The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 81

HERA

"Watch your step."

I hike my skirt up with one hand while the other grips his as firmly as I can.

I have a general life rule that I have only now just come up with.

If one is heading anywhere where someone has to tell you to 'watch your step', then you should not be going to said place at all.

Those words tell you it is a bad idea.

And this place has all the markings of a bad idea.

"Where are you taking me...why is it so dark and quiet and cold...?"

"You ask too many questions Hera."

"Forgive me your highness for wanting to know why we are walking down some damp, dark stair well that looks like it has not seen the light of day in a really long time. "That..." He places two hands firmly on either side of my waist and lifts me up over the remaining steps. "...is because it has not."

As always my heart flutters like it always does whenever he touches me.

He places me back on my feet in front of him and I smoothen down my clothes and attempt to brush off not quite so imaginary dust in an effort to hide my pink face. "So where are we?"

He laughs and takes my hand again. "Patience Hera."

I sigh and follow behind him.

Which is hard to do given how I can even barely see and I find myself wondering how in all the realms he is able to know where he is leading us.

The stone walls surrounding the stairwell we had just come down from had been so cold and felt so damp that I almost expected us to be in a cave or to hear the sound of dripping water and smell mold. The air feels moist and stuffy.

And just like when I had been taken to the cellar, this place feels like it is actually far under the castle.

The floors for one are no longer the smooth weathered stone of the rest of the castle and the ground beneath our feet has been replaced with loosely packed dirt, the walls now looking and feeling like we have descended into the heart of the mountain on which the dragon castle stands.

"Is this perhaps some sort of punishment?"

He does not stop walking but I can almost hear the frown in his face.

"No. Why would you think that?"

I shrug, flinching slightly when I feel something airy and leg like brush against the nape of my neck.

"So you are not mad at me for destroying your study?"

"I am not."

I believe him but my eyes still narrow in suspicion.

"And you are not mad about...you know...the other thing?"

He stops at a large, heavy looking door that looks very much out of place in this cave like passage and turns around to smirk at me.

"Oh, do you by any chance mean the reason we are even here in the first place?"

I bite my lip and look away.

After my little... incident in his study yesterday, which by the way woke up more than half the castle and nearly gave the chief steward a heart attack when he saw the mess...

We had gone back to my room, not his and after a bath and his changing out of his riding clothes he had pulled me into bed with him, kissed me hard and then was out like a light before his head even touched the pillow.

I, on the other hand, had stayed awake the rest of the night.

Because I knew that it did not matter how tired Midas was, if I had slept off, I would not have been able to wake up before he did.

And for my plan to work, by the time morning came,,he had to still be asleep.

So I had stayed up the rest of the night, watching his tired face and hoping that he was too exhausted to still wake up at the fourth bell like he normally did.

He was.

And so I had snuck out at first light this morning and stolen down the tower and into the castle to find the chief steward with a message to take to the rest of the court when they arrived.

The King would not be doing anything but resting for the entire day and if he as chief steward or any other person for that matter so much as came near the king with even a whisper of work or a problem he had to solve, I would personally see too it that they are beheaded.

But because I knew no matter how exhausted they both were, if Leo came to him with "pressing realm matters" Midas would immediately go with him, I also told the steward to let the chief Ryder know that he was off work as well.

And to make sure that as the chief steward, he and the rest of the court stayed the f**k away from both the King and his right hand man.

From the look on his face, I assume my choice of words may have scandalized him a little bit but he had not needed any more convincing that I was dead serious.

I have no doubt that the dragon king has not had a day without working in hades knows how long, and come hell or high water, I was determined to give him one.

But convincing the king that taking one day of rest did not mean his kingdom and his realm would suddenly burst into flames had been easier said than done.

I had hidden the key to our room and planned to play dumb when he asked why the door was locked and why no servant had come knocking yet.

At least until I could manage to sell him on the idea of doing anything other than working.

But he had seen right through me.

And when he threatened to fly out through the window, I had to resort to more... physical means of distracting him and keeping him there until I could convince him that the idea of taking a day off from being the King was not in fact the "most ridiculous thing he had ever heard". After a lot of persuasion...admittedly the kissing and the s*x may or may not have helped speed things along... he finally agreed.

Had even laughed when I told him how I threatened to behead his entire court.

But because Midas is almost completely incapable of doing anything but working or thinking about working, it was up to me to come up with ways to help him...relax Yes, he had also made a face when I said it.

I asked him what he liked to do when he is not at war or going around the castle or the 5th realm or even in his throne room, trying to solve one issue or the other. He said horse riding.

I said "Over my dead body, think harder."

So he did.

And now here we are, standing in some dark dusty passage in front of a door that looks like it has not been opened since the gods last walked the lesser realms.

"You know your highness a day of attempted suicide disguised as horse riding does not sound so bad anymore"

But he ignores me and pushes the door open.

The air that flies out is so much cooler than the stale air in the passage that it is almost a shock.

Now, not only can I hear the sound of water, I can smell it too.

My trepidation is instantly replaced by curiosity.

