

  I laugh scornfully. “You think I'm kind? Have you been in the same room as me, lately?”

  “Enough to know that you protect your innocence inside you fiercely. I know humans have a rough time of it with us shifters. We find it necessary for the function of our society to isolate. More and more women come to us of their own free will, nowadays, but there's still issues with it.”

  “You're damn right there's issues,” I hiss. “And I'm not happy at not being able to contact my parents. Like, whatever, I'm stuck here. But I don't want to have them wondering whether I'm dead or alive for the rest of their lives. That's unfair.”

  “I understand. We don't want to provoke war with what we do. We can crush humans. Your weapons, your nukes mean nothing to us. Instead, we prefer the lesser evil. We do only what we must to keep our society functioning.”

  “Yeah, maybe you. But there's a lot of bastards out there who don't,” I reply, my voice steely, my heart cold.

  Tannic examines me for a long moment. “I was with the raid to that wolf village,” he says eventually. “It was a raid for the women. We heard tales of mistreatment. We returned most of the women we found to their home countries. We wanted to pass a message that yes, some people are vile and twisted. But not everyone.”

  The ice deepens over my heart. “What? But I was taken again.”

  “Yes. Kostya, it seems, took a fancy to you. I can't tell you why or how, but he obviously likes something in you.”

  I take a few deep breaths, trying to process the information without exploding. So when the dragons raided, they actually returned many of the women who'd been captured by the wolves. But not me.

  The thought of being so close to freedom, so fucking close to being saved, only to have that darkness in me – the thing I'd been using to protect myself appeal to Kostya – it makes me want to scream. It makes me feel cheated. And the fondness I've been harboring for Kostya dies a little on the spot.

  I wonder if I'll be able to convey this to him, or whether he'll just shrug it off. It confuses me as well, because somehow, in the back of my mind, I'd accepted that shifters might want to just take me and separate me from society forever. But to know that they actually did that raid to return people back to society, only to have me taken, angers me.

  Even though the quality of my life has massively improved. Even though I sleep in lush chambers, have rich clothes and food, and can walk out around the dragon kingdom whenever I want, wearing the prince's insignia so people know not to mess with me.

  I enjoy getting pampered, and not having to worry about money. I find I don't miss things like Facebook or Twitter so much, and I used to regularly message on them each day, making the online virtual world just as important as the image I showed in real life.

  I don't miss it at all, actually. And I enjoy being able to sit around and play board games, to actively think on how to beat people or cooperative with them, kind of like sports.

  I don't miss my friends so much, either. They're like distant memories in my head. They were my ideas of what friends might be, but now that I think about it, we were all just using each other in the end.

  So, even though I like my new position in many ways, the fact that I had a chance to return home, but didn't, makes me apathetic. My mind starts plotting what I could do to Kostya in revenge. How to make him suffer. Because he lets me do whatever I can think of to him.

  Not only have I inflicted my darkest desires upon Tannic, but I've done it to Kostya as well. We both noticed how Tannic seems to go wild when I dominant Kostya, so the dark haired prince with his stormy eyes allows me to control him, to order him to his knees, perhaps to get me off, or to endure the pain as I get out the riding crop, and sting his backside with it. Sometimes it's verbal humiliation, sometimes it's pure bondage and simply being left in such a position for hours on end.

  All of it, shamefully, I've enjoyed. It's thrilling.

  “That makes me angry,” I say at last to Tannic, who simply nods. My mind's still whirring with thoughts, and I'm trying to rein in the more chaotic of them.

  “Of course. It's probably why Kostya failed to mention it to you. But I imagine you might have some leverage with him now, Ria. I think if you push hard enough, you might be able to get him to do things he normally wouldn't. You must have family you want to contact, yes?”

  A lump forming in my throat, I nod. I feel the part of me I've buried deep inside creeping to the surface. “You could say that.”

