The Dragon's Mail Order Mate: A Paranormal Menage Romance (22 page)

I didn’t say a word as my eyes followed them.  There wasn’t anything I could scream at the moment.

“What do you think?  Our father has officially lost it?” Rowan asked as he followed me down the corridor to my room.

I started laughing.  “I think he lost his mind some time ago.  It is as if the prophecy’s content has made him insane.  I never knew a word about the prophecy until this past twenty-four hours.

“It seems my whole life has completely changed and I realized my whole life he was battling dragons to try to keep this from happening because of his own revenge against Maelyss.”

“You know, I have been thinking about the same thing.  I don’t understand why he singled the both of us out compared to Terrain ad Sadon.  Those two seemed to have stopped talking to the both of us.”

“We don’t even have our kingdoms yet and he is already playing us against each other.  It is as if both of us share the same potential and he is afraid of that.  Don’t you ever feel as if we really never fit in?  We aren’t puppets like the other two.  I think that is what scares me the most, that although we have each other, Terrain and Sadon also have each other.”

“There are times that I wonder if Terrain and Sadon would kill us if our father ordered them to do so.  I wasn’t sure in the beginning how I would feel about that.  It wasn’t until I spoke to you that I knew I would somehow disobey our father.

“It isn’t something that I could live with, actually killing one of my own brothers.  I guess I am unsure how those two feel, but to battle the crown would be their main concern.”

“I don’t know what to say.  I know I am not thrilled about any of this at all.  I wish we could stick together.  I am afraid if you go out on the campaign that father sends you on, that you will never return.”

“What about you and your journey to find a bride?”

I shook my head.  “I am not going up against Maelyss.  If I found him on my journey, I would ask kindly for him to sit down and discuss why Father hates him so much.”

Chapter Three

I glanced out the window at the kingdom.  Everything wouldn’t look like this on my journey and I wasn’t sure if I would even care.  I was sure if our mother was here, she would have done something to protect us. 

I wasn’t sure if our father could decide which one of us was a dragon or there was possibly more than one dragon in the family.  All I knew was the fact that either way, our father was trying to kill the both of us off slowly.  I knew if we survived, he would have Terrain and Sadon try to kill us.

As I stared out the window, I caught myself wondering where our mother was.  She should have been home two days ago.  It seemed as if Lady Elizabeth had been immediately stationed in her place since the time she left.

“Where do you think Mother is?” I asked.

Rowan looked at me.  “I have been wondering the same thing and every time I do, I get cold chills running up and down my spine.”

“I hope you aren’t right.  I honestly hope she walks through that door and begins to bark orders.  It is her orders that can sentence anyone.”

“I know what you mean.  I keep trying to wish her here, too.”

“Do you think there is a way that you can join me in my quest to find a bride?  At least we would be together and safe.”

Rowan shrugged.  “I don’t know how to get out of not going.  It seems to me if I don’t kill Maelyss, I will be killed and if I do go there I will be killed.  I am in quite the jam.”

“I think I have a plan,” I mumbled.

I may not have wholeheartedly agreed with him joining me, since I had my own secret to guard, but I knew that I had to do something.  It was as if we both had secrets that the King seemed to know about, especially since the prophecy seemed to drive him.

I doubted it was all together a coincidence.

“Where is it you are traveling to, anyway?  It might be a lot more pleasurable than trying to kill Maelyss,” Rowan asked.

“I am traveling a bit away to a place where my bride will be waiting for me.  Who knows, we both might come back with brides.  I am just saddened by the fact that Mother isn’t here to see us or bid us farewell.

She has always been somewhat like a good luck omen the way she carries on and blesses us.”

“I am not really sure where she is, but maybe along the way we can search for her.”

“You don’t think Father killed her off do you?” I asked.

Rowan sighed.  “I have been thinking the same thing, but I wouldn’t put it past him.  I think he has it in his mind that everything is going to come down to his death and he must protect himself from it.”

It was strange to see our father like this, but I knew Rowan was telling the truth.  He seemed to be getting worse as the days went by.   It was as if lately he didn’t just gradually worsen, but plain out snapped.  There was nothing to calm him down. 

“You realize if you figure out how to pull this plan off where we venture out together, you will be a genius.”

I started laughing.  If only my younger brother was actually correct.  We both needed to forget about the castle or why we listened to our father for so long.  We needed to listen to our souls and why we both seemed to be attached to dragons.  Although Rowan was sent to battle often, he had never killed a dragon.

“I have to admit that this place seems to be feeling a lot different without Mother here to run to for answers.  I was starting to get tired of having to answer all these questions she comes up with about prophecies, dragons and us.”

“To be honest, I think sometimes that father is trying to hypnotize us with these problems that he fears, so we can’t see the answers clearly.”

“I have to admit that I always thought you were the one who had the brains in the family.  Knowing our father, I wouldn’t put it past him.  Sometimes I am shocked beyond words that our father has turned into this.

“Nothing can describe the feeling of fear I have since it seems our own father and brothers would betray us.  I think this whole prophecy has spiraled out of control.  I honestly borrowed the book because I wasn’t sure if I was the dragon.”

I shook my head.  “What if you were the dragon?  How do you think that you would hide it?  It isn’t like you can go up to our father and say, ‘Oh, by the way, Dad, I am a dragon.’  He would have you killed in seconds.”

“I have been thinking about that.  I am not sure.  One day, when I woke up and looked at myself in the mirror, I found the same dragon scaling that you have as a tattoo, I began piecing it together.”