He takes a torch off the wall and lights it with a wave of his hand.

"I had completely forgotten that you are able to do that. Can all dragon Ryders do this or is it just you?"

"Just me" He raises the torch as if searching for something.

Then he takes a step into the darkness beyond the open door. "Wait here..."

I follow him.

I can see a faint blue light getting brighter with each step we take.

The air is completely different now, lighter.

It feels almost like I am outside and the sound of falling water, a low, deep rumbling, seems to getting louder with each step.

The light gets brighter as we near the opening, a narrow slit between two dark rock walls.

Midas, hulking giant that he is, stands in front of the narrow space, completely blocking my view of what lies beyond it.

"You asked me what I liked to do, in the days before I became King..."

I nod, unable to tear my eyes away from the look on his face.

The gold in his eyes glow bright in the darkness of the cave and he has on a tiny, almost mischievous smile, the type you get when you wish to show a person something that you hope would make them as happy as it makes you. "Well...here it is"

He steps out of the way and my jaw quite literally drops to the floor.

"Skies above Midas...how is this even possible?"

"My father used to bring me here, when he wanted me to.... practice changing into my dragon form."

There is something about the way he says the words but I'm too distracted to really notice it.

The walls of the cave fall away and I take a step forward so we are standing at the edge of a ledge over looking the most incredibly vast space I have ever seen.

It is like a secret underground world, an entire natural paradise tucked away in the darkness of the earth.

There are trees and flowers and fruits of colors and kinds I do not even recognize.

Birds flinting and flying between stark white branches and gold rimmed leaves of a green so rich it looks painted on, calling happily to one another and floating around in the world without a care.

And right across from us, gushing out from a long, horizontal slit in the mountain wall, is a wide curtain of clear purple water cascading down in a rush of sparkling liquid to tumble and fall hundred of feet to a river that flows swiftly to the left.

A winding, swirling ribbon of crystal clear purple water, that cuts through the bowels of dragon's mount and disappears around a bend I cannot see.

And it is not just the waterfall that threatens to take my breath away.

Hanging from the dark rock roof far above our head, are long, cone like crystals that glow with a fierce light so that it almost looks like we are standing outside and not deep in the belly of a mountain.

"Gods...Midas this is...I don't even know what to say."

"Hang on"

And before I can say a word, his wings are out, I am in his arms and we are flying.

Heading down to the rich forest at the bottom of the chasm.

I turn to stare at him, at the black luminescent wings even now protruding out his back.

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"Your wings. When they rip through you skin, does it hurt?"

"In the beginning, but not anymore. I am...used to the pain now. And they are my dragon's wings, I merely borrow them once in a while."

He places me gently on the bright green grass that covers the mountain's floor.

"Your dragon, you talk about it like it is a separate person from you."

"That is because he is. I am... different from other Ryders".

"Does he have a name?"

He looks slightly uncomfortable with this discussion but he answers me anyway.

"Er'gan."

"Er'gan" I repeat the name, rolling the letters on my tongue. "and that day, in the Elder forest. Was he by any chance the one who..." Midas does not look away. "Yes."

Then I say the words the second they pop into my brain, ignoring the part that is screaming at me and asking if I have gone insane. "Can I meet him?"

I expect him to balk at the idea but he simply stares at me, hard.

"Are you sure?"

"If he is a part of you, then yes. I am sure."

He sighs. "I should warn you, he is not as...tolerant as I am."

I smirk. "Tolerant. Never thought I'd see the day that word would be used in a description of the dragon king."

"You see that, that right there is precisely what you should not do."

I roll my eyes.

His have already started to turn red. "Just...try not to annoy him."

"No promises"

I keep waiting for a spark, a growl or something, anything to indicate that something has happened to him but he just looks at me and then... "Human"

His voice is different somehow.

Harsher, deeper, more rough around the edges but his eyes, the color of blood and roses, that's how it know my Midas is gone.

I nod slightly. "Er'gan"

He is silent for a long time.

So long that I almost begin to wonder if he is gone.

Then he starts to walks around me, arms behind his back, looking me over.

"You look nothing like her"

At least that is what I think he says but I am unsure so I frown.

"Who?"

He ignores me, still mumbling to himself and then he lifts a strand of my hair.

"Except for this..."

"I'm afraid I do not understand."

He lets go and comes back to stand in front of me.

"I would think the dragon king would know better than to summon me up for your amusement like some show dog at a fair."

"You tried to kill me."

"You disobeyed our instructions and tried to run away."

"In my defense..."

"You have no defense."

"In my defense...You sent me to the cellars."

Er'gan freezes, glaring at me and I almost take a step back cursing my big mouth.

But then he scoffs, loud and unexpected.

"The dragon king is right, you are annoying."

I roll my eyes and fold my arms.

"Well you can tell him he is not exactly my favorite person either."

"Who is?"

"What?"

"Who is your favorite person Human?"

I think about it and feel my voice drop several octaves.

"My name is Hera and it does not matter anymore. You and your king took me away from him."