THE KEY (parsnormal/fantasy romance)

Am I delulu or am I being blackmailed by a dragon

Feel Better by Penelope Scott (last Penelope scott song, I promise)
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By the way, only the actual shifters knoe that shifters exist, so all the contestants, Zyla, Ria, etc. they dont know that Rave can turn to a Wolf and that Val is the dragon
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Zyla
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He let my dog die. He let the dragon eat my dog. 
And he didn't seem guilty in the fucking least. Didn't let me down gently. Just said it to me like I was boring him. 

I'd thought that, even though he was royalty, he probably still had a heart. I was so fucking wrong. 

He knew I didn't want my father to be in the castle. Yet he didn't care to pull me aside and ask me why. He just smiled at me and let my father join us. 

He told me his pet killed mine like it was casual conversation. Then and there, I decided I wouldn't let him hurt me more. 

Obviously, he hated my very existence, but I was going to find a loophole. Some sort of way out of the marriage. And not even a king could stop me.

~

Three weeks later, and I still hadn't found my loophole. 
We still had a week before the engagement was announced and I needed to find something, fast. 

The past weeks had been awful. My father constantly followed me. Smiling while others were around and whispering how worthless I was in my ear as soon as they turned around. 

Even worse was Valentino. Whenever I walked into a room where he was or vice versa, he looked at me with utter disgust. Like I was the goddamn bane of his existence. 

He constantly ridiculed me for how I acted or spoke. He seemed to have a personal vendetta against my hair as every time he caught glance of the shimmery tips he frowned and wrinkled his nose. Muttering something about it being unnatural. 

As if he could say anything when he had fucking purple eyes. I'd thought living in a castle would mean I wouldn't be working until I almost passed out.

 I was wrong.
 And hear me out, I had no problem with helping out, but Valentino did it just for my torture. I knew because he gave me impossible tasks. 
'The maids need a day off, shine the floor. With a toothbrush.'
 'Clean the ballroom ceiling. Without a ladder. The ladders need a day off.' And many more.

When I did have freetime, I spent it with Rya. 
Or I tried to. She'd made a friend of Rave, Valentino's guard. 

When I confronted her to ask if she liked him, she wrote frantically something about how 'he wouldn't be able to be with someone who couldn't talk' and some other bullshit about how she wasn't enough. 

Fucking Ryan got into her head. When I tried to tell her how amazing she was, she shrugged me off.

As Rya was with Rave all the time, and I was finished counting the cans of chicken free chicken soup, an easier task than usual, I decided I would explore.

After exploring for a good hour or two, I concluded that there were way too many bedrooms, not enough bathrooms, and that their library was not a place you wanted to get lost in. I ended up in front of a door outlined with intricate gold patterns of dragons and fire. Huh. A door with a dragon on it. That seems safe. So I placed a hand on the door. And it didn't open.

"Huh. I guess it's locked or some- AAAAAH!" I screamed as the doors opened from the inside and a huge tail wrapped around my waist and dragged me inside.

The doors closed and the tail set me down softly on a pillow. I looked around the room to realize there were pillows everywhere. 
Many were big enough for a dragon. What really caught my eyes were the mountains of gold and jewels.

 Oh, and also the huge black-purple dragon. 

Oh shit that's a huge black-purple dragon. 

"Don't eat me! I probably taste like cardboard! Or sweat and tears. And maybe chicken, but I don't know," I rambled. 

The dragon just stared at me. I'd done it. I freaked out the dragon enough with my crazy that he probably thought he would catch it if he ate me.

"Wait a minute. Didn't you eat my dog? MOTHERFUCKER I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR SCALY ASS-" I screamed, running at him. I didn't stop to think what I would do when I jumped on him, but thankfully I didn't make it there. Not so thankfully, it was because he grabbed me with his tail again.

"You're abusing your tail privileges, let me down, dog eater," I hissed. Instead of listening to my orders, he dragged me with him to a small section of the room. Then I heard a bark. The dragon set me down and I gasped when I saw River.

 "River! You weren't eaten! Just kidnapped. I'm gonna kill Valentino!" I shouted. I looked back to the dragon, who was watching me with a soft look in his eyes.

"You're not a dog eater, are you?" I asked. My eyes widened as he shook his head.

"Wait, you understand me?"

He nodded.

"Woah. And, uh, thanks. For not eating my dog," I said with a smile. I picked up River and started walking to the door, but the dragon stopped me. He wrapped his tail around River and took him back.

"Hey! He's my dog!" I snapped. The dragon nodded his head.

"Then give him to me."

He shook his head no.

"Why? So I have to come in here to see him?" I retorted sarcastically, but then he nodded.

"So you're blackmailing me?" The dragon stared at me before looking down shamefully.

"Aw, buddy. You're probably just lonely. Valentino needs to be nicer to you," Isaid, patting his nose. He nodded and I laughed.

"Okay fine, I'll come in here to see River and keep you company if you protect River while I'm gone," I proposed. The dragon nodded vigorously and I grinned.

"We have ourselves a deal."