The Clash Of Drakkon: Book Four Of The Drakkon Series

Chapter Thirty-One

Daxton Aurelie

Heir to the Aurelie Empire

I was doing this, I was really doing this. I was going to fight against my mother for the throne. Me, Daxton Aurelie, fight against the Queen. Were my hands shaking? I couldn't tell, most of my body was numb right now, I think I might be going through shock.

I walked beside King Aldrich and Queen Kiara, Queen Alessandra's parents, parents I wished I had had. My mother had killed my father for getting her pregnant, he had never meant anything to her, the crazy thing was she had been having sex with my father specifically to get pregnant to get an heir, only to kill him in anger as soon as it happened.

I was over thirty-two thousand years old, and all this time I've never once stood up to my mother, I've thought about it many many times. But never did I really think I would ever do it, my mother had raised me with a cruel hand, showing me in numerous ways that she was much stronger than I was, that I was weak, that if I did something she didn't like, she could kill me so easily.

In truth I never really thought that what my mother did to me was out of the ordinary, it was what I grew up with, I thought a ruler had to be cruel, that a ruler had to be without mercy in order to effectively rule, it was only once my mother started having me go to the parties she was invited to from the other Empires, that I started realizing maybe that wasn't the case.

But even then, the other rulers were much similar to her, it was only when I met her, Queen Alessandra, I realized the truth, I saw it when I first met her, but I was unsure if I could believe it, unsure if she wasn't just playing some sort of trick. It was only when she spared my life after I challenge her that I started to believe in her, trust in her.

That she was what a Queen should be, what my mother should have been like, I thought after my defeat in battle, I would be sent back to Arlyn, the capital planet of the Aurelie Empire, and it would be the last straw, my mother would kill me for my failure. But to my surprise, Queen Alessandra had demanded I stay with her, for ten years. I thought she intended to use me as a slave in order to insult my mother, not that it would truly do much except make her angrier at me for the disrespect it caused her.

But she instead gave me money and shelter, she let me help her, she didn't demand it, she didn't expect it, but accepted it when I offered it, she didn't punish me for mistakes with beatings, but merely words about what I did wrong and how to do it right next time. She became not just a friend, but my Queen, a leader I didn't follow out of fear like I had my mother, but out of loyalty because she had earned my respect.

I was doing this not for myself, or even my people in truth, but for Queen Alessandra, because I knew that if she were in my place, this is what she would do. I would win, I would defeat my mother, I would take the throne, and I would vow loyalty to Queen Alessandra, I cared nothing for a crown or a throne. I didn't want to be king, I didn't wan to risk it turning me into a monster like my mother. I would give the Aurelie Empire to her, and she could decide what to do with it.

But in order to give it to her we needed to rescue her from the Nisha, and I needed to defeat my mother quickly in order not to waste time. I was in only a pair of pants, my feet were bare, and so was my chest, I had no jewelry or weapons as was customary in this challenge for the throne, I knew about this challenge, even if I had never before intended to use it to take the throne.

My mother was dressed similarly in a pair of shorts and tank top, all of our clothes were tight to prevent possible grip holds for our opponent. Without all the jewelry, with her hair down, we looked much alike, there was no doubt in my mind that I was related to her, as much as I wished at times we weren't.