A Pet for the Dragons

200.

ARIKA

It was a busy, busy day. Even busier because of Ivret and Zorge. I was already feeling sleepy while finishing up my dinner, but I forced myself to be awake. I still needed to get some work done for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Zorge and Ivret continued to argue throughout the dinner, throwing insults at each other and acting like children. Across the table, I could see that Radrox was trying to be as patient as possible. His eyes would wander towards me in the hopes that I would finally let him deal with them, but I couldn't. In a way, I found his annoyance at the other two cute.

In the end, everything felt right, no matter how annoying. I was tired but satisfied with how life had turned out in the past year. My mind hardly wandered there, and whenever it did, I dealt with it somehow.

The scar on my stomach prickled as a faint reminder of what we had left behind. Some days, I found it hard to believe that it had been a year. To me, it felt like it happened in an entirely different lifetime, but some days it felt as if it was just yesterday when I had woken up to find all the things I had lost.

It didn't matter. I was back on my ship, sailing with all three of my dragons. That was all I could ask for, and it was also something I could've never imagined in my wildest dreams. It was so surprising how your life could turn around completely in a couple of years. I gained so much and lost a bit too, but in the end, I was grateful for everything.

I tuned back into the present, trying to pay attention to what Zorge and Ivret were bickering about. It seemed important because Radrox had chimed in as well. They were talking about the pirates we encountered the other day. It had been an exhilarating day, chasing them and robbing them even though I had sworn off piracy.

However, some days my old habits made me itch. It seemed more fun now that I had my three dragons with me. They were willing to do anything for me. I would have ruled the seas completely had they been with me in the earlier days.

..well, we can still do that...

I blocked that voice out of my head before it could do anymore talking. As much as it was tempting and as much as I missed my old ways, I didn't want to do that anymore. I wanted to have a bit more stability in life. I didn't want to live on the edge all the time. It was draining in the long run.

One of the main reasons why I didn't want to go back to piracy was that I wanted to have a family one day. I wanted to have little ones. Our little ones. The chances of me having that were very slim, and the scar on my stomach was there to remind me of it every day. Still, I dared to dream even if that's all I could do.

It was a risky dream, but I still wanted it someday. Anyhow. I would deal with Mavie or whenever I needed to deal with but I wanted to have babies. I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to do things that my mother didn't do. I wanted to fix things, build things, grow things instead of going on a constant rampage of destruction. You could only destroy so many things before you start destroying yourself.

I snapped back to the present when someone snapped their fingers in my face. I realised that I had almost dozed off and was about to drop on my dinner plate.

"What?" I yawned, stretched and looked at the three. They had stopped talking and were watching me.

"You should get some sleep," Zorge said, rising from his seat. "Come, I'll tuck you in before I leave. Those two can do the dishes."

"It's your turn to do the dishes tonight," Ivret reminded Zorge, but he ignored it. Radrox grunted, knowing full well that it would fall on him as usual.

"I'm fine. I need to get some things done before I—" I couldn't help but yawn again.

"That's okay. You can get it done tomorrow. Let's get you to bed," Zorge urged, taking my hand and tugging me to my feet. I wanted to fight him and tell him that I was alright, but I couldn't find an ounce of energy to protest.

I let him lead me to our bedroom. Ivret followed us while Radrox cleaned up in the kitchen. I groaned, realising it had been so long since I had them together. I pouted. I'd love that very much, but it wasn't possible here.

I collapsed on the bed while Zorge busied himself with taking my shoes off. Meanwhile, I heard Ivret ransacking the nightstand, looking for my meds and cursing Zorge under his breath. I was pretty sure that Zorge had hidden them somewhere so he could be the only one to give them to me. I sighed at it. As much as it all annoyed me, I found it cute. Very, very cute.

I wondered what it would be like to have little versions of them. How much would they take after them? It all always made me giddy whenever I imagined their small versions running around and causing all sorts of trouble. They would definitely keep our hands full.

I didn't realise that I was already half asleep and dreaming until I heard something crash and came back to reality to find Zorge and Ivret having a full-blown argument on something really, really stupid.

I watched them argue until Radrox arrived to break them up.

"Drink this," Radrox ordered, handing me a glass of water with my meds. I obeyed without thinking too much, already nodding off to sleep again.

"Ummm... thanks," I mumbled, "I don't know why I feel so sleepy today," I wondered out loud, flopping on the bed.

"It's because you didn't sleep well since the day we encountered those pirates," Ivret replied.

"Nah, that shouldn't be the issue," I mumbled, "Maybe, I'm getting old."

When I was met with silence, I looked at my dragons. They were exchanging looks. They looked slightly troubled.

"I'm fine," I cleared, tapping the scar on my stomach. "I'm better than I used to be," Though none of them looked convinced at my words. If anything, they looked more concerned.

"We'll have that witch look at you again when we return," Radrox declared. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm fine," I stated sharply, leaning into Zorge, who was sitting beside me. "I just need to sleep." I yawned deeply. "Good night,"

"Good night," Ivret kissed me before Zorge could make a move. Zorge followed immediately. Lastly, Radrox kissed me. I wanted to kiss all of them back, but today I couldn't. I felt too sleepy and was asleep as soon as the three walked out of the bedroom.

"Don't tell her, but we're tying her up and taking her to a hospital as soon as we hit the coast." I heard Radrox tell the others while I drifted off into deep, deep sleep, dreaming about their mini versions.

~

Thank you so much for making it till this part. Only the Epilogue for this book remains, and I cannot add it because Wattpad limits each book to 200 chapters. 

That's why it will be posted in the book called "Carnal Fragments". Do check it out, and also add the book to your library to stay updated. 

Thank you for reading. Truly.