All Chapters of Dragon Queen.: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“Gods’s blood but look at these idiots smile and act like all is well when we are celebrating the day of the great dragon massacre.” All over Arlankis was celebration and festivity as everybody, man, woman, children, and babies, excitedly got ready to celebrate the day of the Dragon, a day celebrated to mark the liberation of men from dragons. Banners and colorful clothes hung on pieces of ropes were strung high in decoration on the streets. Clothes had been cut and tied in strips to form ferocious dragons hanging off ropes strung to buildings and little children poked at the dragons with sticks. The market echoed with the sounds of the smiths’ hammers as they beat metal into swords and daggers for the knights who would participate in the week-long display of strength during the celebration, reenacting notable battles during the Great War. Surcoats, chain mails, and armour were made and old ones were repaired. It was the biggest celebration in all of Arlankis regardless of division. W

“It’s all my fault. If I had gone alone, if I had planned all this alone I would have succeeded.” Llod drew in the fluid running down his nose in one long sniff. Wiping his grimy wrist under his nose he cast Mare an accusing glare, “Yes it is all your fault.” They sat in darkness bound in chains on the cold dungeon floor. “If I had been more careful. I should have snuck in better.” “If you had not involved me in this I would have a small sack of roasted nuts in my hands now, dancing around a fire celebrating with everyone else.” Llod could almost taste the nuts he spoke of. He sniffed again and wiped his eyes, smearing the grim from the dirty floor on his dark cheeks. “You are right, Llod,” Mare said without a hint of her usual fire. She was not defeated because she did not have the king’s head, she was defeated because the sounds of Llod’s cries as the guards beat them mercilessly still rang out in her ears. Her back hurt from the beatings, and Veren’s eyes were swollen but it wa

The king’s concubine.In her honored naked state, the rest of the festivities passed Mare in a blur. Every event, the flowing wine, the never-ending platter of food, the never-ending beat of the drums, and the sound of the horns. She remembered standing beside the king’s seat looking out as the days bled into days.She remembered the king’s command to his eunuchs to get her started on a beauty treatment. She remembered fighting off the courtesan beautician, a eunuch named Hegi. She remembered the feel of his flesh under her nails when she scratched his face, the warmth of his blood on her hand. She remembered the sting of the king’s hand across her cheek and the cold press of a sword on her neck for her defiance.“Break her if you must but when the beauty treatment is done I want a sublime concubine, not this wild cat!” Vallezarii commanded the eunuch who, glaring at Mare, grabbed her and shoved her roughly through the place halls to the West wing of the castle where she would be kept

An anguished cry tore out of her throat as pain seared the lower part of her belly. Her maidenhead gave way with a burning sensation. He is going to kill me, she thought. Hegi had taught her all that the king would do once she officially became his concubine. As someone with no experience in the matter at all, he had only informed her based on the stories he heard from the knights when they boasted about their sexual conquests. What little he could garner from the women serving as servants made him offer her conflicting lessons about the act of sexual relations. But none of the stories he told her warned her of the immense pain. Vallezarii didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. Even if he did, Mare did not delude herself into thinking that he would stop for her sake and ask if she found comfort in it. If anything he would seek to hurt her more and she would not give him that satisfaction of knowing that his intrusion into her body ached like hell's fork in her back. So she bit her b

Mare stared up at the ceiling thoughtlessly.Whatever balm Hegi used was effective indeed. She could barely feel a thing in her loins. When she drew her legs close to peer at the damage done her brows furrowed at the injuries that marred the top and bottom of her thighs. The inner part of her thighs had purple bruises and stitches. Sighing she drew her legs down and covered herself with the bed covers, laying there for a few moments more until the early dawn aged into a clear, sunny day.As the rays of sun seeped through the curtains, she instinctively followed said rays with her gaze until she was looking at the doors of her chamber. It was open a crack.“Someone stood there last night,” she muttered to herself.She hadn’t expected anyone to be in the room with her but when a voice suddenly said, “Who?” she nearly jumped out of her skin.Hegi came round the side of her bed as she lifted herself on her elbow to frown at him. She had thought he left her the night before. Was he the one