“You have what?” I asked.

“Please don’t tell our father.  He won’t understand, but one day I woke up and it just appeared.  It is in the same shade as your brown scaled outline tattoo as if it was just a birthmark.”

My eyes grew large.  We were now both in the same boat.

“You aren’t going to tell Father, are you?”

“Why would I tell Father when we both have the same markings?  That would put us both in jeopardy.”

I waited a couple minutes as I looked around and began to put everything in a bag.

“What are you doing?”

“With or without you, I am going to have to travel to get my bride.”

Rowan nodded.  “Tomorrow we will leave to get away from all of this.  Are you sure you can get Father to drop the campaign?”

I started laughing.  “Of course, I will be able to have him drop the campaign.  It would look better if two princes married into the same family to expand our connections, wouldn’t it?”

Rowan groaned.  “I never thought of it that way, but I guess I should get married.”

A vivid memory of when I was younger came into my mind.  My mother and I were traveling to see her family.  She had been speaking so fast in the woods that at the time it sounded almost gibberish.

“There are times in which I will have to leave for a little bit.  Always know that I will be with you.  Make sure to take care of 100Rowan,” my mother said, glancing down at me.  

“Where are you going to go, Mother?” I asked.

My mother sighed.  “In time you will understand fully without a word ever spoken.  Be careful who you speak with and who you trust.  It is that trusting bond that will get you in trouble.”

“Are you going far away?”

“I am afraid so, Merek.”

“Are there dragons and knights where you are going?”

My mother laughed.  “Of course there will be dragons and knights.  Why wouldn’t there be?  You will be the king of them all one day.”

I snapped back to reality when Rowan began talking again.

“I am sorry I probably shouldn’t have worried you with any of this,” Rowan began.

I shook my head.  “No, I was just thinking of one of the last times that Mother took me to the Servon Isles.  She told me to protect you and watch over you.  She also told me that one day I would be the king of all the dragons and knights.  Do you think she was trying to tell me something back then?”

“I always wondered the same thing, especially with her nightly stories she would tell us.  We were the only two that she would talk about dragons with.  The other two she would leave with the kingdom, kings and knights that way.”

I shook my head in disbelief.  I couldn’t believe all these years that our mother had hinted that we weren’t King Athalos’ sons, but we never paid attention.

We grabbed our belongings and I tucked the letter that my mother wrote in my shirt where no one would find it.

   ***

“My brother and I have been to almost every single kingdom and some of the kingdoms we have gone to more than once,” Sadon boasted as we entered the great room.

“I think that is beyond incredible.  You are both quite lucky and I am sure as knights, as well as princes, you are establishing good allies,” Lady Elizabeth stated.

Of course, my other two brothers, Terrain and Sadon, loved to boast about their accomplishments. 

The truth was, as I traveled on different quests, I never seemed to have the need to tell people where I had been.

Lady Elizabeth wiped the smile off her face when she saw Rowan and I standing in front of her.

“Where is Father?” I asked.

She looked at me with disgust as if it was a silly question that I had been asking.

“I am sure he is around.  I think he said he is speaking with Lord Crewe.  What brings you in need of him?”

“I don’t think that is any of your business.  You are just a lady and I must point out that your rank is far from that of a prince,” I said as I grabbed my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder. 

If words could choke her, I would have said something to do so.  The woman was pure evil and I was hoping our mother would be back soon enough to dethrone her once again.

Lord Crewe and my father were both in the study when I walked in with Rowan.

“Where do you two think you are going?” he asked.

“I am going to find a bride.  I thought to ask if Rowan would join me.  On the way to prove we are fit for the kingdom, I thought we should execute your quest of beheading Maelyss.  I am sure that the people of the kingdom would be honored to have two strong princes in their royalty.”

My eyes were set upon what was in Lord Crewe’s hands.  It was a box that I had never seen before.  The box seemed to be made out of solid marble with an ornate engraved dragon on it.

“You wish not to be accompanied by a full campaign?” my father asked.

I shook my head. 

“Very well, you both can leave.  When would you like to journey on your quest?”

“We will be leaving before dusk tonight.”

My father nodded as he looked at Lord Crewe.  “I think that is fair enough.  Two of the princes get married and take down Maelyss.  That in itself would prove to the people that my sons are worthy of the kingdoms.”

“I think the princes are right.  They do have a very good point.  It would be quite honorable if both the eldest and the youngest princes accomplished this.”

I didn’t smile or say anything about the fact that they went with this plan.  I had a feeling they would, since they were trying to kill both of us off.

Rowan looked at me as we went out to the stable.  “Did you see that box?”

“I remember one like it when I was younger.  Mother was showing us.  It had some sort of dragon claw pendant for each of us inside.  She was explaining to us about a faraway kingdom and how the dragon king would recognize us if we wore those.”

Rowan looked around and looked back at me.  “We have to figure out how to get the pendants.”

“How are we going to do that?  We are leaving before dusk.”

“I wish I could remember the rest of the story.”

I tried hard to recall it, but like Rowan, the story seemed to be a fading memory. 

“I don’t remember much of it except that there was a king who tried hard to kill and outlaw all dragons.  He tried hard to make sure they didn’t exist.  I thought it was just a story that kept our interest as kids.”

“It did seem to keep our interest, but our childhood has a new meaning to it now. It seems that our mother covered the regular stories with something more meaningful.  It seemed even back then she tried to condition us with the truth, although she couldn’t tell us.”