  Tannic nods as well. A soft smile forms upon his wide, handsome face. He's a different kind of handsome from Kostya. My blue eyed prince may have come straight out of a fairy tale, except he'd probably fit the role of a villain better. Tannic, however, you'd probably expect to see chilling on a beach in surfer clothes, smoking weed and calling everyone “dude.” Except, well, he's stiffer necked and stoic, because of his presumably noble upbringing. Maybe more like a blonde prince Harry?

  I contemplate the notion, even as Tannic gently touches my shoulder, dwarfing it in his huge hand. “Try it. I think he'll listen to you. You underestimate the kind of influence you have.”

  There is no animosity or hate in Tannic's eyes. If anything, there's a fondness and affection there. It reminds me again of how often he endures what happens to him, always finding pleasure in the moment. It reminds me of the way that Kostya looks at me, with a hint of wonder, and sometimes with an unfathomable taint to his expression. Like he's trying to conceal something.

  The question is, how do I use the information I've been given?

  Chapter Four

  At first, I don't confront Kostya about it. It's seething in my blood, but I'm still somewhere enjoying the strange arrangement we have now. Like I actually dread losing what's here. I ponder what it means. Do I love Kostya?

  No. I don't think so. But I like him. And maybe I can learn to love him. But I don't want to open my heart unless he's honest to me about this. That he apologizes for his choice of deliberately repressing the information from me, and for taking me.

  I've seen him in so many compromising positions by now. Bent over as I fondle his manhood, chained up for me to inflict whatever punishment I see fit, and his eyes hazed over in lust as he deals with me. I wonder if in a way he's afraid of losing me, which is why he delays mentioning it. As if he could lose me. Where the hell else can I go in such an isolated place? All the fine foods, the drinks, the clothes and the accommodation doesn't alter the fact that he's been keeping this from me.

  I find myself resorting less and less to the darkness inside when I go into the sexual acts, and a little part of the old me peeps out again, once she realizes she's not in the same situation as before.

  I'm sitting next to Kostya now, heart pounding in my chest, as I mentally prepare myself to confront him. I'm dressed in black fur robes because it's a particularly cold day outside, and the heat in the prince's rooms is low. The robes fit me elegantly, though they're nothing compared to the fine, lacy shirt he wears, with gold trimmings upon the sleeves, and his curly dark hair perfectly framing those noble features. It's easy to drown in his expression, to sink into
those ice blue eyes and forget that I exist. He has a way of stirring up molten fire in me, that reaches deep into where I perhaps house my soul. I see tremors of his emotion when he's not aware, because I am good at reading what's covered up.

  I knew he was hiding something, for example. It just doesn't tell me what he's hiding. Besides, everyone has secrets. I can read, even as he waits for Tannic to arrive, that he's feeling a little sad today. Possibly because he doesn't want to keep up the torment for the blonde shifter, or for something else.

  I know I only have a short window to tackle him with, so I go for it. “I know that you took me when the other women were returned.”

  Kostya, who is focused on the glass of wine he holds in his hand, turns to face me. There's instant guilt, confirming what I've been thinking.

  I wait for him to deny it, to ask who told me, so he could direct his anger to that person. I don't intend to confess Tannic's name in the matter. He goes through enough without Kostya pouring more shit on him.

  “I've been meaning to tell you,” Kostya says. He sighs, swilling the wine in the glass, before placing it down on the small table to the side of the sofa. “But part of me also hoped if I sat on it long enough, it might go away.”

  I snort. Sitting on problems most certainly doesn't make them go away. “I want to contact my family. My mother and father deserve to know what happened to their daughter.”

  Kostya is silent a long time. I'm hoping my bold, harsh attitude will get through to him. I'm on edge, waiting for his response, waiting to fight.

  The dragon prince closes his eyes. “Very well. I will allow you to contact your family.”

  My heart leaps into my throat at this revelation. I try to disguise the hope soaring inside. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I want to sprint to it. “I'm holding you to that.”

  Kostya strokes the underside of his left palm. “I'm not looking forward to losing you, though, Ria,” he whispers. “I feel like you could fit in well with us. That you'd bear strong children, and that both Tannic and I can easily grow to love you. You're special.”